Denmark's spiritual heartland — twin-spired cathedral and the ancient Hærvej
Viborg is one of Denmark's oldest cities, long the ecclesiastical capital of Jutland. Its twin-spired Romanesque-Gothic cathedral dominates the city from a ridge above two lakes, and beneath the cathedral lies a crypt filled with frescoes by Joakim Skovgaard — among the greatest works of 19th-century Danish religious art. Viborg is the start of the Hærvej, the ancient road used by pilgrims and Viking armies for 5,000 years across the Jutland heath, now a 500km walking and cycling route to the German border. The town has a compact medieval core with colourful half-timbered houses.
Viborg was a royal and ecclesiastical power centre from at least the 10th century. It was here that Knud the Holy was elected king of Denmark in 1080, and the Alting (national assembly) met here repeatedly through the medieval period. The current cathedral was built 1130–1190 in Romanesque style and rebuilt after a fire in 1726. The frescoes added by Joakim Skovgaard 1901–1906 cover the entire interior with 1,000 square metres of Old and New Testament scenes — the largest coherent fresco programme in northern Europe. Viborg lost its central political role when Copenhagen consolidated power, b…