Roskilde

The town of Roskilde in the county seat of the county commune of Roskilde, situated at the head of Roskilde Fjord in eastern Zealand, Denmark, in an area renowned for its ancient sacred springs. From ca. 1020 to 1416 it was the seat of the Danish kings and until 1443 the capital of Denmark. It was the most important ecclesiastical center in Denmark until the Protestant Reformation. In 1658 the Treaty of Roskilde was signed there, ending war with Sweden. Historic architecture includes the cathedral, partly Romanesque and partly Gothic, begun in 1170 and finished in 1464. A long line of Danish kings and queens are buried there. The modern town is a major railway center and its industrial activities feature bacon factories, tanneries, distilleries, and a high school for industrial workers. It serves as a residential suburb of Copenhagen. The 2004 estimated population was 43,700.