Randers municipality

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Map of the future municipality

The old Town Hall on the square in Randers with statue of Niels Ebbesen in front.

Niels Ebbesen statue in front of the old Town Hall in Randers, Denmark.

Randers municipality is a municipality (Danish, kommune) in Aarhus County on the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 154 km², and has a total population of 62,336 (2005). Its mayor is Michael Aastrup Jensen, a member of the Venstre (Liberal Party) political party.

The main town and the site of its municipal council is the city of Randers.

Neighboring municipalities are Sønderhald and Nørhald to the east, Purhus to the north and west, Langå to the west and south, and Hadsten to the south.

The Guden River (Gudenå), Denmark's longest river runs from Randers Fjord in Nørhald municipality to the east, through the city of Randers, and splits in two ca. 5 kilometers west of the central city. The northern tributary is called Nørreå ("Northern River"), and it continues westward, defining part of the boundary between Århus and Viborg Counties, and terminates at Vedsø ("Lake Ved") near the town of Rindsholm in Viborg municipality. The 160 kilometer long Guden River continues to Tinnet Krat in Vejle County.

The city's nearly 3 kilometer long Guden River Park (Gudenåparken) stretches along the river's banks in the center of the town.

By January 1, 2007 Randers municipality will cease to exist as the result of Kommunalreformen ("The Municipality Reform" of 2007). It will be merged with existing Nørhald, Purhus, and a portion of each of the following municipalities— Langå, Sønderhald, and Mariager— to form an enlarged Randers municipality. This will create a municipality with an area of 793 km² and a total population of 96,409 (2005). The municipality will belong to the new Region Midtjylland ("Mid-Jutland Region").

1 Municipality population
2 The city of Randers
3 Famous residents of the municipality
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Municipality population

Per 1 January

1980 - 62.486
1985 - 61.127
1990 - 61.020
1995 - 61.435
1999 - 62.108
2000 - 61.983
2003 - 62.252
2004 - 62,137
2004 - 62,197 (september)

[edit] The city of Randers

Main article: Randers

The city of Randers is Denmark's 6th largest city, and has a population of 55,739 (2004).

[edit] Famous residents of the municipality

Henrik Pontoppidan (1857-1943), Nobel Prize laureate

Former Prime Minister Jens Otto Krag (1962-1968) was born and raised in Randers 1914, and lived there until 1932. He was the city's representative in Parliament (Folketinget) during most of his active Parliament career. He represented the Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterne) political party.