Aalborg’s not one of those. Here, it’s as if culture is striving to take over the city. It surfaces everywhere throughout the city, to make Aalborg the culturally most active city outside the Danish capital.

In May, the Aalborg Carnival provides a good example. Other cities have – or have had – carnivals with a more or less measure of success. The Aalborg Carnival has grown constantly to become the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. More than 30,000 festively costumed participants dance and play their way through the city’s streets.

One of the more recent traditions is the Aalborg Opera Festival – the only one in Jutland. This is a major cultural event presenting opera in unusual places as well as in the more traditional venues – not least in the Aalborg Congress & Culture Centre.

Throughout the summer, there are musical events – large and small – in various city locations. Open-air concerts in parks present everything from rock to folk, Danish pop to classic. There is live music in rhythmic music venues, pubs and discos. Every year in August comes the Blue Festival – for jazz and blues fans. There’s really music in the air!

The pictorial arts are alive and well in Aalborg. Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, a museum of modern and contemporary art, has its permanent collection as well as visiting exhibitions of a high, international standard. The museum building – designed by architects who included Alvar Aalto – is itself a work of art. In the city, more and more galleries are opening and there are always exhibitions by local artists as well as interesting names from home and abroad. At a gallery near the city, as the only place outside New York, new original works by Kurt Trampedach can be seen.

‘Wilkommen, bienvenue, welcome!’ Our theatres present traditional as well as experimental works. Chief among the city’s theatres is Aalborg Theatre with a repertoire in Danish to satisfy the most demanding audience. Jomfru Ane Teater is a ’must’. Children and young people get their theatre needs provided by the children’s theatre ‘Jako Bole Teater’, while the grassroots company at ‘Det Hem’lige Teater’ is the newest experimental group in Aalborg.

Finally, but not least important, the Viking Drama on Lindholm Høje brings the past and the present together – usually involving violent scenes of combat, washed down with pitchers of mead. In an entertaining way, the Viking Drama reminds Danes, young and old, of their own historical roots.

You can’t mention culture in Aalborg without referring to the Aalborg Congress & Culture Centre, where it’s all to be found under one roof: drama, ballet, concerts, opera, musicals and stand-up comedy. With more than 100 shows and concerts annually, the Aalborg Congress & Culture Centre provides entertainment for the most fastidious and quality-conscious audiences.

Aalborg is bursting with culture – and it’s culture with a purpose!