Gørlev

Gørlev is a town with a population of 2,482 (1 January 2011)^[1] on the west coast of the island of Zealand (Sjælland) in Denmark, belonging to Kalundborg Municipality in Region Sjælland. To the west are Musholm Bay (Musholm Bugt), the Great Belt (Storebælt)— the strait which separates Zealand from the island of Funen), and Jammerland Bay (Jammerland Bugt).

Attractions

The municipality is home to a number of interesting sites, including Stone Age passage graves (Rævehøj Passage Grave near the town of Dalby) and Bronze Age mounds.

In Gørlev Church's entryway are two Viking Age runestones, the Gørlev Stones (Gørlevstenene), that show the entire rune alphabet, futhark. The first runestone is dated to the early 800s, and was found on the spot in May 1921 by a bricklayer working at the church. The second runestone is dated to ca. 1000, and was found in 1965 unter the church tower. The only runestones in Denmark more significant than these are the Jelling stones, erected by King Harold Bluetooth ca. 965 in the town of Jelling, the old Viking capital of Scandinavia.

Nearby Magle Marsh (Maglemose), also known as Mullerup Marsh (Mullerup Mose) is a large waterlands area, which includes Tis Lake (Tissø). This is the site of the Mullerup or Magle Marsh Culture, the summer site of Stone Age hunters and fisher. Evidence of their residence here was excavated in 1900 and 1902. These were the oldest sites of this type in the Nordic countries, and helped contribute to a better understanding of Denmark's early history. Two memorials commemorate the discovery site.

Other attractions include Svella's Mill (Svellas Mølle), a restored windmill built in 1870 and one of Denmark's smallest mills; the agriculture museum Fløjgården; Reersø Museum; and the Old Movie House (Den Gamle Biograf), the municipality's culture center.

Gørlev municipality

Until 1 January 2007 Gørlev was also a municipality (Danish, kommune) in West Zealand County. The municipality covered an area of 92,06 km², and had a total population of 6,556 (2005). Its last mayor was Jørgen Arnam-Olsen, a member of the Venstre (Liberal Party) political party.

Gørlev municipality ceased to exist as the result of Kommunalreformen ("The Municipality Reform" of 2007). It was merged with existing Bjergsted, Hvidebæk, Høng, and Kalundborg municipalities to form the new Kalundborg municipality. This created a municipality with an area of 598 km² and a total population of 48,697 (2005).

External links

• Kalundborg municipality's official website (Danish)

References

• Municipal statistics: NetBorger Kommunefakta, delivered from KMD aka Kommunedata (Municipal Data)
• Municipal mergers and neighbors: Eniro new municipalities map

1. ^ BEF44: population 1st January, by urban areas database from Statistics Denmark

Coordinates: 55°32′N 11°14′E / 55.533°N 11.233°E / 55.533; 11.233