Virum

Virum is a mostly residential, suburban neighbourhood in Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality, located on both sides of Lyngby Kongevej, approximately 15 km north of central Copenhagen, Denmark. The neighbourhood is bounded by Lake Furesø to the west, Holte in Rudersdal Municipality to the north, Brede to the east and Kongens Lyngby and Sorgenfri to the south. Virum station is located on the Hillerød radial of the S-train network and is served by the Btrains. Virum is known for its religious society.

Virum Torv

History

Early history
Virum (Wyrum) seen on a map from c. 1780

The village of Virum is first mentioned in a papal letter from 1186 but is no doubt considerably older. The name "an open place which is easy to defend" ( vigi: "easily defendable place" and -rum: open place). In the letter, Pope Clement III gives the Virum as well as many other villages in the area tio to Bishop Absalon. Absalon soon ceded the villages to the Bishopric of Roskilde.

The Bishop of Roskilde constructed the small castle Hjortholm at the site in circa 1250. The castle was destroyed during the Count's Feud in 1535. Frederick III took over the estate in 1668. He renamed it Frederiksdal and constructed a small hunting lodge at the site.

The old village

The village of Virum was located where Virumgade is today. It belonged to the parish of Lyngby. The land was divided into three areas called "Geelsvang", "Mellemvang" and "Høftevang" which were subdivided into fields and crops were rotated in accordance with the three-field system. The marchy land down towards Furesøen was grazed by livestock. In 1682, it consisted of 13 farms, three houses with land and 14 houses without land.[1]

The modern suburb
Virum Torv

The modern suburb was planned in connection with the conversion of the North Line into an S-train line. Virum station opened in 1936. The ambition was to create a healthy, well-functioning suburb with a population the size of a medium large Danish provincial town. The centre of the new suburb was Virum Torv, a mixed-use development centred on a roundabout next to the station. It contained retail space, service functions and apartments. Its northeastern corner was completed in 1939, its southeastern corner in 1943 and its southwestern corner less than a year later. A cinema, Virum Bio, was from the beginning located in the building on the southeastern corner. The same building also contained an Irma supermarket.[2]

Landmarks

Frederiksdal Castle is located in Virum. Its main building was built from 1744–45 and was used as a summer residence for Foreign Affairs, Privy Councilor Johan Sigismund Schulin. The Schulin Family still owns the estate.[3]

Transport

Virum station is located on the Hillerød radial of the S-train network and is served by the Btrains. Brede Station in the eastern outskirts of Virum is served by the Lokaltog service on the Nærum Line between Jægersborg in the south and Nærum to the north.

Virum Church is from 1937 and was designed by Niels Skrivers. Virum Gymnasium is from 1957.

Notable people
Henrik Sass Larsen, 2009
Jakob Piil, 2005

Sport
  • Jan Popiel (born 1947) a Danish-Canadian former ice hockey player
  • Klaus Berggreen (born 1958) a former footballer with over 200 club caps and 46 for Denmark
  • John Helt (born December 29, 1959) is a Danish former footballer with over 300 club caps and 39 for Denmark
  • Jakob Piil (born 1973) a Danish former professional road bicycle racer
  • Mikkel Beckmann (born 1983) a retired Danish footballer with 249 club caps
  • Thomas Kristensen (born 1983) a footballer with over 400 club caps and nine for Denmark
  • Frederiksdal Castle
  • The remains of the ramparts of Hjortholm castle
  • Virum church
  • Virum village

References
  1. "Det gamle Virum - fra landsby til soveb". nybohuse.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  2. "Ugens lokalhistoriske billede: Udbygning af Virum" (in Danish). Det Grønne Område. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  3. http://www.frederiksdalslot.dk/frederiksdalslot.htm

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