Taastrup, Denmark

Taastrup is a town on the island of Zealand and is located about 21km west of Copenhagen. Taastrup has 31,917 (2008) inhabitants, and is located in the Municipality of Høje-Taastrup. Høje-Taastrup Municipality has a population of 47,158 (2008).

The town of Taastrup lies to the east of the town of Høje Taastrup, and has the municipality's prime shopping street on Køge Street (Køgevej). The street was extensively renovated in the past few years, and provides a traditional, Danish outdoors shopping environment.

The area offers an extensive system of hiking and bike trails through grass and marsh areas.

History

The first major road connecting Copenhagen to Roskilde (35km west of Copenhagen) was built in 1642 by King Christian IV. It was called The King's Road (Kongevejen), and was replaced in the 1700s by the current roadway.

The nearby town of Hedehusene has one of Denmark's oldest runestones, The Kallerup Stone (Kallerupstenen) from ca. 800-825. It is erected at Ansgarkirken.

In the nearby village of Vridsloesemagle the world famous Danish astronomer Ole Rømer (1644-1710) built an observatory. The observatory operated until about 1716 when the remaining instruments were moved to the Rundetårn ("Round Tower") in Copenhagen. Nothing remains of the observatory today. However, there is a museum which is dedicated to his works (Ole Rømer Museum) situated near the former site of the observatory. The museum houses a large collection of ancient and more recent astronomical instruments.

LastUpdate: 2015-04-21 23:01:05