Hørsholm Kommune is a municipality in the Copenhagen Capital Region in the northern part of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 31 km², and has a total population of 25,007. Its mayor as of 2010 is Morten Slotved, a member of the Conservative People's Partypolitical party. The main town and the site of its municipal council is the town of Hørsholm. Neighboring municipalities, in line with the Kommunalreformen, are Fredensborg municipality to the north, Allerød municipality to the west, and Rudersdal municipality to the south. To the east is the Øresund, the strait that separates Denmark from Sweden. The distance to Sweden from the coast at Hørsholm is ca. 17 km to Landskrona or ca. 9 km to the Swedish island of Ven. Hørsholm and the neighbouring town Rungsted has an average income per household among the highest in the country - a fact also strongly reflected in the price of housing in the area. Wealthy households are attracted to Hørsholm by its comparatively low income tax rate, proximity to forests and the sea. Moreover, the commuting distance to central Copenhagen remains reasonably short. The Hørsholm Midtpunktshopping mall with its 65 stores opened in the early 1970s and is the second largest shopping mall in Northern Zealand and among the ten largest shopping malls in the Copenhagen Capital Region. Hørsholm municipality was not merged with other municipalities on January 1, 2007 under the nationwide Kommunalreformen.
History
Hørsholm was the site of the infamous Hirschholm Palace, which served as the summer retreat for King Christian VII and his court in 1771, when his consort, Queen Caroline Matilda, gave birth to her child by Johann Friedrich Struensee, Princess Louise Augusta. The castle, referred to as the "Versailles of the North", was neglected after that fateful year and torn down by Frederick VI, the King's son, in order to provide building materials for Christiansborg Palace, which had burned down in 1794. Hørsholm Church, built in 1832 and designed by Christian Frederik Hansen, is now found on the spot where the castle once stood. Local museum Hørsholm Egns Museum has a display dedicated to the palace and its fate.
