Hvidovre

Hvidovre is the main town in Hvidovre Municipality, Denmark. The town, a suburb of Copenhagen, is about 10 km southwest of the capital's center.

Hvidovre from Store Hus in Avedøre

History

Hvidovre has been inhabited since prehistoric times. In 1929, a 3,500-year-old sword from the Bronze Age was excavated in Hvidovre.

A farm, Ovre (Aworthe), was located in the area in about 1170 when Esbern Snare gave it to Sorø Abbey that later passed it on to Bishop Absalon.[1] A church was built during the Romanesque period. The name Hvidovre, meaning White Ovre, refers to the colour of the church, which was built in white chalk, as opposed to the one in Rødovre, Red Ovre, which was built in red brick.

At the turn of the 20th century, Hvidovre was still a quiet rural community. In 1901, the parish still only had a population of 500.[2]

A "Ford box house"building

Some of the land closest to the border with Copenhagen was converted into allotments in the 1920s. At the end of World War One, Copenhagen suffered from severe housing shortage. Many of the farmers in Hvidovre saw it as an opportunity to make a substantial profit by selling their land off in small lots. 3,226 out of the 3,899 lots that existed in Hvidovre in 1924 had been sold off since 1918.[2] The buyers were typically workers from Copenhagen and the houses often built out of Chevrolet or Ford boxes, which had been used in the shipping of car parts from America. The boxes were cheap and delivered on the site.[2] Others lived in already existing summer houses. The settlement was not legal but by 1923 accounted for 34% of the population in the municipality.[2]

In May 1945, a few days before the end of World War II, a gun fight took place on the street of Hvidovrevej between Resistance fighters and members of the HIPO Corps.

Sport

The city is well known for its football team, Hvidovre IF. It is also the birthplace of Daniel Agger, Thomas Kahlenberg, Michael Krohn-Dehli and Jannik Vestergaard.

Culture

A film-production camp Filmbyen (founded by Lars von Trier and Peter Aalbæk Jensen's company Zentropa) is located in Hvidovre, which has been described as "a peculiar post-industrial filmmaking hub".[3]

Notable people

Johanne Pedersen-Dan, 1880's

• Johanne Pedersen-Dan (1860–1934) a Danish actress, singer and sculptor; lived and worked in Hvidovre from 1912
• Lars Clemmensen (born ca. 1945) a Danish Professor of Sedimentology, grew up in Hvidovre
• Robert Hansen (born 1979) a Danish actor and TV host [4]
• Kashif Ahmad (born 1980) a Pakistani-Danish politician and former Hvidovre Municipality councillor
• Manticora (formed in 1996) a heavy metal band from Hvidovre

Sport

Thomas Kahlenberg, 2014

• Gert Larsen (born 1960) a Danish curler and curling coach; ten-time Danish men's champion curler
• Michael Harry (born 1961) a Danish curler and curling coach; seven-time Danish men's champion curler
• Lasse Lavrsen (born 1963) a Danish curler and curling coach; seven-time Danish men's champion curler
• Johnny Frederiksen (born 1975) a Danish curler and skip of the men's Danish national team
• Lars Krogh Jeppesen (born 1979) a former Danish handball left back, who played over 200 club games and 123 for Denmark
• Thomas Kahlenberg (born 1983) a former Danish footballer with 338 club caps and 47 for Denmark
• Daniel Agger (born 1984) a Danish retired footballer with 252 club caps and 75 for Denmark
• Danny Olsen (born 1985) a retired Danish footballer with over 300 club caps
• Henrik Kildentoft (born 1985) a retired Danish footballer with over 250 club caps
• Kasper Lorentzen (born 1985) a Danish retired footballer with 185 club caps and five for Denmark
• Lene Nielsen (born 1986) a Danish curler, the skip of the 2014 Danish Olympic Curling Team
• Line Jørgensen (born 1989) a Danish handball player for Team Esbjerg and Denmark
• Jannik Vestergaard (born 1992) a Danish footballer with 240 club caps and plays for Southampton F.C., and has 16 caps for Denmark

References

1. "Hvidovre Kommune" (in Danish). Gyldendal. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
2. "Hvidovre" (in Danish). Arbejdermuseet. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
3. Elsaesser (2005), p. 26.
4. IMDb Database retrieved 29 July 2020

• Elsaesser, Thomas. European Film Industries: Face to Face with Hollywood. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2005. ISBN 90-5356-594-9

Twin city: Rydułtowy