Aarhus

Aarhus or Århus ) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula, in the geographical centre of Denmark, 187 kilometres (116 mi) northwest of Copenhagen and 289 kilometres (180 mi) north of Hamburg, Germany. Aarhus' inner urban area has 261,570 inhabitants (1 January 2015), the municipal population is 326,676 and Eurostat calculates 845,971 inhabitants for the larger urban zone.

The history of Aarhus began as a fortified Viking settlement founded in the 8th century with the first written records stemming from the bishopric seated there from at least 948. The city was founded on the northern shores of a fjord at a natural coastal harbour and the primary driver of growth was for centuries seaborne trade in agricultural products. Market town privileges were granted in 1441, but growth stagnated in the 17th century as the city suffered blockades and bombardments during the Swedish Wars. In the 19th century it was occupied twice by German troops during the Schleswig Wars but avoided destruction. As the industrial revolution took hold, the city grew to become the second-largest in the country by the 20th century.

Today Aarhus is at the cultural and economic core of the region and the largest centre for trade, services and industry in Jutland. The city is the 92nd largest in the European Union, It is also a top 100 conference city in the World. It is the principal industrial port of the country in terms of container handling and an important trade hub in Kattegat. Major Danish companies have based their headquarters here and people commute for work and leisure from a wide area in Region Midtjylland. It is a centre for research and education in the Nordic Countries and home to Aarhus University, Scandinavia's largest university, including Aarhus University Hospital and INCUBA Science Park. Being the youngest city in the country, with students making up 13% of the population, Aarhus is also one of the fastest growing with an average growth of 4,000 people per annum since 2010. The city is a central part of the East Jutland metropolitan area, the second largest area of population (1.26 million people) and economic growth in Denmark.

Aarhus is notable for its musical history. In the 1950s many jazz clubs sprang up around the city, fuelled by the young population. By the 1960s, the music scene diversified into rock and other genres. In the 1970s and 1980s, Aarhus became the centre for Denmark's rock music fostering many iconic bands such as TV-2 and Gnags. Aarhus is home to the annual eight-day Aarhus International Jazz Festival, the SPoT Festival and the Northside Festival.

Etymology

In Valdemar's Census Book (1231) the city was called Arus, and in Icelandic it was known as Aros, later written as Aars. It is a compound of the two words ār, genitive of ā ("river", Modern Danish å), and ōss ("mouth", in Modern Icelandic this word is still used for "river delta"). The name originates from the city's location around the mouth of Aarhus Å (Aarhus River). The spelling "Aarhus" is first found in 1406 and gradually became the norm in the 17th century.

Aarhus/Århus spelling

With the Danish spelling reform of 1948, "Aa" was changed to "Å". Some Danish cities resisted the new spelling of their names, notably Aalborg and Aabenraa. Århus city council explicitly embraced the new spelling, as it was thought to enhance an image of progressiveness. In 2010, the city council voted to change the name from "Århus" to "Aarhus" in order to strengthen the international profile of the city. The renaming came into effect on 1 January 2011.

Certain geographically affiliated names have been updated to reflect the name of the city, such as the Aarhus River, changed from "Århus Å" to "Aarhus Å". It is still grammatically correct to write geographical names with the letter Å and local councils are allowed to use the Aa spelling as an alternative. Whichever spelling local authorities choose most newspapers and public institutions will accept it. Some official authorities such as the Danish Language Committee, publisher of the Danish Orthographic Dictionary, still retain "Århus" as the main name, providing "Aarhus" as a new, second option, in brackets.

History

The Viking Age town (North is left). Reconstruction of an early church at Moesgaard Museum.

Early history

Founded in the early Viking Age, Aarhus is one of the oldest cities in Denmark, along with Ribe and Hedeby.

Achaeological evidence under the Aros settlement's defences indicate the site was a town as early as the last quarter of the 8th century, considerably earlier than had been generally supposed. Discoveries after a 2003 archaeological dig unearthed half buried longhouses, firepits, glass pearls and a road dated to the late 700s. Archaeologists have conducted several excavations in the inner city since the 1960s revealing wells, streets, homes and workshops. In the buildings and adjoining archaeological layers, everyday utensils like combs, jewellery and basic multi-purpose tools from approximately the year 900 have been found.

The centre of Aarhus was once a pagan burial site until Aarhus' first church, Holy Trinity Church, a timber structure, was built upon it during the reign of Frode, King of Jutland, around 900. In the 900s an earth rampart for the defence of the early city was constructed, encircling the settlement, much like the defence structures found at ring fortresses elsewhere. The rampart was later reinforced by Harald Bluetooth, and together with the town's geographical placement, this suggests that Aros was an important trade and military center. There are strong indications of a former royal residence from the Viking Age in Viby, a few kilometres south of the Aarhus city centre.

The bishopric of Aarhus dates back to at least 948 when Adam of Bremen reported the bishop Reginbrand attended the synod of Ingelheim in Germany. The bishopric and the town's geographical location propelled prosperous growth and development of the early medieval town. The finding of six runestones in and around Aarhus indicates the city had some significance around the year 1000, as only wealthy nobles traditionally used them. The era was turbulent and violent with several naval attacks on the city, such as Harald Hardradas assault around 1050, when the Holy Trinity Church was burned to the ground.

Middle Ages

The growing influence of the Church during the Middle Ages gradually turned Aarhus, with its bishopric, into a prosperous religious centre. Many public and religious buildings were built in and around the city; notably Aarhus Cathedral was initiated in the late 12th century by the influential bishop Peder Vognsen.

In 1441 Christopher III issued the oldest known charter granting market town status although similar privileges may have existed as far back as the 12th century. The charter is the first official recognition of the town as a regional power and is by some considered Aarhus' birth certificate.

Aarhus seen from north, 1768, by Erik Pontoppidan

The official and religious status spurred growth so in 1477 the defensive earthern ramparts, ringing the town since the Viking age, were removed to accommodate expansion. Aarhus grew to become one of the largest cities in the country by the early 16th century. In 1657 octroi was imposed in larger Danish cities which changed the layout and face of Aarhus over the following decades. Wooden city walls were erected to prevent smuggling, with gates and toll booths on the major thoroughfares, Mejlgade and Studsgade. The city gates funnelled most traffic through a few streets where merchant quarters were built.

In the 17th century, Aarhus entered a period of recession as it suffered blockades and bombardments during the Swedish wars and trade was dampened by the preferential treatment of the capital by the state. It was not until the middle of the 18th century growth returned in large part due to trade with the large agricultural catchment areas around the city; particularly grain proved to be a remunerative export. The first factories were established at this time as the industrial revolution reached the country and in 1810 the harbour was expanded to accommodate growing trade.

Industrialization

Following the Napoleonic wars, Denmark lost Norway and was excluded from international trade for some years which caused a recession for Aarhus' trade based economy that lasted until the 1830s. The economy turned around as the industrial revolution reached the city and factories with steam-driven machinery became more productive.

In 1838, the electoral laws were reformed leading to elections for the 15 seats on the city council. The rules were initially very strict allowing only the wealthiest citizens to run. In the 1844 elections only 174 citizens qualified out of a total population of more than 7,000. The first city council, mainly composed of wealthy merchants and industrialists, quickly looked to improve the harbour, situated along the Aarhus River. Larger ships and growing freight volumes made a river harbour increasingly impractical. In 1840, the harbour was moved to the coast, north of the river where it became the largest industrial harbour outside Copenhagen over the following 15 years. From the outset, the new harbour was controlled by the city council, as it is to this day.

Prussian soldiers herding cattle by Aarhus cathedral, 1864

During the First Schleswig War Aarhus was occupied by German troops from 21 June to 24 July 1849. The city was spared any fighting, but in Vejlby north of the city a cavalry skirmish known as Rytterfægtningen took place which stopped the German advance through Jutland. The war and occupation left a notable impact on the city as many streets, particularly in Frederiksbjerg, are named after Danish officers of the time. Fifteen years later, in 1864, the city was occupied again, this time for seven months, during the Second Schleswig War.

In spite of wars and occupation the city continued to develop. In 1851 octroi was abolished and the city walls were removed to provide easier access for trade. Regular steamship links with Copenhagen had begun in 1830 and in in 1862 Jutland's first railway was established between Aarhus and Randers.

In the second half of the 19th century industrialization came into full effect and a number of new industries emerged around production and refinement of agricultural products, especially oil and butter. Many companies from this time would come to leave permanent iconic marks on Aarhus. The Ceres Brewery was established in 1856 and served as Aarhus' local brewery for more than 150 years, gradually expanding into an industrial district known as Ceres-grunden (lit.: the Ceres-grounds). In 1896 local farmers and businessmen created KFK (Korn- og Foderstof Kompagniet), focused on grain and feedstuffs. KFK established departments all over the country, while its headquarters remained in Aarhus where its large grain silos still stand today. Otto Mønsted created the Danish Preserved Butter Company in 1874, focussing on butter export to England, China and Africa and later founded the Aarhus Butterine Company in 1883, the first Danish margarine factory. The industry became an important employer, with factory employees increasing from 100 in 1896 to 1,000 in 1931, effectively transforming the city from a regional trade hub into an industrial centre. Other new factories of note include the dockyard of Flydedokken and the oil mill of Århus Oliefabrik.

Aarhus became the largest provincial city in the country by the turn of the century and the city marketed itself as the "Capital of Jutland". The population increased from 15,000 in 1870 to 52,000 in 1901 and in response the city annexed large land areas to develop new residential quarters such as Trøjborg, Frederiksbjerg and Marselisborg. Many of its cultural institutions were also established at this time such as the Aarhus Theatre (1900), the national library (1902), Aarhus University (1928) and several hospitals.

Second World War

On 9 April 1940, German troops invaded Denmark and occupied the city, establishing their headquarters in the university and from 1943 the Gestapo based their headquarters for Jutland there as well. In the later years of the war Aarhus became an important transport hub for seaborne supplies to Norway. On 4 July 1944, a freight barge loaded with ammunition exploded in the harbour, killing 33 people and causing significant destruction to the harbour area.

Resistance fighters under fire, Bispetorv, 1945

In 1944 the resistance movement in Jutland encouraged the Allies to conduct an air raid against the German headquarters in Aarhus to destroy files and obstruct operations. On 31 October the Aarhus Air Raid saw a "daring, low-level precision bombing attack" on the Gestapo headquarters in Aarhus by 25 Mosquitoes from the Number 140 Wing of the RAF Second Tactical Air Force. Resistance leader Pastor Harald Sandbaek was being held captive there at the time. The bombs dropped in the centre of the former University of Aarhus building, killing an estimated 150–200 Gestapo members and some 30 Danes while destroying German files on the Danish resistance.

Several Schalburgtage operations took place between August 1944 and May 1945, when the occupation ended. The largest occurred on the night of 22 February 1945 when a series of explosions in central Aarhus destroyed or damaged a number of buildings, including Aarhus Teater. Other such operations included two attempts at destroying Aarhus City Hall, recently completed in 1941.

The surrender of German forces officially came into effect on 5 May 1945 but in Aarhus fighting broke out shortly before midday between resistance fighters and a small German force that refused surrender. The fighting claimed the lives of both resistance fighters and civilians but by the end of the day order was restored and on 8 May British forces entered the city, officially liberating it.

Post-war years

In the 1980s the city entered a period of rapid growth and the service sector overtook trade, industry and crafts as the leading sector of employment for the first time. Workers gradually began commuting to the city from most of east and central Jutland as the region became more interconnected. The student population tripled between 1965 and 1977 turning the city into a Danish centre of research and education. The growing and comparably young population initiated a period of creativity and optimism; Gaffa and the KaosPilot school were founded in 1983 and 1991 respectively, and Aarhus was at the center of a renaissance in Danish rock and pop music launching bands and musicians such as TV2, Gnags, Thomas Helmig, Bamses Venner, Anne Dorte Michelsen, Mek Pek and Shit & Chanel.

Since the turn of the millennium both skyline and land use has changed as former industrial sites are being redeveloped into new city districts. Starting in 2007, the former docklands are being converted to a new mixed use district dubbed "Aarhus Ø" (Aarhus Docklands). The site of the former Royal Unibrew Ceres breweries began redevelopment in 2012 into "CeresByen", a residential district with educational institutions. The former DSB repair facilities at Frederiks Plads have been demolished and is being developed into a new business district with high-rise buildings scheduled for completion in 2017. The main bus terminal is planned to be moved to the central train station by 2018 and the current site will be made into a new residential district. Construction of the first light rail system in the city commenced in 2013, with the first increment to be finished in 2017. The light rail system is planned to eventually tie many of the suburbs closer to central Aarhus. The next phase will connect a large planned suburb west of Lisbjerg.

Accelerating growth since the early 2000s brought the city to roughly 260,000 inhabitants by 2014. The rapid growth is expected to continue until at least 2030 when Aarhus municipality has set an ambitious target for 375,000 inhabitants.

Geography

Aarhus is located on the Bay of Aarhus on the eastern shore of the Jutland peninsula, by road 38.5 kilometres (23.9 mi) south of Randers, 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Horsens and 44 kilometres (27 mi) east of Silkeborg. Aarhus lies south of the peninsula of Djursland and faces the Kattegat to the east with the peninsulas of Mols and Helgenæs across the bay to the north and east.

Topography

Aarhus was founded on the northern shores of a fjord on the Bay of Aarhus which provides a natural harbour with a depth of 10 m (33 ft) quite close to the shore. The fjord no longer exists as it has gradually narrowed into the Aarhus River and Brabrand Lake west of the city. The land around Aarhus was once covered by forests, remains of which exist as Marselisborg Forest to the south and Riis Skov to the north. Several larger lakes extend west from the Skanderborg railway junction and the landscape rise to heights exceeding 152 metres (499 ft) at Himmelbjerget, forming part of the larger region called Søhøjlandet.

The hilly area around Aarhus consists of a moranial plateau from the last ice age, broken by a complex system of tunnel valleys. The most prominent valleys of this network are the Aarhus Valley in the south, stretching inland east-west with the Aarhus River, Brabrand Lake and Tåstrup Sø (Tåstrup Lake) and the Egå Valley to the north, with the stream of Egåen, Kasted Mose (Kasted Bog) and Geding Sø (Geding Lake). Much of the two valleys has been drained and subsequently farmed, but recently some of the drainage was removed for environmental reasons. The valley system also includes the Lyngbygård Å (Lyngbygård River) in the west and valleys to the south of the city, following erosion channels from the pre-quaternary. By contrast, the Aarhus River Valley and the Giber River Valley are late glacial meltwater valleys. The coastal cliffs along the Bay of Aarhus consist of shallow tertiary clay from the Eocene and Oligocene (57 to 24 million years ago).

Culture

Selected as European Capital of Culture in 2017, Aarhus prides itself on offering a combination of innovation, media and communication together with architecture and design, and has a wide variety of cultural institutions. The city has the youngest population in the country, hosts many annual cultural events and festivals, museums and theatres and presents some of the largest attractions in Denmark. There is a long tradition in music, with many popular bands having had their beginnings in Aarhus. The city is a member of the ICORN organization (International Cities of Refugee Network) in an effort to provide a safe haven to authors and writers persecuted in their countries of origin. The State and University Library (Statsbiblioteket) has the status of a national library.

Museums

Aarhus has many museums and two of the largest in the country measured by the number of visitors, Den Gamle By and ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum. Den Gamle By (The Old Town), officially Danmarks Købstadmuseum (Denmark's Market Town Museum), presents life from the 16th century to the 70s with individual areas focused on different time periods. 75 historic buildings collected from differen of parts of Denmark have been brought here to create a small town in its own right.

ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum

ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, the city's main art museum is one of the largest art museums in Scandinavia with a collection covering Danish art from the 18th century to the present day as well as paintings and sculptures by international artists. The iconic glass structure on the roof, Your Rainbow Panorama, was designed by Olafur Eliasson and features a promenade offering a colourful panorama of the city.

The Moesgård Museum specializes in archaeology and ethnography in collaboration with Aarhus University with exhibits on Denmark's prehistory, including weapon sacrifices from Illerup Ådal and the Grauballe Man. Kvindemuseet, the Women's Museum, from 1984 contains collections of the lives and works of women in Danish cultural history. the Occupation Museum (Besættelsesmuseum) presents exhibits illustrating the German occupation of the city during the Second World War; the University Park on the campus of Aarhus University includes the Natural History Museum with 5,000 species of animals, many in their natural surroundings; and the Steno Museum is a museum of the history of science and medicine with a planetarium. Kunsthal Aarhus (Aarhus Art Hall) hosts exhibitions of contemporary art including painting, sculpture, photography, performance art, film and video.

Performing arts

Aarhus Theatre The concert halls of Musikhuset

The city enjoys strong musical traditions, both classical and modern, with educational and performance institutions such as the concert halls of Musikhuset, the opera of Den Jyske Opera, Aarhus Symfoniorkester (Aarhus Symphony Orchestra) and Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium (Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus/Aalborg). Musikhuset is the largest concert hall in Scandinavia, with seating for 3,000 people. Other major music venues include VoxHall, rebuilt in 1999, the recently opened Atlas, and Godsbanen, a former railway station.

Since the 1970s, the city has seen major developments on the rock scene, with the arrival of many acclaimed bands such as Kliché, Under Byen, Gnags, TV-2, Michael Learns to Rock, Nephew, Carpark North, Spleen United, VETO, Hatesphere and Illdisposed in addition to popular individual performers like Thomas Helmig, Anne Linnet and Medina. Since 2010 the music production centre of PROMUS (Produktionscentret for Rytmisk Musik) has supported the rock scene in the city along with the publicly funded ROSA (Dansk Rock Samråd), which promotes Danish rock music in general.

The acting scene in Aarhus is diverse, with many groups and venues including Aarhus Teater, Svalegangen, EntréScenen, Katapult, Gruppe 38, Godsbanen, Helsingør Teater, Det Andet Teater and Teater Refleksion as well as several dance venues like Bora Bora and Granhøj Dans. The city hosts a biannual international theatre festival, International Living Theatre, the next event being scheduled for May 2015. The former goods station of Aarhus Godsbanegård has recently been thoroughly renovated and expanded with a new building. Now known as Godsbanen, it functions as a cultural centre, and offers numerous workshops for the artist community and local citizens.

Events and festivals

Aarhus hosts many annual or recurring festivals, concerts and events, with the festival of Aarhus Festuge as the most popular and wide-ranging. It is the largest multicultural festival in Scandinavia, always based on a special theme and takes place every year for ten days between late August to early September, transforming the inner city with festive activities and decorations of all kinds.

Regarding music, the eight-day Aarhus International Jazz Festival features jazz in many venues across the city. It was founded in 1988 and takes place in either July, August or September every year. There are several annually recurring music festivals for contemporary popular music in Aarhus. NorthSide Festival presents well known bands every year in mid June on large outdoor scenes. It is a new event, founded in 2010, but grew from a one-day event to a three-day festival in its first three years, now with 35,000 paying guests in 2015. Spot festival is aiming to showcase up-and-coming Danish and Scandinavian talents at selected venues of the inner city. The outdoor Grøn Koncert music festival takes place every year in many cities across Denmark, including Aarhus. Danmarks grimmeste festival (lit. Denmark's ugliest Festival) is a small summer music festival held in Skjoldhøjkilen, Brabrand.

Apart from the Aarhus Festuge, Aarhus also hosts specific recurring events, dedicated to various art genres. Initiated in 2009, Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus is a very popular bi-annual month-long outdoor sculpture exhibition on the beaches south of Aarhus. The 2015 event included sculptures from 24 countries and attracted an estimated half a million visitors. ILT (International Living theatre) is another bi-annual festival established in 2009, but with performing arts and stage art on a broad scale. The festival has a vision of showing the best plays and stage art experiences of the world, by presenting the best stage art companies of the world, while at the same time attracting stage art interested people from both Aarhus and Europe at large.

Aarhus hosts many large sports events, some of national and international scope.

The city of Aarhus actively promotes its gay and lesbian community and celebrates the annual Aarhus Pride gay pride festival. Aarhus Festuge usually includes exhibits, concerts and events designed for the LGBT communities. There are several clubs, discos and cafés aimed at gays and lesbians, including Danish D-lite (sports), Gbar (nightclub) and Gaia Vandreklub (hiking club).

Recreation and parks

The beech forests of Riis Skov and Marselisborg occupy the hills to the north and south, and apart from the city center of Midtbyen, sandy beaches forms the coastline of the entire municipality. The public seabath of Den Permanente below Riis Skov and close to the harbour area, offers the only sand beach in the city center. As in most of Denmark, there are no private beaches in the municipality, but access to the seabath requires a membership, except in the summer. The relatively mild, temperate marine climate, allows for outdoor recreation year round, including walking, hiking, cycling and outdoor team sports. Mountainbiking is usually restricted to marked routes. Watersports like sailing, kayaking, motor boating, etc. are also popular, and since the bay rarely freeze up in winter, they can also be practised most of the year. Recreational and transportational pathways for pedestrians and cyclists, radiates from the city center to the countryside, providing safety from motorized vehicles and a more tranquil experience. This includes the 30 kilometre long pathway of Brabrandstien, encircling the Brabrand Lake. The longrange hiking route Aarhus-Silkeborg, starts of from Brabrandstien.

Aarhus has an unusually high number of parks, 134 of them, covering a total area of around 550 ha (1,400 acres). The central Botanical Gardens (Botanisk Have) from 1875 is a popular destination, as it includes The Old Town open-air museum and hosts a number of events throughout the year. Originally used to cultivate fruit trees and other useful plants for the local citizens, it is now a significant collection of trees and bushes from different habitats and regions of the world, including a section devoted to native Danish plants. Recently renovated tropical and subtropical greenhouses, exhibit exotic plants from throughout the world. Also in the city centre is the undulating University Park, recognised for its unique landscaped design with large old oak trees. The Memorial Park (Mindeparken) at the coast below Marselisborg Palace, offers a panoramic view across the Bay of Aarhus and is popular with locals for outings, picnics or events. Other notable parks include the small central City Hall Park (Rådhusparken) and Marienlyst Park (Marienlystparken). Marienlyst Park is a relatively new park from 1988, situated in Hasle out of the inner city and is less crowded, but it is the largest park in Aarhus, including woodlands, large open grasslands and soccer fields.

Marselisborg Forests and Riis Skov, has a long history for recreational activities of all kinds, including several restaurants and opportunities for green exercise. There are marked routes here for jogging, running and mountainbiking and large events are hosted regularly. This includes running events, cycle racing and orienteering, the annual Classic Race Aarhus with historic racing cars and the biannual event Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus, all attracting thousands of people. Marselisborg Deer Park (Marselisborg Dyrehave) in Marselisborg Forests, comprise 22 ha (54 acres) of fenced woodland pastures with free-roaming sika and roe deer. Below the Moesgård Museum in the southern parts of the Marselisborg Forests, is a large historical landscape of pastures and woodlands, presenting different eras of Denmarks prehistory. Sections of the forest comprise trees and vegetation representing specific climatic epochs from the last Ice Age to the present. Dotted across the landscape are reconstructed Stone Age and Bronze Age graves, buildings from the Iron Age, Viking Age and medieval times, with grazing goats, sheep and horses in between.

Cuisine

Aarhus has a large variety of restaurants and eateries offering food from traditional Danish to international foods, especially Middle Eastern and Asian. Among the oldest are Rådhuscafeen (lit. City Hall Café), opened in 1924, serving a menu of traditional Danish courses and Peter Gift from 1906, a tavern with an international beer selection and a menu of smørrebrød and other Danish dishes.

Appraised high-end gourmet restaurants serving international cuisine include Fredrikshøj, Restaurant Varna, Miró, Nordisk Spisehus, Det Glade Vanvid, La Pyramide, Restaurant ET or Dauphine, all considered among the best in Denmark. Well established speciality places include the relaxed Ris Ras Filliongongong offering waterpipes and an award winning beer selection, the wine and book café of Løve's in Nørregade, Sherlock Holmes, a British-style pub with live music, the brew pub of Sct. Clemens with A Hereford Beefstouw restaurant and Thorups Kælder, a tavern located in rooms built by Cistercian monks in the 1300s.

Vendors of street food are numerous throughout the centre, often selling from small trailers on permanent locations formally known as Pølsevogne (lit. Sausage Wagons). Traditionally serving a Danish variety of hot dogs, sausages and other fast food. There are increasingly more outlets inspired by other cultural flavours such as sushi, kebab and currywurst. The city centre is packed with cafés, especially along the river and the Latin quarter. A few of them also includes an evening restaurant such as Café Casablanca, Café Carlton, Café Cross and Gyngen.

Infrastructure

Transport

Aarhus Airport, with only a few scheduled flights each day, is located 40 km (25 mi) north-east of Aarhus in Tirstrup. The much larger Billund Airport is situated 95 km (59 mi) south-west of Aarhus. There has been much discussion about constructing a better airport for Aarhus, but so far, the plans have not been realized. In August 2014, the city council officially initiated a process to assert the viability of a new international airport.

Aarhus Central Station

The main railway station in Aarhus is Aarhus Central Station located in the city centre. DSB has connections to destinations throughout Denmark and beyond. Two local railways provide commuter services to Grenaa and Odder. The Aarhus Letbane is a planned tram-train project which will link two railway lines with a new light rail route through the city. Most city bus lines go through the inner city and pass through either Park Alle or Banegårdspladsen (lit. English: "Central Station Square") or both. County and Inter-city buses terminate at Aarhus Bus Terminal which is located 900 meters north-west of Banegårdspladsen, and in front of the Radisson SAS Scandinavia hotel at Margrethepladsen. The long-distance busses of linie888 connect Aarhus to other cities in Jutland and Zealand.

The Danish ferry company Mols-Linien connects Aarhus with Copenhagen, on the island of Zealand, with rapid ferry connections to Sjællands Odde. Ferries operating between Aarhus and Sjællands Odden include HSC KatExpress 1 and HSC KatExpress 2, the world's largest diesel powered catamarans, and HSC Max Mols all of which cater to foot passengers, private vehicles and trucks.

Aarhus has a free bike sharing system, Aarhus Bycykler (Aarhus City Bikes). The bicycles are available from 1 April to 30 October at 57 stands throughout the city and can be obtained by placing a DKK 20 coin in the release slot, like caddies in a supermarket. The coin can be retrieved when the bike is returned. Bicycles can also be hired from many shops.

Healthcare

Aarhus University Hospital is one of the country's most specialized hospitals with sophisticated equipment and highly qualified staff. For each of the past three years, it has been ranked as Denmark's best hospital. The new hospital founded in 2011 has some 1,150 beds and a staff of about 10,000. It is the result of a merger between the former Århus Universitetshospital, Århus Sygehus and Skejby Sygehus. In the spring of 1999 the university hospital in conjunction with the Aarhus county authorities founded the Research Clinic for Functional Disorders and Psychosomatics. The hospital collaborates with the Psychiatric Hospital in Risskov, which also conducts psychiatric research. In October 2009, work started on the construction of a large new hospital and headquarters in Skejby, on what has become the largest construction site in Denmark. Scheduled to be completed in 2019, the New University Hospital (DNU) will be the largest hospital in the country and will serve patients from all over Central Denmark Region.

Ciconia Aarhus Private Hospital is a leading Danish fertility clinic with a significant sperm bank. Originally founded in 1984, it opened as the first clinic of its kind in Denmark. Ciconia has provided for the birth of 6,000 children by artificial insemination and continually conducts research into the field of fertility. Aagaard Klinik, established in April 2004, is another private clinic in the city which specializes in fertility and gynaecology. In 2013 it treated 2,920 patients and by 2013 was responsible for the birth of 1,900 children through fertility treatment. Aarhus Municipality also offers a number of specialized services in the areas of nutrition, exercise, sex, smoking and drinking, activities for the elderly, health courses and life style.