Skærbæk

Skærbæk (German: Scherrebek) is a town with a population of 3,062 (1 January 2014),[1] which was the seat of the former Skærbæk municipality (Danish, kommune) on the coast of Tønder municipality in Region of Southern Denmark on the Jutland peninsula in south Denmark. The former Skærbæk municipality covered an area of 360 square kilometres (140 sq mi) and had a total population of 7,294 (2005).

The municipality included the island of Rømø, the southernmost of Denmark's part of the North Frisian Islands. The island, which lies in the Wadden Sea about 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi) from the mainland, is a popular beach area in the summer, and is linked to the mainland by a road— Rømøvej— running across a causeway. There is ferry service from the harbour on Rømø to another popular summer island, the German island of Sylt, less than 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) south of Rømø.

The municipality was created in 1970 as the result of a kommunalreform ("Municipality Reform") that merged a number of existing parishes:

• Brøns Parish
• Døstrup Parish
• Mjolden Parish
• Rejsby Parish
• Rømø Parish
• Skærbæk Parish
• Vodder Parish

On January 1, 2007, Skærbæk municipality ceased to exist as the result of Kommunalreformen ("The Municipality Reform" of 2007). It was merged with Bredebro, Højer, Løgumkloster, Nørre-Rangstrup, and Tønder municipalities to form the new Tønder municipality. This created a municipality with an area of 1,352 square kilometres (522 sq mi) and a total population of 42,645 (2005).