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| Hadj Plads, Copenhagen’s
outdoor meeting place. |
| Courtesy Wonderful Copenhagen |
Not until the 12th century did Copenhagen (merchant’s
harbor) assume any sort of importance. In 1160,
King Waldemar gave the jurisdiction to Absalom,
bishop of Roskilde.
In an early stirring of the niche business concept,
the basis of its original economy was the enormous
herring fishery trade, which shipped salted herring,
for Catholic Europe to have for Lent.
Copenhagen’s location has always, to this
day, been its curse and blessing. It is located
at the most important approach to the Baltic Sea,
which leads to the rich North German trading towns
of the Hanseatic League. This made it both enviable
and strategic, a prize plum for all concerned, and
it wasn’t until 1416 that the city rested securely
under the Danish crown.
Christian IV, crowned in 1596, decided to make
it the center for the Nordic region. Besides most
of the buildings one sees today, he built two entire
neighborhoods, Nybord and Christianshavn.
Like most wooden medieval cities, Copenhagen had
a Great Fire. Most of it burned down in 1728. From
1730 on, Copenhagen has maintained strict building
codes, dictating height materials and architecture.
The new structures are called “fire houses.”
The 19th century, although it began with unsuccessful
wars and country-wide bankruptcy, is referred to
as the Golden Age. This is the century of Hans Christian
Andersen, philosopher Søren Kierkegaard,
ballet master August Bournonville and the natural
scientist H.C.Ørsted, who discovered electromagnetism.
Tivoli Gardens and the first railway station were
built. Absolute monarchy was repealed, and the royal
art collection from Christianborg Castle was given
to the state. In 1896 the National Museum of Arts
went up.
Fin-de-siecle Copenhagen modeled itself after Paris,
setting up cafes, brasseries and the huge Magasin
department store, which is still doing a brisk business.
The city started gobbling up neighboring villages.
Wealthy philanthropists like the Carlsberg family
donated art. The financier C.F. Tietgen rebuilt
the marble church.
Denmark’s clever dealings with the Nazis saved
Copenhagen from aerial bombardment, and the postwar
construction was done to a so-called “finger
plan,” which created a city positioned along
roads and railways and kept buildings under five
stories, so the Danes escaped both architectural
ravages of the 20th century. The towers of the historical
buildings dominate the skyline, giving it the nickname,
“City of Towers.”
Today, Copenhagen has a population of 1,081,673,
and several semi-official organizations to keep
it running. Tourism is Denmark’s third-largest
industry, bringing in about DKK 46 billion a year.
One of the organizations, which focuses on visitors,
is called Wonderful Copenhagen. Its manager, Lars
Bernhard Jorgensen, is responsible for strategy.
The group works to bring in tourists and conventions,
and targets, naturally, prosperous neighboring countries
like Sweden, Germany and the U.K., as well as distant
big spenders like the United States and Japan. And,
in a cute turnabout, they are working on Italy and
Spain. They are also working on a Baltic strategy.
“You shouldn’t forget that this (Baltic)
region is very young. It’s been only 12 years
since the Iron Curtain fell. We are in the place
the Mediterranean was 25 years ago. I don’t
doubt that in ten years time St. Petersburg, together
with Copenhagen, will play a major role. There are
hidden resources in this region that will take some
years to develop.
“Americans talk about ‘atmosphere.’
They come here and they are absolutely astonished.
They think, where is the traffic congestion? Crime?
Things that are not walkable? They think of us as
some kind of an oasis. You have all the urban infrastructure
but you don’t find what you would usually think
of in a metropolis in the American sense of that
word.” America also sends city planners here,
to study the town.
“Culturally, we are in the top ten list, but
the strange thing about this city is that this city
there are very few huge famous monuments. Tivoli
is the only cathedral.”
Copenhagen still looks good. A lot of it is still
made of red brick, with ivy running up the sides.
The new architecture is clean and tasteful and manages
to blend well with the 16th century styles. And
the bicycle lanes and walking streets give you a
chance to look at it.
The city has 71,000 square meters of pedestrian
streets and 126 sidewalk cafes. In the words of
a city planner, “Urban patterns that were once
the exclusive domain of Southern Europe have moved
north.”
With the preponderance of pedestrians, the streets
themselves are places to promenade. They can be
used as a stage, and whether your performance is
street music or showing off a new dress, you are
assured of an audience. Everybody you see has gotten
past the usual urban problems, running a stable,
productive life and is out there enjoying the city
with you.
Garrison Keillor talked about the “romance
of Copenhagen, as if walking into an old painting,
the enchantment of darkness and rain and the warm
hearth that you eventually will walk back to.”
We have said that the winter weather is not encouraging.
But even at that, the Danes have a way of making
Copenhagen appealing. Christmas in Copenhagen can
be a rare treat, and the city organizes dozens of
events and special markets to get people into the
mood. It may snow.
This writer was wandering through Tivoli and saw
an enchanting tower in the distance, looking for
all the world as though a princess was about to
lower her golden locks down the side. It seemed
at first to be another elaborate fun-structure,
like the Viking’s Hall or Odin’s Hammer.
A closer look revealed that it wasn’t part
of Tivoli’s fantasy world at all; it was part
of the larger fantasy world that the city, in spite
of the million-plus people living ordinary lives
inside it, still is. It was the edge of the Radhaus,
the civic center, the place where you go to fill
out civil service papers.
For information on what’s happening in Copenhagen,
please visit the following:
www.woco.dk
www.visitcopenhagen.dk
touristinfo@woco.dk
and the website of the Copenhagen Post, Denmark’s
English language weekly,
www.cphpost.dk
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