Virket

{{Infobox settlement | official_name = Virket | other_name = | native_name = | nickname = | settlement_type = Village | motto = | image_skyline = Virket-parti-fra-1916.jpg | image_caption = Virket, Falster (1916 photo) | image_flag = | image_seal = | image_map = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Denmark Falster | pushpin_label_position = bottom | pushpin_map_caption = Location on [[Falster]] | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = [[Denmark]] | subdivision_type1 = [[Regions of Denmark|Region]] | subdivision_name1 = [[Region Zealand|Zealand (''Sjælland'')]] | subdivision_type2 = [[Municipalities of Denmark|Municipality]] | subdivision_name2 = [[Guldborgsund Municipality|Guldborgsund]] | government_footnotes = | government_type = | leader_title = | leader_name = | established_title = | established_date = | unit_pref = Imperial | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = | area_land_km2 = | population_as_of = 2012 | population_footnotes = | population_note = | population_total = | population_density_km2 = | timezone1 = [[Central European Time|CET]] | utc_offset1 = +1 | timezone1_DST = [[Central European Summer Time|CEST]] | utc_offset1_DST = +2 | coordinates = {{coord|54|50|7|N|11|58|34|E|region:DK|display=inline}} | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = | elevation_ft = | postal_code_type = | postal_code = | area_code = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Virket''' is a village in central [[Falster]], [[Denmark]]. It belongs to [[Falkerslev Parish]] in [[Guldborgsund Municipality]], in [[Region Zealand]]. It is located approximately {{convert|14|km}} northeast of [[Nykøbing Falster]]. To the northwest is [[Falster Golf Club]]. The village lies along a road named Virketvej, which connects it to [[Kraghave]], about {{convert|10|km}} to the southwest.<ref name="GM">{{cite map|title= Maps|publisher=[[Google Maps]]}}</ref>

==History== [[Saxo Grammaticus]] tells us that in the middle of the 12th century the inhabitants of Falster often fled to a large fortification to escape attacks by the [[Wends|Wendish]] fleets. He was probably referring to the huge earthworks, [[Falsters Virke]], located beside Virket. In Old Norse, ''wirki'' meant fortification, as in the "[[Danevirke|Dannevirke]]" fortifications now in [[Schleswig-Holstein]]. First mentioned around 1250, the settlement was then documented as ''Wirky''.

At one time there was a manor in Virket. There are references in 1430 and 1452 to a judge named Mogens Falster and in 1472 and 1494 to Jørgen Falster whose son, Laurids Falster, was still alive in 1536. A daughter of Jørgen Falster married Anders Josephsen Bielke in Bellinge, and their descendants called themselves Falster. Mogens Falster Bielke owned Virket in 1546.

A stone ring with one large stone and 16 smaller stones in a semicircle was created in 1947 to commemorate the independence gained by the local farmers in 1766.

==Archeological finds== In addition to Falsters Virket, recent archeological investigations have provided evidence of an early [[Iron Age]] settlement between Virket and Falkerslev. Graves from the [[Viking Age]] have also been uncovered in the area.<ref>[http://www.aabne-samlinger.dk/lollandfalster/arkaeologi/udgravninger_tidl/udgr_2011/pdfer/MLF00335_sibirien.pdf Katrine Kølle Hansen, "Kulturhistorisk rapport for den arkæologiske forundersøgelse og undersøgelse af MLF00335 Sibirien 6, Virket – med fund af jordfæstegravplads fra vikingetid og bebyggelsesspor fra ældre jernalder"]. {{in lang|da}} Retrieved 28 November 2012.</ref>

== Notable people == * [[Johanne Andersen]] (1913 in Virket – 1999) a Danish Lutheran priest, one of the first three women to be ordained into the [[Church of Denmark]]

==References== {{reflist}}

[[Category:Villages in Region Zealand]] [[Category:Villages in Guldborgsund Municipality]] [[Category:Falster]]