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Skagen ) in North Jutland County on the northernmost tip of Vendsyssel-Thy, a part of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 143 km², and has a total population of 11,803 (2005). Its mayor is Hans Rex Christensen, a member of the Venstre (Liberal Party) political party.

The main town and the site of its municipal council is the town of Skagen.

Neighboring municipalities are Hirtshals to the southwest, Sindal to the south, and Frederikshavn to the southeast. The spit of land on which the municipality is located stretches out to the northeast surrounded by the following waters:

The two straits, which are part of the Baltic Sea, meet to the north of the municipality at the headland known as Grenen.

By January 1, 2007 Skagen municipality will cease to exist as the result of i ("The Municipality Reform" of 2007). It will be merged with existing Frederikshavn and Sæby municipalities to form an enlarged Frederikshavn municipality. This will create a municipality with an area of 642 km² and a total population of 63,799 (2005). The new municipality will belong to the new Region Nordjylland ("North Jutland Region").

The area is extremely picturesque, and distinguished by its low, yellow houses with red tile roofs nestled into the beach areas. The impressive and wild landscape was largely formed by a severe process of desertification that hit the area in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Problems with moving dunes and desertification were brought under control in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries by large-scale plantations of grasses, bushes and fir trees. Two significant migratory dunes remain in the area, including the enormous Råbjerg milen.

The area is closely associated with the Skagen Painters, a community of artists (artist colony), who flocked to this picturesque, and then unspoiled, area in the late 1800s to escape the city and to record artistically a way of life they realized was soon to disappear.

The area continues to be a popular tourist destination visited by many people each year. A highlight of the year is the celebration of Midsummer Eve or St. John's Evening (i

Once a remote fishing area, it become considerably easier to travel to Skagen after it became connected to the rest of the country via a railroad line in 1890. A paved road followed in the 1940's.

Find Skagen at 57°44'00.00"N 10°35'60.00"E (per Google Earth).

The headland at Grenen, the northernmost point of Denmark, is a spectacular setting where the two parts of the Baltic Sea, the Kattegat and the Skagerrak meet. This makes for turbulent seas and strandings— beachings and shipwreckings are not uncommon. The frequent shipping losses and the strategic location as the gateway to the Baltic led to Skagen being the site of one of Denmark's earliest lighthouses, the Vippefyr, constructed in the 15th century. A reconstruction of the lighthouse is located to the north of the town of Skagen.

The lighthouse was originally built and funded by the late Medieval Danish state with the proceeds of the "sound dues", and was superseded by the 'white lighthouse' or hvidefyr in the 17th century, and then the far taller 'grey lighthouse' or gråfyr of the 1850's.

The desertification that hit the area in the 18th and 19th centuries led to the abandonment of the old parish church to the migrating sands— the famous Buried Church (i). The tower of the church remains protruding from the dunes, as it was left as a sea marker when the church was abandoned at the close of the 18th century.

"Summer Evening on the Beach at Skagen. Artist and His Wife (Sommeraften ved Skagens strand. Kunstneren og hans hustru) Painting by Peter Severin Krøyer. 1899. The Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen." , encompassed not only painters, but also writers, and other influential people as well. While only a few were fulltime residents of the area, they were often joined by friends, especially during the summer months. Among these notable visitors and residents of the time were writers Holger Drachmann, Georg Brandes, and Henrik Pontoppidan, artists Peder Severin Krøyer, Marie Triepcke Krøyer Alfvén, Michael Ancher and Anna Ancher, and composer Hugo Alfvén. They were often gathered at the area's Brøndums Hotel, which is still in operation today.