Ribe

Ribe (Ripen), the oldest extant Danish town, is in southwest Jutland and has a population of 8,168 (1 January 2014). It is the seat of the Diocese of Ribe covering southwestern Jutland.

Until 1 January 2007, Ribe was the seat of both a surrounding municipality, and county. It is now part of the enlarged Esbjerg Municipality in the Region of Southern Denmark.

History
Established in the first decade of the 8th century and first attested in a document dated 854 AD; Ribe is the oldest town in Denmark.

When Ansgar the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, set out on the "Mission to bring Christianity to the North", he made a request in 860, to the King of Denmark, that the first Scandinavian church be built in Ribe. This was not coincidental, since Ribe already at that point was one of the most important trade cities in Scandinavia. However the presence of a bishop, and thus a cathedral, in Ribe can only be confirmed from the year 948 AD.

The town has many well-preserved old buildings, Ribe Cathedral, and about 110 houses are under Heritage Protection. Denmark's oldest town hall is found on the town's Von Støckens Plads. The building was erected in 1496, and was purchased by the city for use as a town hall in 1709.

Timeline

 * Early 8th century AD, founding of Ribe.
 * The Treaty of Ribe was proclaimed in 1460.
 * 3 September 1580: a great fire destroys a large part of the town. 11 streets and 213 houses burn down.
 * 11–12 October 1634: a storm tide floods the city with waterlevels rising to 6.1 meters above average.
 * 1 January 2007: the Municipality of Ribe ceased to exist as it merged with the municipalities of Esbjerg and Bramming, now forming a new municipality of Esbjerg.
 * 4 June 2010: residents celebrated the city's 1300th anniversary with a town-wide party

Cultural and environmental features
There are numerous cultural and environmental features of Ribe. Among the cultural highlights are notable churches and museums. The flora and fauna, while depleted in large part from the man-made development and surrounding agricultural land conversion, retain notable aspects of the natural environment. The Ribe River flows through town and hosts certain elements of riparian habitat. Certain notable birdlife is found in and near the town; the European White Stork, Ciconia ciconia, is one of the historic inhabitants of the town, choosing to build nests atop chimneys. This bird has steadily declined in population throughout Western Europe due to agricultural land conversion as well as droughts in its wintering range in Africa.

The following list some of the specific town features:
 * Churches
 * Ribe Cathedral (Ribe Domkirke)  —  The bells of Ribe Cathedral  playing the folk song about Queen Dagmar called Dronning Dagmar ligger i Ribe syg ("Queen Dagmar lies in Ribe sick").
 * Saint Catharinæ Church and Monastery.
 * Museums
 * Ribe Viking Museum (Museet Ribes Vikinger)
 * Ribe Art Museum (Ribe Kunstmuseum)
 * Ribe Viking Centre (Ribe Vikingecenter)
 * Denmark's oldest province museum (Antikvarisk Samling)
 * The Night Watchman in Ribe . Every evening from 1 May until 15 September you may accompany the night watchman in Ribe on his route through the old town, while he is singing to alert citizens about bedtime approaching.
 * Wadden Sea Center (Vadehavscentret)
 * Mandø Mill (Mandø Mølle)
 * The Mandø House (Mandøhuset)
 * Mandø Island nature reserve, about 30 km southwest

Notable people



 * Playwright Kjeld Abell.
 * Hans Adolf Brorson, Danish Pietist clergyman and hymn writer.
 * The poet Anders Christensen Bording.
 * Emil Christian Hansen, the father of Modern Brewing: At the Carlsberg Laboratories in Copenhagen, he was the first to discover that yeast was composed of different kinds of fungi and that the yeast culture could be cultivated. With this discovery, he was able to produce hybrid yeast. This yeast, known as Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, which allowed the brewing of lager beer, is today used in the vast majority of beer production worldwide.
 * Björn Dunkerbeck, Windsurfing World Champion.
 * Kristen Feilberg, born in 1839 at Vester Vedsted near Ribe was an early Danish photographer who, from the 1860s, photographed the native peoples and landscapes of Sumatra, Singapore, and Penang.
 * J. Bodewalt Lampe, American composer, arranger, performer and band leader of ragtime and syncopated dance music. With the exception of Scott Joplin, Lampe was possibly the most famous composer of ragtime songs of the early 20th century.
 * Rued Langgaard romantic composer and organist, born 28 July 1893 in Copenhagen — died 10 July 1952 in Ribe.
 * John Lauridsen football player. Played for Esbjerg fB, Espanyol and CD Malaga.
 * Holger K. Nielsen former leader of the Socialist People's Party, was born in Ribe and graduated from Ribe Katedralskole in 1969.
 * Jacob A. Riis, an American immigrant photographer famous for his book How the Other Half Lives, a pioneering work of photojournalism. He was also a longtime friend of Theodore Roosevelt.
 * Maren Spliid (Splids) was burned at a fire at the Gallows Hill near Ribe on 9 November 1641. She was probably the most well known Danish victim for persecutions of witches.
 * Hans Tausen, protagonist of the Danish Reformation was the Bishop of Ribe from 1542–1562.

Official Honorary Citizens
The following have been declared Honorary Citizens of Ribe: (By year)
 * Stiftsfysikus J.J. Kiær (1911)
 * Town Archivist C.N. Termansen (1934)
 * Editor C. Willemoes (1946)
 * Chairman of the Ny Carlsbergfondet, H. E .Nørregård-Nielsen (2005)

Education
The town of Ribe has a long history as a center of education, namely the Gymnasium (High School) called Ribe Katedralskole (cathedral school) has its roots in the Latin School of Ribe, dating back to at least 1145. Although confirmed to be older, this is the date for the oldest still existing document that confirms the school’s existence. Ribe Katedralskole is more than 850 years old, and is the oldest continuously existing school in Scandinavia.

Schools

 * Ribe Katedralskole.
 * The State College of Education in Ribe (Teacher Training College), part of The University College of West Jutland
 * Ribe Business College.
 * VUC (Adult Education Center).

Demographics
The following table shows the population of Ribe. Data from before the 18th century are estimates, the rest are taken from the official census.

Industry
Dancake has a factory in Ribe.

Twin cities and towns
(alphabetic list)
 * 🇫🇷 Balleroy, région Basse-Normandie, France
 * Ely, county of Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.
 * 🇩🇪 Güstrow, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
 * 🇦🇹 Krems, federal state of Lower Austria, Austria.
 * 🇳🇴 Leikanger, county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway.
 * 🇩🇪 Ratzeburg, state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
 * 🇸🇪 Strängnäs, county of Södermanland, Sweden.
 * Tainan, Republic of China (Taiwan).