Every design for Aalborg

Do you write it Aalborg or Ålborg? Ask anyone who lives here and the answer comes with a double A. After the spelling reform the official form had an Å, but the town held on to its old letters, and most of its people identify strongly with them – a local rapper even turned Dobbelt A into a nickname. Denmark's fourth largest city grew up at the narrowest point of the Limfjord, which made it an important harbour in the Middle Ages and later a large industrial centre.

Memories of Aalborg tend to be lively ones: the Aalborg Carnival at the end of May, one of the largest festivals in Scandinavia, student years at Aalborg University, or match days for Aalborg BK. The city has its theatres, its symphony orchestra and its opera, along with Utzon Center, Kunsten, Aalborg Historiske Museum and Lindholm Høje Museet.

Yet the picture that stays is older: the half-timbered mansions built by prosperous merchants, Aalborghus, raised as a royal residence, and Budolfi Church, now a cathedral, all still standing as the city turns from industry to knowledge.