Skagen (The Skaw) is a projection of land and a town in Region Nordjylland on the northernmost tip of Vendsyssel-Thy, a part of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. Skagen is located in Frederikshavn municipality.
Skagen takes its name from the region, which projects into the waters between the North Sea and the straits of Denmark. Skagen is considered the boundary between the Skagerrak (named after Skagen) and the Kattegat. At its very tip is a sandy, shifting headland known as Grenen. Here it’s possible to experience the sight of waves clashing together from each side of the tip.
Skagen stretches out to the northeast surrounded by the following waters: to the east is Ålbæk Bay (Ålbæk Bugt) and beyond that the waters of the Kattegat, the strait that separates Denmark from Sweden, to the west is Tannis Bay (Tannis Bugt) and beyond that the waters of the Skagerrak, the strait that separates Denmark from Norway.
The headland at Grenen, the northernmost point of Denmark, is a spectacular setting where the two parts of the North Sea, the Kattegat and the Skagerrak meet. This makes for turbulent seas and strandings— beachings and shipwreckings are not uncommon. The frequent shipping losses and the strategic location as the gateway to the Baltic led to Skagen being the site of one of Denmark’s earliest lighthouses, the Vippefyr, constructed in the 15th century. A reconstruction of the lighthouse is located to the north of the town of Skagen.
The lighthouse was originally built and funded by the late Medieval Danish state with the proceeds of the “sound dues”, and was superseded by the “white lighthouse” or hvidefyr in the 17th century, and then the far taller “grey lighthouse” or gråfyr of the 1850s.
The desertification that hit the area in the 18th and 19th centuries led to the abandonment of the old parish church to the migrating sands— the famous Buried Church (Den tilsandende Kirke). The tower of the church remains protruding from the dunes, as it was left as a sea marker when the church was abandoned at the close of the 18th century.
The area is extremely picturesque, and distinguished by its low, yellow houses with red tile roofs nestled into the beach areas. The impressive and wild landscape was largely formed by a severe process of desertification that hit the area in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Problems with moving dunes and desertification were brought under control in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries by large-scale plantations of grasses, bushes and fir trees. Two significant migratory dunes remain in the area, including the enormous Råbjerg Mile.
The area is closely associated with the Skagen Painters, a community of artists (artist colony), who flocked to this picturesque, and then unspoiled, area in the late 1800s to escape the city and to record artistically a way of life they realized was soon to disappear.
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 with blazing bonfire and song. Skagen is the setting for small but important parts of Jonathan Coe’s novels The Rotters Club and The Closed Circle.
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