ROSKILDE

:''This article is about the town in Denmark. For the music festival, see Roskilde Festival''
'Roskilde' is the main city in Roskilde municipality, Denmark on the island of Zealand. It is an ancient city, dating from the Viking Age.
Roskilde train station is a major stop between Copenhagen and Denmark to the west of the capital. Partly because of this, the city is an economic center for the region.
There is a pedestrian street with myriad shops, restaurants, and cafes running down the center of the city. Several tourist attractions draw visitors from around Denmark and the world. The local university has an education program that invites international students to attend for a year.

Contents

Tourist Attractions

Roskilde Cathedral

Viking Ships

Roskilde Festival

Transportation

Train station

Airport

Schools in Roskilde

Roskilde University Center

VUC

Roskilde Sprogcenter (Roskilde Language Centre)

See also

External links

References

Tourist Attractions

Roskilde Cathedral

Main articles: Roskilde Cathedral

The city's early importance is evident from the fact that the Roskilde Cathedral was the only cathedral in Zealand until the 20th century. Built in the 12th and 13th centuries, it was the first Gothic cathedral to be built of brick and its construction encouraged the spread of this style throughout northern Europe. The cathedral is the burial site for Danish monarchs and is a major tourist attraction attracting over 125,000 visitors annually. Since 1995 the cathedral has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A working church, it also hosts concerts throughout the year.
Connected to the church is a palace. Roskilde Palace was built between 1733-36. Built onto of the former location of another palace (that of a former bishop of Roskilde), it is today a museum and residence of the current bishop of Roskilde.^[1]

Viking Ships

Another attraction in the city is the Viking Ship Museum (''Vikingeskibsmuseet''). The centrepieces of its collection are the well-preserved remains of five Viking ships, excavated from nearby Roskilde Fjord in the late 1960s. The ships were scuttled there in the 11th century to block a navigation channel, thus protecting the city which was then the Danish capital, from seaborne assault. The museum also undertakes research in experimental archaeology centred on Viking shipbuilding and seaworthiness. These five ships represent two distinct classes of Viking Ships. The Longship and Warship. This does not exclude smaller fishing and ferryships, which range from 10 feet (3 m) to 50 feet (15 m). ^[2]

Roskilde Festival

Main articles: Roskilde Festival

Since 1971 the Roskilde Festival, a rock music festival, has been held annually on the fairgrounds near Roskilde. It has grown to become one of the biggest rock/pop festivals in Europe. All profits from this festival are donated to charities. The fairgrounds are also the site of regionally popular agricultural and animal exhibitions, as well as large flea markets. ^[3]
Roskilde Festival

Transportation

Train station

Roskilde has a four platform train station with seven tracks which serves as a central hub connecting southern Zealand, the islands of Falster and Lolland, west Zealand and Jutland to Copenhagen.
It is the oldest train station in Denmark still operating and the first built of stone. The first train arrived from Copenhagen on June 26th, 1847.

Airport

Opened April 1, 1973, Roskilde has a small airport, serving light aircraft for training, taxi and flight instruction. There are existing plans to expand the airport for use by larger aircraft, which are pending an environmental impact assessment. The airport currently handles up to 100,000 operations (flights) per year.

Schools in Roskilde

There are eleven public primary schools in the municipality split up between eleven school districts, six gymnasiums, offering Upper Secondary School Exit Examinations, Higher Preparatory Examinations, Higher Commercial Examination Programme and Higher Technical Examination Programme. There are many adult education, technical and trade schools outside of the gymnasiums, including one university.

Roskilde University Center

In the 20th century, Roskilde became a university city; Roskilde University Center (Danish: ''Roskilde Universitetscenter'') was founded in 1972. Roskilde University (RUC) is located in the eastern side of Roskilde in a neighborhood called Trekroner (after a signalman's cabin on the Roskilde-Copenhagen line). From Roskilde station, Trekroner (literally Three Crowns) is one train stop away. RUC hosts students from around the world and through its Student Council has created the International Club RUC to create connections betweeen the university's Danish and international students. RUC also has on-campus dormitory style housing and apartments, however, many students commute from Copenhagen to attend RUC.

VUC

VUC, meaning Voksen Uddannelse Center (Adult Education Center), is a school in the center of Roskilde. Privatized in 2004/2005, it administers several degree programs ranging from 2 year HF (Higher Preparatory Examination (HF)) programs, FVU (Forberedende Voksen Uddannelse: Supplementery Adult Education) classes and AVU (Almen Voksen Uddannelse: Normal Adult Education) classes. The Center is situated in the former varehouse of the well known Danish merchant Torsten Fogh Dybvad

Roskilde Sprogcenter (Roskilde Language Centre)

Roskilde Sprogcenter is a school for adults who study Danish as a second language.
The language centre provides courses for all levels of Danish as well as the certified exams "Prøve i dansk 1"(ALTE level A2- B2), Prøve i dansk 2"(ALTE level B1-B2), "Prøve i dansk 3"(ALTE level B2 - required for citizenship), and "Studieprøven"(ALTE level C1).
The school is located just south of the city centre.

See also

★ Treaty of Roskilde

★ Roskilde Festival

External links

★ Roskilde Domkirke (English version of Danish site)

★ Vikingeskibsmuseet (Viking Ship Museum, in Danish)

★ Roskilde University Center

★ Roskilde photos

★ Roskilde Festival website (extremely popular music festival)

★ Gimle (volunteer based music venue)

★ Satellite image from WikiMapia

References

1. Slots- og Ejendomsstyelsen - Roskilde Palace - History
2. HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE SHIP - LECTURE NOTES J.S. Illsley
3. Roskilde Festival


★ Municipal statistics: NetBorger Kommunefakta, delivered from KMD aka Kommunedata (Municipal Data)

★ Municipal mergers and neighbors: Eniro new municipalities map