Never heard of Aarhus? With current darling Copenhagen grabbing the lion’s share of travelers’ attention given to Denmark, it’s no wonder Australians are unfamiliar with the country’s second-largest city, despite several ties to us Down Under. Aarhus is just a short 25 minute flight from Copenhagen.
Aarhus is known as the City Of Smiles and is one of those small cities blessed with an infrastructure of a much larger place, meaning it has excellent cultural and social opportunities to keep all the good looking people busy when they are not working, studying, or riding their bicycles. A university town, one-third of the city’s population is under 35 years old, and everyone seems to enjoy life to the fullest.
The main attraction in Aarhus is ARoS, an art museum crowned by Your Rainbow Panorama, the work of Icelandic/Danish artist Olafur Eliasson that became an instant symbol of the city when it was unveiled this past May, displacing Australian artist Ron Mueck’s giant hyperrealist sculpture as the most recognisable image associated with Aarhus. Your Rainbow Panorama is visible from every part of the city and serves as something of a compass to help visitors know where they are. As the Guggenheim does for Bilbao, ARoS alone makes a visit to Aarhus worthwhile.
In addition to the contemporary art exhibits (temporary) and the rainbow crown (permanent), there is an impressive display of painting from Denmark’s Golden Age that will please traditionalists and provides an artistic counterpoint to the modern displays. More rainbow references are seen at the Steno Museum on the grounds of the University of Aarhus, though these are with a decidedly more scientific theme.
That art plays a huge role—literally and figuratively—in Aarhus is not at all surprising given the appreciation the locals themselves display toward a high quality of life. While many of Europe’s largest cities endure increasingly visible social ills, this is not the case in Aarhus, where beggars are unheard of. Not that everyone is rich; in fact, everyone seems to be not rich, but doing fine as students or working in their own businesses. In contrast to the Australian government’s unfortunate choice to abandon universal free education and follow the American model by having university students deeply indebted simply by the time they have a degree, Danish students are paid by the Danish government to study as if university education were a full-time job.
The starving student concept is totally anathema here, where lively cafés and bars buzz with new ideas.
Among all the creativity are new designs for fashion. Fashion is as fashion does, and in Denmark fashion does more than accentuate the curves of an unfathomably high number of beautiful young men and women who call Aarhus home.
There is a number of small boutiques selling one-off fashions designed by artfully creative locals, though the fine cuts of clothes found in Sand, the Danish equivalent of Hugo Boss, are also very appealing, as attractive as all the perfect hangers walking around town just waiting to be draped in finery in spring, autumn, and winter. In summer, clothes become superfluous to young Danes, casting off layers to have a bit of sunlight warm flawless skin.
Despite the finery of the garb on offer, Danes still look best in their birthday suits after all.
That unblemished epidermis can be seen every two years along the beaches to the south of the city where the Danish version of Sydney’s Sculpture By The Sea is held thanks to the impetus of that most resolute of Australian ties to Denmark, Crown Princess Mary, and her husband the future king, Crown Prince Frederik, who together are referred to in Denmark as The Royal Couple.
Vintage clothes can be seen on the backs of the actors portraying historic roles at Den Gamle By, an outdoor museum of old buildings meant to showcase the architectural history of Denmark. Not the tourist trap one would expect, Den Gamle By’s mission to preserve Danish history is as genuine as the buildings themselves.
And where to find some of the city’s LGBT residents enjoying their rainbow city? GBar, just around the corner from the lovely Villa Provence hotel, is located on the party strip called Skolegade (School Street).
This is Denmark, though, where gay people are able to express themselves in any establishment just like the heteros do, so it is not uncommon to find gay couples enjoying themselves all over town eating traditional lunches at Raadhus Caféen, delicious dinners at casual-chic Nordisk Spisehus, or shopping in the maze of narrow Old Town streets.
It is likely that travellers to Aarhus will pass through Copenhagen en route. If you have never been to Copenhagen, it is worth staying several days to see what’s new in one of Europe’s most funloving capitals. There are festivals all year long in Copenhagen, including several gay-themed events. Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) often features gay venues and events in its Scanorama inflight magazine to inform LGBT travelers and others with the latest news.
From Perth, the easiest connection is through Bangkok, though with the flexible fares offered by SAS it is possible to stop over in one city on the outbound travel and a different one on the return, making for the opportunity to have a varied holiday on one plane ticket.
MORE INFORMATION
www.flysas.com.au
www.visitaarhus.com
www.villaprovence.dk
www.dengamleby.dk
www.aros.dk
www.gbar.dk
Robert La Bua
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