Odense Hotels

The city of Odense Danish pronunciation: is the third largest city in Denmark. The name Odense comes from the Norse god Odin. Odense city has 158,163 inhabitants, as of January 1, 2008 and is the main city of the island of Funen.. It is the seat of Odense Municipality. and was the seat of Odense County until 1970, and Funen County from 1970 until January 1, 2007 when the county became part of Region Syddanmark.Odense (from Odins Vé, meaning "Odin's shrine", referring to the god Odin of Denmark's indigenous Norse mythology), is one of the oldest cities of Denmark and had its 1000th anniversary in 1988. To celebrate this, a forest named "the Thousand Year Forest" (Danish: Tusindårsskoven) was cultivated. The shrine of Saint Canute in Saint Canute's Cathedral held great attraction for pilgrims throughout the Middle Ages. In the 16th century the town was the meeting-place of several parliaments, and down to 1805 it was the seat of the provincial assembly of Funen. Odense's most famous landmark was Odinstårnet. constructed in 1935, as the second-tallest tower in Europe, only surpassed by the Eiffel Tower.. Odinstårnet was blown up by a Danish Nazi group in 1944 and has never been rebuilt. However, a miniature model of it now stands in the residential area Odinsparken in the area where the original tower was. Until the beginning of the Danish industrial revolution, Odense was also the 2nd largest city in modern Denmark, but has in recent times been overtaken by Aarhus.