SKAGEN - DENMARK |
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Skagen (The Skaw) is a municipality in northern
Denmark, in the county of North Jutland on the peninsula of Jutland. The
municipality covers an area of 143 km², and has a total population of
12,691.
The nearby headland at Grenen is a spectacular setting where the two parts
of the Baltic Sea meet (the Kattegat and the Skagerrak).
The area is extremely picturesque, and
distinguished by its low, yellow houses with red tile roofs nestled into the
beach areas.
The area is also closely associated with a community of artists, an artist
colony, who flocked to this picturesque, and then unspoiled, area in the
late 1800s. In 1890 it had become considerable easier to travel to this
remote destination when Skagen became connected to the rest of the country
via a railroad line. |
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This group, which enjoyed the
reputation of a bohemian lifestyle, is sometimes referred to as
the Skagen Painters, even though it encompassed writers, and
other influential people as well. Among these notable visitors
and residents of the time were writers Holger Drachmann, Georg
Brandes, and Henrik Pontoppidan, and artists Peder Severin
Krøyer, Michael Ancher and Anna Ancher. They were often gathered
at the area's Brondums Hotel, which is still in operation today.
The area continues to be a popular tourist destination visited
by many people each year. A highlight of the year is the
celebration of Midsummer Eve or St. John's Evening (Sankt Hans
Aften) on the beach. |
