Hjørring

Hjørring is a town and a municipality (Danish, "kommune") in Region Nordjylland on the west coast of the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 929,58 km², making it the largest in Vendsyssel, and it has a total population of 67,121 (2008). Its current mayor is Finn Olesen, a member of the Social Democrats ("Socialdemokraterne") political party.

The main town and the site of its municipal council is the town of Hjørring. Other towns in the municipality includes the harbour town of Hirtshals to the north, sea side resorts Løkken and Lønstrup to the west, Tårs and Vrå to the south and Sindal and Bindslev to the East.

On January 1, 2007 Hjørring municipality was, as the result of "Kommunalreformen" ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007), merged with existing Hirtshals, Løkken-Vrå, and Sindal municipalities to form an enlarged Hjørring municipality.

The town of Hjørring

[
Hjørring [top left] is north of Aalborg, off Denmark's Jutland peninsula.]

The town of Hjørring is the largest town in Vendsyssel and has a population of 24,789 (2004). It is one of Denmark's oldest towns, and it celebrated its 750 year anniversary as a market town in 1993.

Archaeological discoveries show that the area was already populated 10,000 years ago.

A major fire burned down much of the town in 1819.

There are good educational opportunities in the town including a gymnasium (the Danish equivalent of a high school/pre college), a business gymnasium and a nursing school.

Hjørring also has a large hospital.

Attractions

Dana Cup, one of the world's largest football tournaments, takes place in Hjørring at the end of July, with 17,000 soccer players from all around the world. The tournament celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2005.

The town was also the home for the Hjørring Revue ("Hjørring revyen"), a summer revue that has been a part of Hjørring's entertainment life since the 1920's. However, in recent years, the Hjørring Revue ("Hjørring revyen") has not been playing and does not seem to be coming back.

Hjørring has been growing in recent years, with new shops and franchises opening. Most recent addition to Hjørring is the new city shopping centre, Metropol, which has led to a change in the city centre as one of Hjørring's main streets, Østergade, has been closed for driving and now only allows pedestrians and people biking.

Metropol is situated right in the centre of the city's shopping street. Metropol was inaugurated March 2008.

External links

* [http://www.hjoerring.dk Municipality's official website]

References

* Municipal statistics: [http://www2.netborger.dk/Kommunefakta/ NetBorger Kommunefakta] , delivered from [http://www.kmd.dk/ KMD aka Kommunedata (Municipal Data)]
* Municipal mergers and neighbors: [http://kommune.eniro.dk/danmarkskort/ Eniro new municipalities map]