Tommerup, Odense, Denmark
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Odense, city, northern Funen island, Denmark, on the Odense River. The site was sacred in pagan times as the vi, or sanctuary, of Odin (one of the principal gods in Norse religion) but was first recorded in history about AD 1000. A bishop’s seat from the 10th century, it became a centre for religious pilgrimages in the Middle Ages after the canonization of Canute IV, who was murdered before the high altar in St. Alban’s Church in 1086. Odense was burned (1247) during a royal rivalry but recovered to thrive as a commercial centre in the 16th and 17th centuries (it had been chartered in 1335). Growth and trade were stimulated when it became a port with the construction of the harbour and the opening of the Odense Canal (1804). Odense is one of Denmark’s main manufacturing centres; it is home to the Albani brewery (founded in 1859), in addition to modern machinery, electronics, and pharmaceutical plants.
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