Billund
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Billund is a municipality (Danish, kommune) in Ribe County in the center of the Jutland Peninsula of Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 155 km², and has a total population of 8,697 (2005). Its mayor is Preben Jensen, a member of the Venstre (Liberal Party) political party.
The site of its municipal council is the town of Billund.
Billund is a company town, the home of the Lego Group headquarters. The outskirts of the town is also the site of a LEGO factory which as of 2005 manufactures 90% of the company's products, though the effects of globalization and competition from Mega Bloks is likely to lead to more off-shore manufacturing. Across the road from the company's headquarters is the first of the Legoland theme parks, built in 1968.
Billund Airport, Denmark's second busiest airport, was built by LEGO in the 1960s, though it is now independently run.
On January 1, 2007 Billund municipality ceased to exist due to Kommunalreformen ("The Municipality Reform" of 2007). It was combined with the existing Grindsted municipality, which was to the northwest of Billund municipality. The two municipalities joined to form a new Billund municipality.
[edit] External links
- Municipality's official website
- The new Billund municipality's official website
- Lego braces for big changes, a July 2005 International Herald Tribune article
- Satellite image from Google Maps
[edit] References
- Municipal statistics: NetBorger Kommunefakta, delivered from KMD aka Kommunedata (Municipal Data)
- Municipal mergers and neighbors: Eniro new municipalities map