SVENDBORG

city, Fyns amtskommune (county commune), southern Funen Island, Denmark, on Svendborg Sound. Chartered in 1253, it was often plundered in the Middle Ages because of its easily accessible coastal location, and it suffered in the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. The 13th-century Romanesque-style Church of Sankt Nikolaj survives, and the local museum is in a 16th-century timbered house. An important shipping centre and resort, Svendborg has shipbuilding yards, breweries, tobacco factories, and flour mills. There is a folk high school for seamen (1906) to the northeast. A 4,003-foot (1,220-metre) bridge built in 1966 connects Svendborg with the island of Tsinge to the south. Pop. (1992 est.) city, 26,525; (1993 est.) mun., 42,147.