Roskilde

Introduction

Roskilde Cathedral

© sodkal

Roskilde is a city on the Danish island of Zealand. Roskilde is located in the east of Zealand and is one of Denmark's oldest cities, located in the southeastern part of Roskilde Fjord. It is the capital of Roskilde Municipality midway between Copenhagen, Ringsted, Holbæk while Denmark's 10th largest city with 47,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the Region Zealand.

With its infrastructure, the city is a regional hub and has been certainly since the 1700s with the construction of Roskildevej inauguration of Western Railway in 1847 and later construction of Holbæk motorway in the 1960s and Roskilde Airport in the 1970s.

Culturally the town is known for the Roskilde Cathedral, the Viking Ship Museum and the city is probably best known for the annual Roskilde Festival (see below).

Sights and Activities

• Roskilde Palace - Roskilde Palace (the Yellow Palace) The royal palace in Roskilde was built in 1733-36 at the place where the old bishop's palace had been, immediately east of the cathedral. The architect was the young royal builder Lauritz de Thurah. The Palace was the appropriate framework to His Majesty during transit or stay on the occasion of funerals of the royal family.
• Roskilde Cathedral - Roskilde Cathedrals special fame is undoubtedly due to that since 1400-year has been the royal family's favorite tomb church and therefore influenced the church, not least by the big four chapels there, along with the choir and the cemetery from 1985, contains burials for twenty kings and seventeen queens. The first chapel, the visitors meet are Christian 1's chapel which was built in the 1460s and was originally called Twelfth chapel.
• The Viking Ship Museum (Vikingeskibsmuseet) - The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde is the Danish museum for ships, seafaring and boatbuilding culture in ancient and medieval times. The oldest part of the museum, the Viking Ship Hall, opened in 1969. The hall was designed by architect Eric Christian Smith and built like a big display the five Viking ships from Skuldelev. Here also shown special exhibitions and films about the excavation of the ships. Viking Hall was listed in 1997.

Events and Festivals

• Roskilde Festival Roskilde Festival is northern Europe's biggest cultural and music festival and has existed since 1971. They are a non-profit organization that consists of approximately 25 permanent employees and thousands of volunteers. The union Roskilde Festival that is behind Roskilde Festival, ensures each year that proceeds from the festival will go to humanitarian and cultural purposes.

Getting There

By Boat

Denmark

© becksl19

Sleep

Upscale

Keep Connected

Internet

While Internet cafés are present in most larger cities, they are usually not geared for tourists and hence they can be a bit tricky to find. Hotels usually provide both wireless internet and computers with internet access, but whether this service is provided for free, varies greatly. Many cafés and bars also provide free wireless internet for paying customers, even when it is not signposted, so it is always a good idea to ask. A lot of the McDonalds restaurants in Denmark have a couple of internet terminals available for their customers. The easiest way to get online is often the public library, as there is one in almost every town. Public libraries are usually centrally located, well signposted (look for Bibliotek) and always free. There can be a bit of waiting time to get a free computer though, but there will normally also be some sort of reservation system in place.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

The general emergency number is 112. Denmark's international phone country code is 45. The prefix for international dialing is "00" or '+' (on a mobile phone). Bring your own unlocked GSM phone to make calls. Prepaid SIM cards are available at most shops and international calling can be reasonably priced. Any prepaid credit is generally only valid for calls made in Denmark, but can be purchased in small amounts to avoid waste when you leave. International collect calls are not allowed from phone booths, which are all ran by the TDC company. You should be able to make international call with the prepaid SIM cards anyways.

Post

Post Danmark A/S is Denmark's national postal service, and has a good reputation regarding service, speed and reliability. Sending a standard letter or postcard (up to 50 grams) costs 5 DKK within Denmark, 8 DKK to other European countries and 9 DKK outside Europe. Parcels up to 1 kilogram start at 75 DKK within Denmark, but are mostly 200 DKK or more to all other countries. The website has details about more prices and also about the opening hours of post offices, which vary widely from region to region but are usually open from around 9:30am until 5:00pm, 5:30pm on Thursdays. Most are open on Saturdays until 1:00pm. Apart from the post offices, some kiosks and newsagents sell stamps as well, and you will find postcards in many places. National and overseas mail must be placed in the red letterboxes that you will find almost everywhere. Collection times are posted on the letterboxes. As an alternative for sending parcels internationally, you might consider companies like TNT, UPS, DHL or FedEx, as they are fast, reliable and competitively priced in general.

External Links