World's oldest cinema is Danish

The Korsør Cinema Theatre will celebrate its 100-year anniversary on 7 August. The local mayor of Slagelse municipality, Lis Tribler will receive the award from the records organisation at a ceremony on Thursday.

The cinema will also unveil a memorial plaque on the occasion giving the history of the venue.

It is an independent cinema that is run by about 30 members, providing a cultural meeting point for local residents.

The process of entering the record books began two years ago, when a couple of the cinema's volunteers were on holiday in Poland.

Johnny Sjøgren and Kirsten Henningsen were visiting Stettin in Poland, where they found a cinema advertising itself as the oldest in the world.

However, the Polish cinema was one year younger than its Danish counterpart.

The Korsør cinema's volunteers began the two year process of gathering proof from local historical archives and old newspapers to verify the authenticity of their claim.

The Guinness World Records began as a reference book published in 1954, listing amazing feats and records.

It was commissioned as a result of the managing director of the Guinness brewery not being able to find the answer to a bet on the fastest game bird in Europe.  He thought that others would find it useful to have a factual book on records.