Sorø () is a town in Sorø municipality on the island of Zealand in east Denmark with a population of 8,433 (2025). It lies on the northeastern shore of Sorø Lake. The municipal council and the regional council are located in Sorø.

The town was founded in the 12th century by Bishop Absalon, as a Cistercian Abbey. The site also contained Sorø Klosterkirke, the church where Bishop Absalon and Margaret I of Denmark were buried (she was later moved to Roskilde Domkirke). In the 16th century, the Abbey was converted into a school, which became Sorø Academy. Despite the construction of a rail line through the town in the mid-19th century, the academy remained the core of the settlement, and Sorø has limited industry. Today, Sorø is a commuter town, as much of its population works in either greater Copenhagen or Roskilde.

Sorø has a number of museums, including Sorø Museum, Sorø Art Museum, and the Hauch Collection at Sorø Academy. In addition, there are many historical buildings in the town; the Abbey gate dates to the 1160s.

Etymology

Over the course of its early history, the town was referred to as Sora, Soor, Soram, Soræ, Zore, and Soerøe. The spelling Sorø has been in use since the 15th century. Its name is derived from the neighboring lake (Danish: Sorø Sø), and means "the damp lake" or "the muddy lake." Allegedly, Absalon choose to replace the Benedictine order as they were ill-equipped to run the monastery grounds, and the Cistercians had more experience with land management. Sorø Abbey became the largest and wealthiest monastic site in Denmark, complete with a school for the training of clergy.

thumb|[[Abbey Gate (Sorø)|Sorø Abbey Gate, constructed between 1160 and 1200.]]The abbey's status, however, did not last. By the time of the reformation in 1536, the monastery was used exclusively as a retirement home for monks. Sorø was allowed to remain a Protestant monastery to administer its large land possessions. In 1586, King Frederik II formally abolished the monastery, foundeding a boarding school on the site for the boys of the bourgeoisie and nobility, which eventually became known as Sorø Academy. The school's first independent buildings were constructed in 1747 following the bequest of most of Ludvig Holberg's estate to the academy.

The academy's village

The forests, lakes, and marshes which surround Sorø made it difficult to establish trade routes through the settlement. A small urban community with a number of craftsmen had grown in Sorø following its market town privileges, but most farmers in the area still preferred to travel to older markets to trade their harvests, and so the town struggled to maintain a significant trade. In contrast to most other Danish towns, the arrival of the railway did not result in a significant increase in industrialisation, and the town remained dominated by the academy, and other schools which had been founded in the area.

Notable people

140px|thumb|[[Jens Schielderup Sneedorff, 1764]]

  • Absalon (ca.1128–1201) statesman, bishop of Roskilde, and archbishop of Lund
  • Caspar Bartholin the Elder (1585–1629 in Sorø) physician, scientist and theologian
  • Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (1684–1754) writer, philosopher, and historian; buried in Sorø
  • Otto Thott (1703–1785) Count and landowner, lived and buried in Sorø
  • Jens Schielderup Sneedorff (1724 in Sorø–1764) author and influential scholar of the Age of Enlightenment
  • Jens Paludan-Müller (1771 in Sorø–1845) Bishop of Aarhus, teacher, and author
  • Christian Molbech (1783 in Sorø–1857) historian and critic
  • Bernhard Severin Ingemann (1789–1862 in Sorø) novelist and poet.
  • Louise Thomsen (1823 in Sorø–1907) pioneering photographer
  • Christian Frederik Lütken (1827 in Sorø–1901) zoologist and naturalist
  • Julius Petersen (1839 in Sorø–1910) mathematician on graph theory
  • Emilie Mundt (1842 in Sorø–1922) painter of portraits of children
  • Bernhard Bang (1848 in Sorø–1932) veterinarian, worked on bovine TB
  • Margrete Heiberg Bose (1865 in Sorø–1952) Argentine physicist
  • Thorkel Møller (1868 in Sorø–1946) architect, worked in Aarhus
  • Astrid Holm (1893 in Sønder Bjerge Sogn – 1961) theater and film actress from the early silent film era
  • Lulu Ziegler (1903–1973) actress, singer and theatre director
  • Yvonne Herløv Andersen (born 1942) politician who represented Sorø in the Folketing
  • Ina Skriver (born 1945 in Sorø) actress and model
  • Peter Reinhard Hansen (born 1968 in Sorø) economist
  • Martin Høgsted (born 1982 in Dianalund) stand-up comedian
  • Trine Bille (born 1964 in Sorø) cultural economist

Sport

  • Axel Thayssen (1885 in Sorø–1952) tennis player, competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics
  • Bent Jensen (born 1925 in Sorø–2016) rower, competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics
  • Trine Hansen (born 1973) rower, bronze medallist at the 1996 Summer Olympics, grew up in Sorø

<gallery>

File:Sorø 1896.jpg|Map of Sorø by V.F.A. Berggreen, 1896.

File:Soroe(13)Skibet set mod øst-2.jpg|The interior of Sorø Abbey Church, 2012.

File:Prospekt af Sorø.jpg|Depiction of the view of Sorø from across the lake with Sorø Abbey Church emerging on the upper right.

File:Sorø ca 1900.jpg|Map of Sorø from Frems Amtskort over Danmark, c. 1900.

File:At Torvet Square in Soroe, Denmark 1933.jpg|Photography of Torvet Square, 1933, Berit Wallenberg. The building on the left of the image is Regensen, a 17th-century building used as a boarding house for students at Sorø Academy.

File:20181121 Soro Storgade 0022 (31056068277).jpg|Storgade in Sorø, 2018.

</gallery>

See also

  • Sorø Museum
  • Sorø Art Museum
  • Sorø Academy
  • Sorø Abbey
  • Sorø Klosterkirke

Further reading

References