Skagen (original) (raw)
Skagen (The Skaw) is a municipality in northern Denmark, in the county of North Jutland on the peninsula of Jutland. The municipality covers an area of 143 km², and has a total population of 12,691.
The nearby headland at Grenen is a spectacular setting where the two parts of the Baltic Sea meet (the Kattegat and the Skagerrak).
The area is extremely picturesque, and distinguished by its low, yellow houses with red tile roofs nestled into the beach areas.
The area is also closely associated with a community of artists, an artist colony, who flocked to this picturesque, and then unspoiled, area in the late 1800s. In 1890 it had become considerable easier to travel to this remote destination when Skagen became connected to the rest of the country via a railroad line.
This group, which enjoyed the reputation of a bohemian lifestyle, is sometimes referred to as the Skagen Painters, even though it encompassed writers, and other influential people as well. Among these notable visitors and residents of the time were writers Holger Drachmann, Georg Brandes, and Henrik Pontoppidan, and artists Peder Severin Kr�yer, Michael Ancher and Anna Ancher. They were often gathered at the area's Brondums Hotel, which is still in operation today.
The area continues to be a popular tourist destination visited by many people each year. A highlight of the year is the celebration of Midsummer Eve or St. John's Evening (Sankt Hans Aften) on the beach.