- Lejre
Lejre is a town and municipality (Danish, "kommune") on the island of
Zealand in eastDenmark . It belongs toRegion Sjælland . The town'sOld Norse name was "Hleiðra". The municipality has an area of 240 km² and a total population of ca. 26,603 (2008). Its mayor is Flemming Jensen, representing the liberal "Venstre" political party. The municipal seat isKirke Hvalsø .Municipality
The current municipality was established on
1 January 2007 as a result of "Kommunalreformen" ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007), merging the former Lejre municipality withBramsnæs andHvalsø municipalities to form a new Lejre municipality. The former Lejre municipality covered an area of 88 km², and had a total population of 8,724 (2005). Its last mayor wasJens Hald Madsen , representing the "Venstre" party. Neighboring municipalities wereRamsø and Roskilde to the east,Bramsnæs to the north,Hvalsø to the west, andHvalsø to the south. Most of the old municipality's northern border was defined by the waters ofRoskilde Fjord . It belonged toRoskilde County .History
Lejre was the capital of an Iron Age kingdom, the Lejre Kingdom, which was, according to legend, ruled by kings of the
Skjöldung dynasty; it is assumed to be the predecessor of medievalDenmark . Lejre is assumed to have been the location ofHeorot Fact|date=July 2008, the royal hall mentioned inBeowulf and other myths that are set around the year500 . Archeological remains of large halls from this period have been found. The legends of the kings of Lejre were written down in the 12th centuryChronicon Lethrense .Attractions
The municipality is home to the
Lejre Experimental Centre , a center forexperimental archaeology andeducation , which includes reconstructions and recreations from different periods of Denmark’s history— frompre-history to the time of theVikings . The centerpiece of the facility is anIron Age village reconstruction, complete with sacrificial bog. The center is open to the public.
=External links
* [http://www.lejre.dk Municipality's official website]
* [http://www.nylejre.dk/ The new Lejre municipality's official website (Danish only)]
* [http://www.english.lejrecenter.dk/ Lejre Experimental Centre]
* [http://www.tadremoelle.dk/public_html/tadre_htm/tadre_start.htm Tadre Mølle (Old Watermill)]
* [http://www.lejre-center.dk/ Lejre Forsøgscenter (Danish only)]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]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.