Location: Copenhagen, Zealand Map
Copenhagen is the capital and the most populous
city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1 230 728 and a
metropolitan population 1 967 727, as of October 1, 2013. It is
located on the east coast of Zealand, 28 km from Malmoe (Sweden),
and 164 kilometers (102 mi) from Odense. The city spans parts of the
island of Amager and also contains the enclave of the municipality
of Frederiksberg. It was awarded with the title European Green
Capital 2014.
Originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century,
Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark at the beginning of the
15th century. During the seventeenth century, under the reign of
Christian IV, it became an important regional center, consolidating
its position as the capital of Denmark and Norway with its
institutions, defenses, and armed forces. After suffering the
effects of plagues and fires in the eighteenth century, the city
underwent a stage of remodeling that included reforms of the
prestigious Frederiksstaden district and cultural institutions such
as the Royal Theater and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. After
various disasters in the 19th century, when Horatio Nelson attacked
the Danish fleet and bombed the city, reconstructions during the
Danish Golden Age brought a new neoclassical style to the
Kobmendense architecture. Later, after the Second World War, the
Finger Project fostered the creation of homes and businesses along
the five urban rail routes that extend outward from the city center.
The history of Copenhagen dates back to around the year 800, when it
arises around a small fishing village. From the year 1300 it became
the capital of Denmark to the detriment of Roskilde, a status that
the city has maintained since then. Currently, Copenhagen is home to
around 20% of Denmark's population. After an economic crisis, the
city has experienced significant economic and cultural progress in
the last ten years, and is now stronger both nationally and
internationally.
The city is home to a number of large companies and cultural
institutions, AP Moller-Maersk, Carlsberg, Park, the National
Museum, the Opera and the King's theater.
As the capital of Denmark and due to its favorable
location on the Øresund, Copenhagen has very good transport connections.
The railway line to Germany (Hamburg), Amsterdam and Sweden (via Malmö
to Gothenburg, Stockholm) runs right through the city. The international
airport is about ten kilometers from the city.
By plane
Copenhagen Airport (IATA: CPH) is a short train ride (12 minutes) from
Central Station. There are also regular trains to Malmö and further via
Helsingborg to Stockholm or Ystad, Bornholm. The metro also runs at
short intervals from the airport to the city center and the outskirts.
The airport itself is on the island of Amager in Kastrup, a district of
Tårnby municipality. Most European destinations and some overseas
destinations are accessible by air from Copenhagen. There are frequent
connections to other major European cities. Lufthansa, SAS and easyJet
offer regular scheduled flights from many German cities to Copenhagen.
By train
There are long-distance connections from Hamburg to
Copenhagen Central Station with several trips a day. Until 2019, trains
to Copenhagen ran via Lübeck and were loaded between Puttgarden and
Rødby via ferry across the Fehmarnsund; Due to the construction work on
the Fehmarnbelt tunnel, this type of loading is history after 56 years.
Since then, the train connection from Hamburg has been via the
"fixed" train connection via Odense and the Great Belt, on the one hand
as a direct connection, on the other hand with a change in Kolding or
Fredericia.
A previously existing night train connection from
Amsterdam and Basel was discontinued.
By bus
There are several
long-distance bus lines that go to Copenhagen, including:
From
Berlin:
The line E-55 of the provider Graahundbus. Departs daily at
10 a.m. from Berlin Central Station. Around 1:30 p.m. the bus lets out
the travelers in Rostock at the quay, whose ticket is also valid for the
ferry. Around 3:15 p.m. in Gedser, after leaving the ship, you and your
luggage will board the next bus. Arrival at Copenhagen Central Station:
around 17:30 (departure daily 11:00, arrival: 18:15). Although the
seven-and-a-half-hour bus ride is a little uncomfortable, the
one-and-a-half-hour ferry ride allows you to stretch your legs. The bus
line is named after the European route of the same name, which the line
follows for the entire route.
Graahundbus, Yderholmen 18; 2750
Ballerup; Danmark Tel.: +45 44 68 44 00, fax: +45 44 68 40 04. Price:
€45/journey, one child under 16 free.
The berlinlinienbusse (blb)
depart three times a day from the central bus station next to the
exhibition center. With a stopover in Rostock, the journey takes just as
long as with the E-55.
From Hamburg:
The long-distance bus
giant Eurolines offers two daily connections in the direction of
Copenhagen. The journey, which takes between five and a half and six
hours, begins at the ZOB next to the main train station.
Euroline.
Tel.: +49 69 7903 501, e-mail: service@eurolines.de. Price: €48
standard, offers from €33.
In the street
There are two ways to
get to Copenhagen by car: on the one hand the short Vogelfluglinie from
Germany, on the other hand the longer bridge connection via Jutland.
Not to be forgotten is the convenient connection via the Rostock -
Gedser ferry line, which is available at short intervals (journey time
approx. 2 hours) and is particularly recommended from the direction of
Berlin. Fares from €47/car incl. 9 people. (Status: 09/2021)
bird
flight line
Despite all the bridges, the shortest route from Germany
is the Vogelfluglinie via Puttgarden on the German island of Fehmarn and
Rødby on the Danish island of Lolland. From Rödby it is about 160 km on
Danish motorways to the center of the Danish capital. The car ferry runs
24 hours a day at least once an hour. Waiting times are to be expected
during the main holiday season. The operator of the connection is
Scandlines. It is advisable to buy the ferry ticket online before the
trip. Ferry prices start at around €40 per car including 9 people for a
one-way crossing. (Status: 09/2021).
bridge connection
If you
want to save on ferry connections, the approx. 140 km longer route via
Flensburg, Fredericia, Odense, to Seeland and on to Copenhagen remains.
Here you save any ferry waiting times, but have costs in the form of
bridge tolls and a further journey. The bridge toll for a car is 245 DKK
per direction. For more information about the bridge toll, contact the
Storebaelt link operating company. The toll can be paid in cash in DKK
and EURO, with a Maestro card or with all major credit cards. The choice
of lane depends on the payment method. (Status: 09/2021)
By boat
There is a daily night ferry service from Oslo with DFDS Seaways.
Departs Oslo at 4:45 p.m., arrives in Copenhagen at the DFDS ferry
terminal at 9:45 a.m. the next morning. The return ferry leaves
Copenhagen at 4.45 p.m., arriving in Oslo the next morning at 9.45 a.m.
Cruise ships dock at the Langeliniekaj, which is close to the city, as
well as at the new Oceankaj, which is a little further away. From both
terminals you can get to the city quickly and inexpensively with bus
line 26 or 27.
Cargo ships call at the Levantkai container terminal
on a regular basis. This makes Copenhagen a popular destination for
passengers on a cargo ship. The way from the ship's berth to the city
can be easily managed on foot or by bus (lines 26 and 27).
By
bicycle
The Berlin - Copenhagen long-distance cycle route connects
the two capitals directly. In between, only the ferry passage Rostock -
Gedser must be used.
The international Baltic Coast Cycle Route runs
through Copenhagen.
Public transport
The backbone of public transport in Copenhagen
is the S-Tog (S-Bahn). For a few years, Copenhagen has had a very
modern, fully automatic and worth seeing metro, which is constantly
being expanded. Destinations away from the railways are easily
accessible by bus.
All public transport is zoned, as in the
rest of the country. The smallest unit is the two-zone ticket for
DKK 23.-, which can be purchased at ticket offices, machines and on
the bus. It allows unlimited journeys in the greater Copenhagen area
within one hour. For multiple journeys, a strip ticket/Klippekort
(135 DKK) with ten strips is worthwhile, which you validate before
each trip on the platform or in front of the bus driver. You save
DKK 9.50 per journey compared to a single ticket.
Children
under the age of 12 travel for free provided they are accompanied by
an adult.
Day tickets for Copenhagen city area:
Day
tickets for 24, 48, 72 and 120 hours are available as "CityPass"
from local transport machines. These cards can be used in zones 1 to
4 and are valid from the time of purchase for any number of journeys
on the bus, S-Bahn and U-Bahn as well as the water bus line in the
inner harbour).
Adult prices as of October 2018: 24 h: 80 DKK
(€11), 48 h: 150 DKK (20 €), 72 h: 200 DKK (27 €), 120 h: 300 DKK
(40 €). For child prices, see ticket information at
www.dinoffentligetransport.dk/citypass (in English).
The
water bus line on the inner harbor is part of local public
transport. For example, with the 24-hour ticket for local public
transport, you can experience Copenhagen from the water at low cost
or incorporate part of the shipping route into your individual city
tour.
On the bike
Anyone who moves mainly in the city
center and the neighboring districts is very well on foot and by
bike. There are bike lanes everywhere on the road, bikes always have
priority at intersections (on the blue corridors) and you travel
very quickly. Cycling is basically very safe, because almost
everywhere there are bicycle lanes separated by curbs, cars have no
right of way and stick to them extremely well.
For those
inexperienced in Copenhagen city traffic, it is advisable to stay
mostly on the right side of the cycle lane, otherwise you will often
hear the bell to give way. A good overview is important. Changes of
direction and lanes must always be indicated with hand signals. A
flat hand held high next to the head, palm forward, means the
cyclist will slow down and stop without leaving the lane. The best
thing to do is to look back and then overtake or slow down
carefully.
There is a station-based, highly modern bicycle
rental system with pedelecs in the city center and the neighboring
districts. Rental costs DKK 30 per hour (equivalent to around €4 per
hour). The bikes have a screen on the handlebars with information
about public transport and sights.
Donkey Republic Bike
Rental Copenhagen. Bike rental Copenhagen. Many places. Price: 90
DKK per day.
Baisikeli, Turesensgade 10, DK-1368 Copenhagen.
Tel.: +4531 68 80 96. Open: November - March: Mon-Sat 10-16; April -
October: Mon-Sun 10-18. Price: Bike from DKK 80 per day and DKK 270
per week.
Rentyourbikehere.dk. Tel.: +45 33936200, e-mail:
info@rentyourbikehere.dk
On foot
The city center, including the Christianshavn
district, is easy to explore on foot. The distances are manageable.
In the city center there is a beautiful quite branched pedestrian
zone that covers the most important pedestrian axes in the center.
At the inner harbor there are beautiful promenades away from the
traffic noise.
In the Sights section you will find a walking
tour of the city that includes the most important sights. Away from
the pedestrian zone, the sidewalks on the main traffic routes are
sometimes quite narrow or full of bicycles / displays etc.
(sometimes only 1 m remaining width). The cycle paths often have
more space here.
Districts in the center
Indre By (downtown)
Vesterbro,
(Westbrücke) multicultural, very hip district, former red light
district
Nørrebro (North Bridge) multicultural district beyond
"the lakes"
Østerbro (east bridge) very affluent area, lies
northeast
Christianshavn, a district on the island of Amager, is
located southeast of the center
Holmen, a former, newly built
military site on Amager
Freistadt Christiania, is not a district,
but a clearly delimited area (former barracks) in Christianshavn
Frederiksberg, an independent municipality in the center of
Copenhagen
The tour, which can take a day depending on the number of visits, is
best completed on foot. The length is around 12 to 13 km. A free
folding city map is available from the tourist information office
(Copenhagen Visitor Centre). This can be found on the corner of
Vesterbrogade / Hammerichsgade (about 150 m north of Central
Station)
From the Tourist Information you walk along
Vesterbrogade to the Town Hall Square/
Rådhus.
Located
across from Central Station, Tivoli is the second oldest operating
amusement park in the world - the oldest is Bakken in Klampeborg.
Andersen Boulevard runs along the edge of the park and is also home
to the City Hall (Københavns Rådhus). It is adorned with many
sculptures and was built between 1892 and 1905 in the style of the
Italian and Norman Renaissance. At 113 m, the Town Hall Tower is
Denmark's tallest tower.
From City Hall Square you walk
through the pedestrian zone in Frederiksberggade to the Old Market
(Gammeltorv) and New Market (Nytorv).
Continue through the
pedestrian zone in the Nygade. This merges into the Vimmelskaftet.
From here it is worth taking a walk through the historic Jorcks
Passage. The passage was built between 1893 and 1896. It is named
after the entrepreneur and confectionery manufacturer Reinholdt W.
Jorck.
The Church of Our Lady (Vor Frue Kirke) is located on
Fiolstræde. Northwest closes the St. Petri Church (Sankt Petri
Kirke). It has been the parish church of the German community since
1586 and is the oldest church in Copenhagen.
From Fiolstræde,
after walking through the pedestrian street Store Kannikestræde, you
reach the Round Tower (Rundetaarn) with a viewpoint and the Trinity
Church (Trinitatis Kirke). A 209 m long, stepless spiral path leads
up to this observation tower, which was built between 1637 and 1642.
From up here you have a beautiful panoramic view of the city center.
The Trinity Church (Danish Trinitatis Kirke) is attached to the
tower. Inside the church is a museum displaying contemporary art. In
the past, the room was also used for the university library.
The pedestrian street Købmagergade leads to 6 Amanger Square,
Amagertorv.
From here it is not far to an important tourist
magnet, Christiansborg Palace
(Christiansborg Slot). This building, which has been the seat of
Parliament since 1918, occupies the site of Copenhagen's first
castle, built by Bishop Absalon in 1167. Today's building with the
90 m high castle tower was built between 1907 and 1928. The building
is an attractive vantage point and can be accessed by elevator after
a security check. Admission is free. However, there are only limited
capacities, so there may be longer waiting times. The last piece is
then climbed by stairs). There is also a restaurant in the tower. On
the north side of the castle stands the Classicist Castle Church
(Slotskirke), completed in 1826. Next to the castle is the Royal
Library of Denmark, the National Library. This is followed by the
old Copenhagen Stock Exchange (Børsen). It is located right next to
Christiansborg Palace. The Renaissance building was built between
1619 and 1640 and is another landmark of the city with its 54 m high
tower in the form of intertwined dragon tails. Until 1974 the
building served its original purpose as the Copenhagen Stock
Exchange.
From here, the Børsbroen leads via a canal to the
National Bank and Holmen's Church (Holmens Kirke), which is just
opposite the Stock Exchange and Christiansborg Palace. It was built
in the 17th century. From the street Børsgade the Knippelsbruecke
(Knippelsbro) leads, an interesting bascule bridge with cultural
offerings in the southern bridge tower (kulturtaarnet.dk, over the
inner harbor (Inderhavn) towards Christianshavn.
It is also
the best way to get to the Church of the Redeemer (Frelser Kirke) in
the Christianshavn district with a tower that can be climbed. This
baroque church from 1602-92 has the second highest tower in
Copenhagen at 93 meters. It is a landmark of the Christianshavn
district and can be climbed via an external spiral staircase added
in 1752. A head for heights is required for the outer spiral
staircase. But you also have a beautiful panoramic view from the
platform, which can be reached via an internal staircase.
From the Church of the Redeemer it is only a few meters along
Prinsessegade to Freetown Christiania. Freetown Christiania
(entrance near the Church of the Redeemer) is a de facto independent
municipality on Christianhavn. Founded in 1971 in barracks abandoned
by the military, it has been a growing city within a city ever
since. Christiania can be visited and hiked through for free. There
are many smaller and special shops on the site and the well-known
Café Månefiskeren (also Café Moonfisher) where you can enjoy a
coffee and pastry very cheaply.
Via the bicycle and
pedestrian bridge: Inderhavnsbroen (Inner Harbor Bridge) you can get
directly from the district of Christianshavn to Nyhavn. The bridge,
which opened in 2016, was designed as a counter-rotating sliding
bridge. The structure was therefore given the name Kyssebroen
("Kissing Bridge"). 22,000-27,500 cyclists should use the structure
every day. Together with the "Trangravsbroen" to the east, a new,
direct traffic axis for bicycle and pedestrian traffic was created
here. Among others with such projects in the sense of "City of short
distances", Copenhagen has achieved a high level of bicycle use.
The Nyhavn is also an outstanding attraction. This street with
the pretty gabled houses on both sides of the harbor arm of the same
name is the center of gastronomy in Copenhagen. Often historical,
lovingly restored ships line the quay.
From Nyhavn it is a
good idea to take the water bus a bit, three stops to the "Nordre
Toldbod" pier. On the way you pass the opera. Alternatively, walk
along the promenade. From the "Nordre Toldbod" jetty, the Langelinie
promenade heads north along the water. Here you will find the
smallest attraction in the city, which is also its most famous: the
little mermaid, inaugurated on August 24, 1913, whose story Hans
Christian Andersen tells in his fairy tale.
A walk through
the fort (Kastellet) is a good way to return towards the city
centre. This is a remnant of the old city fortifications.
From the fort back along the promenade to Amaliehaven Park. Here
turn inland onto the axis towards
Amalienborg Palace
- Palace Square (Amalienborg Plads). The palace where the queen
lives was built between 1749 and 1760 and consists of four palaces
facing each other. In the middle of the large, octagonal Palace
Square (Amalienborg Plads) stands the equestrian statue of Frederik
V. The changing of the guard takes place here every midday at 12
noon.
Continue along the axis to Frederik's Church
(Frederikskirken), also known as the Marble Church. Designed in 1794
by Nicolai Eigtved, it is an 84-metre high church with a 45-metre
frescoed dome, one of the largest in Europe and a replica of St.
Peter's Basilica in Rome. It was not completed until 140 years after
construction began. Inside you will find monuments of important
ecclesiastical personalities, such as Moses or Martin Luther.
Keeping west we continue to the King's Garden (Kongens Have).
Rosenborg Castle (Rosenborg Slot) is located in this park area. The
Renaissance castle, which was built between 1607 and 1617 as a
summer residence for Christian IV and is influenced by Dutch
architecture, houses the Danish crown jewels. It has been a museum
since 1833. Worth seeing are the ivory throne with three silver
lions and Christian IV's gold crown decorated with precious stones.
Botanical Garden and Museum opposite Rosenborg Castle. The
garden presents a wide variety of plants and is a cosy, quieter
place during hot days.
to permit. From Nørreport you can take
the metro one stop to Kongens Nytorv, or walk again through the
pedestrian zone via Købmagergade and Østergade.
In front of
Nyhavn is the Royal New Market (Kongens Nytorv). A good dozen
streets lead away from this largest and most important square in the
city. On the square with a statue of Christian V, popularly known as
Hesten - the horse, are the Royal Theatre, the Magasin du Nord
department store, Thotts Palace (1685) and Charlottenborg Palace,
built in 1672-83. It now houses the art academy and is linked to the
new art exhibition building.
If you travel to Copenhagen, you can also get to know the Danish
capital from the water in a particularly relaxed way. It is possible
to take boat trips almost all year round. These travel different
routes and pass various sights, including the famous Little Mermaid.
The small ships not only navigate the port, but also small winding
canals. Starting point for such boat tours, e.g. B. from DFDS Canal
Tours, include Nyhavn or Gammel Strand.
Museums
Workers'
Museum (Arbejdermuseet), 22 Rømersgade København K, 1362 København,
Rømersgade 22, 1362 København K. Tel.: +45 33 93 25 75 . Open: Thu –
Tue 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Wed 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Danish Architecture
Center (Dansk Arkitektur Center), Bryghusgade 10, 1473 København,
Bryghuspladsen 10, 1473 København K. Tel.: +45 32 57 19 30 .
Architecture Museum. Open: Fri – Wed 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Thu 10 a.m. –
9 p.m.
Design Museum, Bredgade 68, 1260 Copenhagen. Tel.: +45 33
18 56 56, email: info@designmuseum.dk . Open: Tue 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.,
Wed 10 a.m. – 9 p.m., Thu – Sun 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Mon closed.
Experimentarium, Tuborg Havnevej 7, 2900 Hellerup. Tel.: +45 39 27
33 33. Science Museum. Open: Mon – Wed 9.30 a.m. – 5 p.m., Thu 9.30
a.m. – 8 p.m., Fri 9.30 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sat + Sun 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (Ny Carlsberg
Glyptotek), Dantes Plads 7, 1556 København. Open: Tue + Wed 11 a.m.
– 6 p.m., Thu 11 a.m. – 10 p.m., Fri – Sun 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Mon
closed.
Jewish Museum (Dansk Jødisk Museum), Proviantpassagen 6,
1218 København. Phone: +45 33 11 22 18 . Open: Tue – Fri 1 p.m. – 4
p.m., Sat + Sun 12 p.m. – 5 p.m., closed on Mondays.
Nationalmuseum (Nationalmuseet), Prince's Mansion, Ny Vestergade 10,
1471 København, Ny Vestergade 10, 1471 København K . Feature:
Photographing allowed. Open: daily 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
State Museum
of Art infoedit
Tycho Brahe Planetarium (Planetarium), Gl.
Kongevej 10, 1610 København, Gammel Kongevej 10, 1610 København V.
Tel.: +45 33 12 12 24 . Open: Mon 12 noon – 7.10 p.m., Tue – Sun
9.30 a.m. – 7.10 p.m.
City Museum (Københavns Museum), Stormgade
18, 1555 København V. Tel.: +45 21 76 43 66, e-mail:
museum@kff.kk.dk. Open: Mon - Sun 9 a.m. - 6 p.m., Thurs. 9 a.m. - 9
p.m. Price: 90 kr.
Copenhagen Jazz Festival. Every summer since 1979, the Copenhagen
Jazz Festival has taken place for ten days at the end of June/beginning
of July. In 2023 it is from 30.06. until 09.07. present on various
squares and courtyards with a total of over a thousand concerts. For
some concerts you pay an entrance fee, the tickets cost around DKK
200.-. However, various performances by lesser-known artists are free
and public - for example in cafés, courtyards and squares. These also
allow you to get to know the city and its people better. Here you can go
on after a while and watch the next concert.
Tivoli, Vesterbrogade 3,
1630 Copenhagen V, Vesterbrogade 3, 1630 København V
wikipediacommonstwitter. In the middle of the city, just between the
train station and Rådhuspladsen, is Tivoli, Europe's second oldest
operating amusement park. There are some nostalgic rides as well as a
few new ones. You can also eat well in one of the 28 restaurants and
enjoy the cultural events that Tivoli offers: musical performances of
all kinds, theater performances and last but not least the nightly
illumination of the entire park. Open: early April to mid/late September
Sun–Thu 11:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m. & Fri–Sat 11:00 a.m.–midnight. The park is
also open around Halloween and during Advent and Christmas. Price:
adults DKK 100.-, children DKK 50.-, under 12 years free; There are also
tickets for the rides. Accepted payment methods: Visa, MasterCard, etc.
Dyrehavsbakken. Or more succinctly Bakken is Copenhagen's second and
older amusement park. It is located north of Copenhagen in Klampenborg.
Frueplads, Frue Plads, Nørregade/Fiolstræde, 1165 København (next to the
Church of Our Lady (Vor Frue Kirke)). Traditionally, the Frueplads in
Copenhagen on the 3rd weekend of August belongs to the artisans and
designers and their fans. This small, 3-day fair with around 120 juried
exhibitors is organized by the Association of Danish Craftsmen, under
white umbrellas and mostly blue skies. You really find the best that
Denmark has to show in this area. Even highly decorated design award
winners and museum-ready applied artists are by no means above taking
part in this perfectly organized market. On the contrary, many people
know that they love the relaxed atmosphere there and like to use the
opportunity for detailed discussions with customers and collectors. The
jurors always manage to put together a diverse and stimulating mixture
of young design and tradition. The open Danish way, which only seems to
know how to approach each other in a friendly manner, is obviously
foreign to arrogance and pigeonholing. Ceramics and porcelain, glass,
textiles, jewelry and accessories are offered, but primarily "market
goods", i. H. more or less practical or affordable. You can only see the
delicate collector's items or the most precious jewels in exhibitions,
galleries and of course in the studios themselves. Open: See calendar
for dates.
In general, there are many shopping opportunities in the city center.
Some large department stores are located around the supermarket. Popular
shopping streets are Købmagergade, Østergade and Niels Hemmingsens Gade.
However, there are also many smaller shops in the side streets that are
worth a visit.
The opening hours of the larger shops are often 10
a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, often a little shorter on Saturdays and even
shorter on Sundays.
1 Restaurant Karla, Dantes Plads 1, 1556 Copenhagen. Tel.: +45 33 12
70 25. Danish restaurant. Open: daily 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.
2 Restaurant
Radio, Julius Thomsens Gade 12, 1632 Copenhagen. Tel.: +45 25 10 27 33.
Open: Tue – Thu 5.30 p.m. – midnight, Fri + Sat 12 noon – 3 p.m. + 5.30
p.m. – midnight, closed on Sun + Mon.
3 Restaurant Flammen, H.C.
Andersens Blvd. 37, 1553 Kobenhavn. Tel.: +45 44 22 33 53. Another
restaurant is located at Nyropsgade 2. Open: Mon – Wed 5pm – 10pm, Thu +
Sun 4.45pm – 10pm, Fri + Sat 4.45pm – 11pm.
4 Restaurant Barr,
Strandgade 93, 1401 Copenhagen. Tel.: +45 32 96 32 93. Open: Mon – Thu 4
p.m. – midnight, Fri – Sun 12 p.m. – midnight.
5 Restaurant LaLaLa,
Strandgade 98, 1401 Copenhagen. Tel.: +45 25 97 46 02, e-mail:
info@la-la-la.dk. Open: Tue – Sat 5.30 p.m. – 12.00 a.m., closed Sun +
Mon.
6 Restaurant 108, Strandgade 108, 1401 Copenhagen. Tel.: +45 32
96 32 92. Open: daily from 5 p.m. to midnight.
7 Restaurant Geist,
Kongens Nytorv 8, 1050 Copenhagen. Tel.: +45 33 13 37 13. Open: daily
12.00 - 15.00 + 17.30 - 1.00.
8 Restaurant Puk, Vandkunsten 8, 1467
Kobenhavn. Tel.: +45 33 11 14 17, e-mail: puk@restaurantpuk.dk. Open:
daily from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
9 Restaurant IBU, Vesterbrogade 56,
1620 Copenhagen. Tel: +45 21 80 01 80. Asian restaurant. Open: Tue – Thu
6pm – midnight, Fri 6pm – 2am, Sat 12pm – 3pm + 6pm – 2am, Sun + Mon
closed.
10 Noma, Refshalevej 96, 1432 Copenhagen K. Tel.: +45 32 96
32 97 wikipediacommonstwitter. Copenhagen is home to Noma, which is
considered one of the world's best restaurants. Features: Michelin
2*Michelin 2*, New Nordic Cuisine.
11 Bistro Pastis, Gothersgade 52,
1123 Copenhagen. Tel.: +45 33 93 44 11. Open: daily from 11 a.m. to
midnight.
12 Tranquebar, Borgergade 14, 1300 Copenhagen. Tel.: +45 33
12 55 12. Open: Sat 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Sun closed, Mon – Fri 10 a.m. – 6
p.m.
There is an almost inscrutable variety of bars, clubs and venues with
live music in Copenhagen, although some stand out for their charm,
ambience and offer.
1 Ruby Bar, Nybrogade 10, 1203 Copenhagen.
Tel.: +45 33 93 12 03. Open: Mon – Sat 4 p.m. – 2 a.m., Sun 6 p.m. – 2
a.m.
2 Berlin Bar, Gammel Kongevej 147, 1850 Frederiksberg. Tel.: +45
32 52 01 71. Open: Mon – Wed 2pm – 1am, Thu 2pm – 2am, Fri + Sat 12pm –
4am, Sun 12pm – 12am.
3 Mikkeller Bar, Viktoriagade 8C, 1655
Copenhagen. Tel.: +45 33 31 04 15. Open: Thu – Sat 1 p.m. – 2 a.m., Sun
– Wed 1 p.m. – 1 a.m.
There is also a great variety of accommodation in Copenhagen. It's
worth comparing prices beforehand and - as is the case elsewhere in
Scandinavia - to look out for special weekend offers and other
discounts.
In summer it is advisable to book as early as possible
because that is the high season. Copenhagen is a year-round tourist
destination, but with lots of events, late-night visitors may have a
harder time finding a place.
Cheap
There are four youth
hostels in Copenhagen, two of which are in the city centre. Amager and
Bellahøj hostels are easily accessible by bus or tram. There is no age
limit for youth hostels in Denmark! There are both family rooms and
guests well over 20.
1 Copenhagen City, H.C. Andersens Boulevard
50, 1553 Kobenhavn V (near the city center, 500 m from the train
station). Tel.: +45 3311-8585, fax: +45 3311-8588, e-mail:
cphcitybooking@danhostel.dk. Open: Open 24 hours. Price: bed from DKK
190 per night, quadruple room from DKK 740.
2 Copenhagen Downtown,
Vandkunsten 5, 1467 Copenhagen K (in the city center, 500 m from the
train station). Tel: +457023 2110, Fax: +45 3332 8809, Email:
info@copenhagendowntown.com. Feature: ★★. Open: 7-23. Check-in: 2 p.m.
Check-out: 10.00 a.m. Price: bed from DKK 75, double room DKK 449.
Accepted payment methods: Visa, Maestro, MasterCard.
3 Copenhagen
Bellahøj (Danhostel Copenhagen Bellahøj, also suitable for groups),
Herbergvejen 8, 2700 Bronshoj Copenhagen. Tel.: +45 3828 9715, fax: +45
3889 0210, e-mail: bellahoej@danhostel.dk commons. Feature: ★★★. Open:
February 1 - December 19, 2010; 7-20 Check-out: 10.00 a.m. Price: bed
from DKK 145.
4 Copenhagen Amager, Vejlands Allé 200, 2300 København
S. Tel.: +45 3252 2908, fax: +45 3252 2708, e-mail:
copenhagen@danhostel.dk. Open: 4 January - 19 December 2010. Price: bed
from DKK 145.
5 Sleep in Heaven, Struenseegade 7, 2200 København N
(down a quiet side street in Nørrebro). Tel: +45 3535 4648 Email:
morefun@sleepinheaven.com. Open: 24h. Price: bed from DKK 140.-. Payment
types accepted: debit card, credit card.
6 A&O Copenhagen Nørrebro
(a&o Copenhagen Nørrebro), Tagesvej 135-137 (In the lively student area
of Nørrebro). Tel: +45 32 72532 0, Email: booking@aohostels.comfacebook.
Features: ★★, 168 rooms. Payment methods accepted: debit card, credit
card.
There are also a number of small hostels that don't offer
great comfort, but offer a good atmosphere and reasonable prices. The
hostels are particularly recommended for young travelers who like to
make new acquaintances. During the summer travel season, it is advisable
to book well in advance. The hostels are also occupied before and after
the Roskilde Festival.
Middle
7 Moxy Copenhagen Sydhavnen,
Sydhavns Plads 2, DK-2450 Copenhagen SV. Tel.: +45 24 79 83 08, e-mail:
reservations@moxycopenhagen.dk. Feature: ★★★. Check-in: 2 p.m.
Check-out: 11.00 a.m. Price: Double room from DKK 800.
8 Ibsens
Hotel, Vendersgade 23, DK-1363 Copenhagen K. Tel.: +45 33 13 19 13, fax:
+45 33 13 19 16, e-mail: hotel@ibsenshotel.dk commons. Feature: ★★★.
Check-in: 2 p.m. Check-out: 11.00 a.m. Price: Double room from DKK
820.-.
9 Hotel Copenhagen, Egilsgade 33 2300 København S (on
Christianhavn, near centre). Tel.: +45 32 96 27 27, fax: +45 32 96 83
08, e-mail: info@hotelcopenhagen.dk. Feature: ★★. Price: Double room
from DKK 500.-. Payment types accepted: debit card, credit card.
10
Scandic Webers, Vesterbrogade 11B, 1620 København (5 minutes from the
train station). Tel.: +45 33 31 14 32, fax: +45 33 31 14 41, e-mail:
webers@scandichotels.com. Price: Double room from DKK 850.
11 Best
Western Hotel City, Peder Skrams Gade 24, DK-1054 Copenhagen K (100 m
from Nyhavn). Tel.: +45 3313 0666, Fax: +45 3313 0667. Check-in: 14.00.
Check-out: 12.00. Price: Double room from DKK 1'000.
12 Copenhagen
Admiral Hotel, Toldbodgade 24-28, DK-1253 Copenhagen K, Toldbodgade
24-28, 1253 København K (right by Nyhavn in the center). Tel.: +45 33 74
14 14, fax: +45 33 74 14 16, email: booking@admiralhotel.dk
wikipediacommons. Hotel in a former warehouse directly at the port.
Feature: ★★★★. Price: Double room from DKK 800.
13 Bella Sky Comwell,
Center Boulevard 5, DK-2300 Copenhagen S. Tel.: +45 32 47 30 00, Fax:
+45 32 47 30 01, Email: hotel@bellasky.dk wikipediacommons. Modern,
almost futuristic hotel in the heart of the Bella Center exhibition and
conference centre, Scandinavia's largest hotel. Price: Double room from
DKK 495.-.
Upscale
14 The Square, Rådhuspladsen 14, DK-1550
Copenhagen V (at City Hall Square). Tel.: +45 3338 1200, fax: +45 3338
1201, e-mail:
thesquare@arp-hansen.dk.
All of the city's libraries are open to the public and often also
offer many international newspapers. The Hovedbiblioteket in the city
center is particularly recommended. There are many international and
almost all major German newspapers here. It is also possible to use the
Internet at terminals, but there is often a queue and use is limited to
15 minutes.
Hovedbiblioteket (Main Library), Krystalgade 15, 1172
København K (right in the city centre). Tel.: +45 3373 6060, fax: +45
3373 6020, e-mail: hovadm@kff.kk.dk. Open: Mon–Fri 10 a.m.–7 p.m.; Sat
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.; So closed.
The University of Copenhagen offers a
variety of master's and bachelor's degrees. It is divided into four
campuses. One is in the inner city, one each in Østerbro, Fredericksberg
and one south of Christianhavn on Amager.
Københavns Universitet
(University of Copenhagen), Nørregade 10, DK-1017 København K. Tel.: +45
35 32 26 26, email: ku@ku.dk.
Copenhagen is certainly one of the safest capitals in Europe. The atmosphere is extremely peaceful and you can walk through the city's parks at night without hesitation. The emergency call center is contacted via emergency call 112 (Danish: Alarm 112) for accidents, serious crimes or fire. Situations that pose a threat to life, health, property or the environment. Notruf 114 (Danish: Service 114) is for inquiries to the police (Politi) that are not urgent.
Rigshospitalet, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100 Copenhagen.
In general, you can communicate in English almost everywhere. Anyone
who speaks German and English can often deduce the meaning of Danish
descriptions.
Cash does not necessarily have to be exchanged or
withdrawn. Even in small shops it is common to pay by card (credit card
or debit card).
In Middle Danish, the town was called Køpmannæhafn, which translates
to "merchant's port" or "port of merchants" and thus expresses the
importance of merchants in the Middle Ages. In 1043 the place was first
mentioned as Havn - parallel to the Latinized form of the name Hafnia
for "port".
The town is still called Kaupmannahöfn in Icelandic
and Keypmannahavn in Faroese; in Swedish the name is Köpenhamn and in
Finnish Kööpenhamina. The German and Dutch exonym Copenhagen correspond
to English Copenhagen, French, Spanish and Portuguese Copenhague, Polish
Kopenhaga and Estonian Kopenhaagen; in Czech and Slovak the name is
Kodaň.
The asteroid (13586) Copenhagen and the chemical element
72 hafnium were named after the city.
Geographically, Copenhagen is located in north-eastern Zealand with
part of the city on the island of Amager. Western Copenhagen stretches
relatively flat further into Zealand, while to the north and south you
can experience more hilly terrain. In north-west Copenhagen, e.g. around
Søborg and Høje Gladsaxe a larger chain of hills with heights up to 50
meters above sea level. These hilly landscapes in northern Copenhagen
are intersected by a number of lakes and Mølleåen. Due to height in the
Gladsaxe area, the Gladsaxe transmitter and Copenhagen's water supply
have been located here. In the south-western part of Copenhagen, a
calcareous shift rises at the Carlsberg fault. The more central parts of
Copenhagen consist primarily of flatter landscape, alternately in Valby
and Brønshøj with less domed hills. Two valley systems follow these
small hill ranges from northeast to southwest. In one valley you will
find the lakes, in the other you will find Damhussøen. These smaller
valleys are cut through by the streams Harrestrup Å and Ladegårdsåen.
Amager and most of the inner city is flat coastal land.
Geologically speaking, Copenhagen, like most of Denmark, rests on an Ice
Age bedrock moraine landscape, which in turn rests on a harder subsoil
of limestone. In certain places in the area, there is only ten meters
down to the limestone layer, which caused significant problems during
the construction of the metro.
Copenhagen lies in a climate zone characterized by the influence of
the warm Gulf Stream. This means that Copenhagen is approx. 5 degrees
warmer than the city's latitude otherwise dictates. At the same time,
the city is also located in an area where Atlantic low pressure
typically passes by. This means that the weather in all four seasons is
relatively unstable with changing periods of rain and sun.
Rainfall is moderate throughout the year with a small peak from June to
August. Snow falls mainly from Christmas to early March, but it rarely
stays for long. Rain in January and February is as common as snow, and
the average temperature for these two winter months is right around
freezing.
Spring can be compared to continental Europe, but
delayed by about a week due to the cold surrounding seawater. In the
same way, the water insulates in autumn, so the climate in Copenhagen is
milder for a little longer than usual. In the period from mid-October to
February, one or two storms (or even hurricanes) may appear. Storms in
summer are rare.
Summer, like the other seasons, is often a
mixture of mild south-westerly, windy and rainy low pressure systems and
periods of stable high pressure that bring sunny and relatively warm
weather. The occurrence of strong low pressure, which e.g. can cause
storms are relatively rare. It is more rare with hurricanes, but they
also occur. In the period around July, the most precipitation falls on
average, up to 57 mm.
Copenhagen is recognized as one of the most environmentally friendly
cities in the world. Much of the city's environmental success can be
attributed to a strong municipal policy combined with a sensible
national policy. In 1971, Denmark established a Ministry of the
Environment and was the first country in the world to implement an
environmental law in 1973.
After a great deal of effort to
improve the water quality in the harbour, i.a. with the establishment of
purification plants and overflow basins, you can now swim in the
harbour, and a swimming competition is organized in the canal around
Christiansborg every year. Several harbor baths have also been
established in the inner harbour. In addition to improving the water
quality in the harbour, work has also been done to improve the water
quality in the city's lakes. Lake Gentofte Sø is one of the cleanest
lakes in the region, and you can, among other things, rare orchids are
found in the wetland.
The soil in Copenhagen's city zone is
generally more lightly polluted. This pollution can e.g. originating
from car exhaust or industrial emissions of smoke and dust. In addition,
there are many areas in Copenhagen where there is a higher degree of
pollution. This may be due to the fact that there have been polluting
companies on the site, such as paint shops or petrol stations, that
waste has been deposited or for other reasons.
Copenhagen, like
other big cities, experiences problems with air pollution and noise from
cars, buses and trucks. It is estimated that around 500 Copenhageners
die each year earlier than usual as a result of pollution. In 2007, a
study showed that the fifth of Copenhagen residents who lived closest to
the busiest streets had twice the risk of dying earlier than normal.
From 2010, however, an environmental zone was established where all
trucks must have particle filters. From 2020, the zone has been extended
to the whole of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg municipalities and
tightened to apply to all older vans, buses and trucks. Towards 2025,
the rules will be further tightened so that the vehicles must meet
stricter emission requirements.
In recent years, there has been
an extra focus on marketing itself in the environmental area, and
Copenhagen Municipality in particular is working purposefully with this.
In 2001, a large offshore wind farm was built just off the Copenhagen
coast on Middelgrunden, which produces around 4% of the city's
electricity. Proposals are being put forward to place more turbines at,
among other things, Nordhavnen and Lynette. As a reward for a long-term
effort within holistic environmental planning, Copenhagen Municipality
received the European Environmental Management Award in 2006, and the
entire city of Copenhagen was named Europe's greenest city in 2009 by
The Economist. Recent articles also mention Copenhagen as the greenest
city; Among other things, Culture Trip (2020), and Travel Earth (2020).
Geologically, the entire city is located on the Cenozoic-Ice Age ground moraine landscape, which occupies large parts of Denmark. At Copenhagen, the moraine rests on relatively high-lying limestone, which consists of chalk limestone from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastricht) and caused considerable problems when the metro was built.
A distinction has to be made between the municipality of Copenhagen,
the administrative region Region Hovedstaden, the Landsdel Byen
København, the "capital", the settlement area capital, the planning area
capital and several different meanings of Greater Copenhagen:
The
86.2 km² municipality of Copenhagen (Danish: Københavns Kommune)
(Eurostat level LAU-1) has consisted of ten districts since 2007: Indre
By, Vesterbro/Kongens Enghave, Nørrebro, Østerbro, Amager Øst, Amager
Vest, Valby, Bispebjerg , Vanløse and Brønshøj-Husum. The reformed
administrative boundaries no longer take into account some traditional
or urban districts: Amager, Islands Brygge, Ørestad, Christianshavn,
Vesterbro and Kongens Enghave (also called Sydhavnen).
The
administrative region Region Hovedstaden (Eurostat level NUTS-2) was
created with the municipal reform of 1 January 2007 and includes the
former districts of Københavns Amt and Frederiksborg Amt as well as the
municipalities of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg and Bornholm.
The
Landsdel Byen København (German: Copenhagen-City) (Eurostat level
NUTS-3) includes the municipalities of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Dragør
and Tårnby. This means an area of 179.3 km² with 805,402 inhabitants
(4,491.9 inhabitants/km²) (as of January 1, 2022). The Landsdel
Københavns omegn (German part Copenhagen-Umland) includes the
municipalities Albertslund, Ballerup, Brøndby, Gentofte, Gladsaxe,
Glostrup, Herlev, Hvidovre, Høje-Taastrup, Ishøj, Lyngby-Taarbæk,
Rødovre and Vallensbæk with 553,622 inhabitants on 342, 3 km² (1,617.4
inhabitants/km²)
The three municipalities of Copenhagen,
Frederiksberg and Gentofte are grouped together as the "capital"
(Hovedstaden) and together have an area of 120.5 km². (Area figures from
2014)
As Hovedstadsområdet (roughly: "capital area") the contiguous
settlement area (byområde) is called, which has formed around the
municipalities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg since the middle of the
20th century. It does not form an independent administrative unit, but
is merely an important statistical variable. Denmark's statistics last
expanded Hovedstadsområdet in 2007 to include Ishøj and Greve Strand.
Copenhagen is part of the 'Capital Area' planning region (also called
Hovedstadsområdet in Danish). Its geographical demarcation has been
adjusted over the past half-century to the extent that the connection
between the metropolis and its surroundings has intensified.
Hovedstadsområdet today covers the entire east of the island of Zealand;
it is also the tariff area of the public transport operator Movia.
The term Storkøbenhavn (Greater Copenhagen) includes various suburbs of
the capital, depending on the context.
Copenhagen forms the economic
center of the cross-border metropolitan area called the Öresund region.
This consists of the Hovedstaden region, the Sjælland region and the
southern Swedish province of Scania with a total of 3.88 million
inhabitants.
A number of finds from prehistoric times have been made in the
Copenhagen area. At the building of Amager Strandpark, one found e.g.
remains of a coastal settlement from the Neolithic. Burial mounds in the
suburbs indicate human activity in prehistoric times, and many of the
town names in the vicinity of Copenhagen also bear witness to the
founding of towns in the greater Copenhagen area in the Viking Age.
Until recently, the oldest traces of urban settlement in the
Copenhagen area were within the ramparts from around the year 1000,
where traces of a small fishing lodge were found where Copenhagen is
today. Fiskerlejet was located just north of Copenhagen's Town Hall
around Mikkel Bryggers Gade, which at the time lay by the sea. But in
connection with the excavation of the Metro, traces of boat bridges at
Gammel Strand have been found, dating all the way back to around the
year 700. During the excavation of the metro station at Kongens Nytorv,
traces of a farm from the Viking Age have also been found.
The first time the precursor to Copenhagen under the name "Havn" is
mentioned in the sources, is in connection with a naval battle between
Svend Estridsen and the Norwegian king Magnus the Good in 1043. After
that, there is silence about the city's fate for the next approx. 120
years.
It is likely that during the 12th century the city was
able to profit from its central location between the large cathedral
cities of Lund and Roskilde and thus was an important point for traffic
and trade between the two cities. The natural harbor and the small
island of Slotsholmen, which was easy to defend, probably also gave the
city great advantages. In the second half of the 12th century, the
silence about the town is broken, when Saxo mentions that Pope Urban III
in 1186 confirms that the small town "Hafn", together with a number of
other towns that King Valdemar had previously given to Bishop Absalon,
must continue belong to Absalom. The exact year of King Valdemar's gift
is not known, as the deed of gift that Absalon received has disappeared.
From about 1167-1171, Absalon built a castle and a city wall on the
site.
Under Absalon's leadership, the city began to grow.
Especially in the 13th century, the city expanded, so that it eventually
came to cover a larger part of the area between Kongens Nytorv and
Rådhuspladsen. Gråbrødre Kloster and the churches Our Lady, St. Peder
(now St. Petri) and St. Nikolai were all built in the first half of the
13th century. The 13th century was a turbulent time in Danish history,
which was expressed in the fierce battle between successive bishops and
kings for the right to the city. However, in 1251, Bishop Jakob
Erlandsen was able to force the pressured King Abel to surrender the
city to him, and in 1254 this bishop gave the city its first city court.
Five years later, in 1259, the city was attacked and plundered by the
Rygian prince Jaromar.
Gradually, the city began to grow into the
kingdom's largest and most important, although it had not yet become the
capital. Although the city was the largest, there were still less than
5,000 inhabitants, and thus only a few hundred fewer in cities such as
Ribe and Århus. The location in the middle of the kingdom with a natural
harbor on an important sea trade route was ideal. In 1419, a Danish
king, Erik of Pomerania, finally managed to permanently take power over
the city from the church, and in 1443 Christopher III made the city a
royal residence. In 1479 the university was founded. Copenhagen was now
the country's most important city.
During the Reformation and the
Count's Feud, the townspeople sided with the losing Christian II.
Christian IV was of great importance to Copenhagen. Under him, the
city's old walls, which had hitherto been along Gothersgade around 1647,
were moved so that they ran along the current railway line between
Nørreport and Østerport, bypassing the Nyboder newly built by Christian
IV. Copenhagen's ramparts were also expanded with defenses in the newly
built area of Christianshavn.
From 1658-1660 during the First
Karl Gustav War, Copenhagen was the last area in the kingdom under
Danish control, but under siege by the Swedish troops led by Karl X
Gustav. In February 1659, the Swedes tried to take the town by storm,
but a joint effort by soldiers and the townspeople held them back. After
the unsuccessful storming, however, the Swedes kept the city besieged
until 27 May 1660. As an offshoot of the Peace of Copenhagen, absolute
power was introduced in 1660 under Frederik III and Copenhagen became an
even more important city in Denmark, because it was from here that the
increasingly centralist Danish state was controlled. As part of this
process, in 1660, Copenhagen got a new form of leadership called the
City's 32 men, which was a precursor to the current Citizens'
Representation.
In 1711-1712, one of the worst plague epidemics
in Copenhagen's history raged. The plague killed approximately 22,000 of
the city's approximately 60,000 inhabitants. A few years later, things
went wrong once again, when just over a quarter of the city's buildings
went up in smoke during a city fire in 1728.
Inspired by European
ideas, Frederiksstaden was founded in 1748 north of Kongens Nytorv with
Amalienborg as the most beautiful part. In the latter half of the 18th
century, during the Florissant period, Copenhagen experienced an
enormous boom as a result of the profitable trade with the warring
powers, England and France. However, the boom period ended for a time
when first Christiansborg burned in 1794 and then a town fire in 1795
ravaged the inner city, and then the British navy came to claim
Denmark's navy, which triggered the Battle of the Nest in 1801, as part
of the Napoleonic Wars. Parts of the city were also damaged in that
conflict. However, the damage was far from the extent of the damage
caused by the landed British army during the English bombardment of the
city in 1807, where large areas of the city burned down, as the British
military used rockets. The medieval Church of Our Lady also went up in
flames. The challenges for Denmark and Copenhagen end with the state
bankruptcy in 1813 and the loss of Norway, and the accompanying trade
from Copenhagen to Norway, in 1814.
After the tumultuous events in the years up to 1814, Denmark and
Copenhagen had ended up as a small, poor country. It was therefore not
immediately possible to rebuild the public buildings that had been
destroyed by the bombardment, such as Our Lady's Church and the
university, until well into the 19th century. When the economy finally
got going, this gave rise to enormous development and most of
Copenhagen's inner city is characterized by the reconstructions after
the fires and the bombing. Culturally, Copenhagen came to form the
framework for one of the most rewarding cultural periods in Danish
history, the Golden Age, which was marked by, among other things, C. F.
Hansen, Bertel Thorvaldsen and Søren Kierkegaard. This was followed by
industrialization in the second half of the 19th century. After a major
cholera epidemic in 1853, it was finally decided to take down the old
ramparts.
It was now allowed to build permanent,
foundation-walled new construction outside the ramparts. This release,
in combination with very liberal building legislation, led to a building
boom in the bridge districts and a significant increase in the
population. Around 1800, approximately 100,000 people lived in the
capital, and at the start of the 20th century there were almost 500,000.
The new districts became very different: Frederiksberg and Østerbro
became neighborhoods of the bourgeoisie; Nørrebro and Vesterbro, on the
other hand, became workers' districts.
As a replacement for the
old fortress, the Estrup government adopted from 1886 the construction
of the large fortifications, including the Vestvolden. It was Denmark's
largest workplace and was only later surpassed by the Great Belt
connection. The construction of large projects such as the Free Harbor
(1894), the City Hall (1905) and the Central Station (1911) also left
their mark. Copenhagen had become an industrial metropolis, home to
companies on an international scale such as Burmeister & Wain,
Østasiatisk Kompagni and the Great Nordic Telegraph Company.
After a weak start (The Battle of Fælleden), the labor movement had its
breakthrough in the 1900s capital, where the post of finance mayor was
taken over in 1903 by trade unionist Jens Jensen. In 1901, the
municipality incorporated a number of parishes, including Brønshøj and
Valby, and in 1902 the Municipality of Sundbyernes was incorporated. The
municipality's area was thus tripled, leaving Frederiksberg as an
enclave in Copenhagen Municipality.
This section describes the period from the start of World War I in
1914 to the present day. The policy of neutrality meant that Copenhagen
was not particularly affected by the First World War. The so-called
goulash barons made a lot of money from stock speculation and from
exporting meat products to Germany. After the First World War, there was
a shortage of most things, and high unemployment contributed to a lot of
unrest, especially in Copenhagen's working-class neighborhoods. In 1922,
the Copenhagen-based Landmandsbanken went bankrupt, dragging many people
down with it.
From 1917, the Social Democrats had a majority in
the municipality's board. This led to an increase in public welfare,
municipal housing construction, etc. The construction of Fælledparken
and other parks was another result of the municipality's new social and
health policy programme, which i.a. as a result of the housing crises of
1908 and 1916 focused on building housing that was not influenced by
building speculation. As buildings were built on the lands outside the
Søerne and on the areas around e.g. Brønshøj and Valby, which had been
merged with Copenhagen Municipality in 1901, approached Copenhagen with
surrounding towns such as Lyngby, Herlev and Rødovre. And gradually
these became suburbs. Due to a lack of suitable land in the inner city,
much of the urban development took place around these cities. This
development was also helped by more public transport, i.a. the opening
of the S train lines from 1934.
During World War II, Copenhagen,
like the rest of Denmark, was occupied by German troops. Several
buildings were destroyed during the occupation either by sabotage or by
attacks from the allied forces. Among these can be mentioned that the
Shell house, which was the headquarters of the Gestapo, was bombed by
British planes on 21 March 1945. During this attack, the French School
in Frederiksberg was hit and many children were killed. Many industrial
buildings in Copenhagen were also blown up by the Danish resistance
movement. One of the biggest popular protests against the conditions
under the German occupation was the People's Uprising in 1944
After the war, the increasing use of cars became increasingly important
for the city's development, and this caused the master plan's ideas of a
Copenhagen built around the collective S-train traffic to become
somewhat diluted. Some suburbs grew up away from the S-train network. In
the 1960s, development in the Municipality of Copenhagen seemed to have
almost come to a standstill, while in the suburban municipalities people
were building on life. Gladsaxe Municipality under Erhard Jakobsen and
Albertslund are examples of this development in Copenhagen's surrounding
municipalities.
Inner Copenhagen, on the other hand, experienced
a period of decline from the 1960s with the relocation of industry and
residents. This development began to reverse around 1990. Especially
with the urban renewal plans from 1991, many run-down neighborhoods
slowly but surely became desirable. With the construction of the subway
and housing along the harbor, the inner city has become better
connected. The construction of the Øresund Bridge in 2000 connected
Copenhagen with western Scania, and the city thus strengthened its
status as the center of the Øresund region.
While Ungdomshuset på
Jagtvej existed, the Nørrebro area in particular was regularly
characterized by violent demonstrations that emanated from here. This
culminated in the demolition of the house in March 2007, and subsided in
mid-2008, when a new house was built for the young people in the North
West. Since then, there have been no major demonstrations based on the
movement around the Youth House.
During the period, the housing
market in the city was approx. 2002–2007, along with the rest of the
country, characterized by a housing bubble. This stopped, as in the rest
of Denmark, in 2006/2007, when large price drops were experienced.
However, Copenhagen recovered quickly and the Copenhagen housing market
has been characterized by rising prices since 2009 and today (2021)
prices are higher than prices were at their peak in 2006. At the
beginning of the period, it was also possible to assess cooperative
housing according to market price. This opened up the otherwise closed
co-operative housing market, and instead of being traded through closed
lists and sometimes money under the table, co-operative housing is now
most often traded in free trade. During the bubble period it was popular
to settle in Malmö in Sweden and work in Copenhagen. In 2021, there have
been large price increases again and some politicians spoke of further
restrictions on the possibilities of taking out loans, while others
spoke of the fact that it was not necessary.
In 2020, Copenhagen,
like the rest of Denmark and the rest of the world, was hit by the
Coronavirus pandemic. The authorities recommended homework and shut down
entertainment.
Until around 2025, four major expansion areas are planned in the
Municipality of Copenhagen, which will provide space for 45,000 new
Copenhageners; Ørestad south of Field's and on Amager Fælled,
Nordhavnen, Valby around Ny Ellebjerg Station and the Carlsberg plot
north of Carlsberg Station are to be developed. Likewise, it is planned
that the former freight railway area between Dybbølsbro Station and
Hovedbanegården will be developed, but primarily with business, e.g.
hotels and Ikea. All the areas are either old industrial areas or land
reclamation, except for Amager Fælled which is originally salt meadow.
Likewise, the municipality of Copenhagen is planning a very large
expansion in the north-eastern harbor area in the form of Lynetteholmen.
In the preliminary municipal plan 2021, Frederiksberg Municipality
plans urban development around i.a. Nordens Plads and the Hospital
grounds where Frederiksberg Hospital used to be located. In addition,
the focus is on conservation and hollow filling with either new
buildings or green areas.
In Rødovre there are three primary
urban development areas, Rødovre North, the City Center (around Rødovre
Centre) and Rødovre South. At the City Center, among other things, the
possibilities of making a metro stop by extending one of the existing
metro lines.
A major challenge with the many additional residents
will be to make room for the traffic in the city. The expansion in 2019
of the metro with the City Ring and the construction of light rail along
ring 3 from Lyngby to Ishøj should create even more coherence in
Copenhagen's public transport. There has also been talk for many years
about an Eastern Ring Road around the central parts of the city. One
possibility is that the eastern ring road can go over Lynetteholmen.
The city of Copenhagen is governed politically by the above 18
municipalities and 2 regions. In addition, there are collaborations
across municipalities, regions and countries.
The municipalities
Most municipalities in the Copenhagen area have social democratic
mayors. This applies to the Municipality of Copenhagen and most of the
municipalities in the Vestegnen region. The municipalities without a
social democratic mayor are Frederiksberg Municipality in the central
part of the city, the two northern municipalities Lyngby-Taarbæk and
Rudersdal. In addition, Høje-Taastrup, Vallensbæk and Glostrup to the
west and Greve Municipality further to the southwest.
The regions
The majority of Copenhagen is located in the Capital Region, which was
formed in connection with the Structural Reform in 2007 by the former
Copenhagen and Frederiksborg counties and the municipalities of
Copenhagen, Frederiksberg and Bornholm.
Part of Copenhagen's
south-western quarters is in Region Zealand.
The regions' most
important tasks are the hospital area, in addition they jointly own
Movia, the public transport company in Eastern Denmark (though without
Bornholm, which forms its own employment region). The two regions also
together make up one of Denmark's four employment regions, although
without Bornholm, which has its own traffic company, BAT. From 2007
onwards, the grammar schools, nursing schools and technical schools, AMU
centers and other shorter higher educations are all independent
institutions financed by the state, while primary schools, day care
centers and nursing homes belong to the individual municipalities.
Politics across borders
The municipalities in the individual
regions cooperate in the Capital City Council and the Zealand Council
respectively. In particular, we collaborate here on the offers that are
given to the citizens.
From 1974-1989, the Capital Council
functioned as a central planning body for the entire capital region and
HUR functioned with approximately the same purpose from 2000-2006.
Part of Copenhagen's closest satellite cities such as Birkerød and
Lillerød are considered part of Greater Copenhagen, and the political
work at municipal level about the city of Copenhagen therefore often
involves these municipalities. In this connection, the municipalities in
Copenhagen's west sign are often united under the Vestegnssamarbejdt and
have joint political plans.
Capital Region, Zealand Region,
Copenhagen and Frederiksberg Municipality, Bornholm Regional
Municipality and Municipal Contact Council Capital and Zealand
participate together with corresponding authorities from Scania in the
Öresund Committee, which is a regional collaboration to remove border
obstacles to living and working in the Øresund region.
Copenhagen is the most populous city in Denmark and one of the most
populous in the Nordic countries. For statistical reasons, Statistics
Denmark considers the City of Copenhagen to consist of Copenhagen
Municipality plus three surrounding municipalities: Dragør,
Frederiksberg and Tårnby. Their combined population is 763,908 (as of
December 2016).
Copenhagen Municipality is by far the most
populous in the country and one of the most populous Nordic
municipalities with 655,000 inhabitants (per 2023). There was a
demographic boom in the 1990s and the first decades after the turn of
the millennium, largely due to immigration to Denmark. According to the
statistics from the first quarter of 2022, 73.7% of the municipality's
population was of Danish origin, defined as having at least one parent
born in Denmark with Danish citizenship. Much of the remaining 26.3% are
of immigrant background (20.3%) or descendants of immigrants (6%). There
are no official statistics for ethnic groups. The graph shows the most
frequent countries of origin for Copenhagen residents. The largest
foreign group are Pakistanis (1.3%), Turks (1.2%), Iraqis (1.1%),
Germans (1.0%) and Poles (1.0%).
According to Statistics Denmark,
the Copenhagen area has a larger population of 1,280,471 (as of 1
January 2016). Copenhagen Region consists of the municipalities of
Copenhagen and Frederiksberg plus 16 other municipalities. The capital
area has a total of 2,016,285 inhabitants (per 2016). The capital area
is defined by the Finger Plan. Since the opening of the Øresund
connection in 2000, commuting between Zealand and Scania has increased
rapidly, leading to a wider interconnected area. Known as the Øresund
region, it has 4.1 million inhabitants (of which 2.7 million (August
2021) live in the Danish parts of the region.
A majority (56.5%) of those who live in the Diocese of Copenhagen are
members of the People's Church, and the number is decreasing. The
national cathedral, Vor Frue Kirke, is one of numerous churches in
Copenhagen. There are also several other Christian congregations in the
city, the largest of which is Roman Catholic.
Foreign immigration
to Copenhagen, which has increased over the past three decades, has
contributed to increasing religious diversity; The Hamad Bin Khalifa
Civilization Center opened in 2014. Islam is the second largest religion
in Copenhagen, making up an estimated 10% of the population. Although
there are no official statistics, it is estimated that a significant
proportion of the estimated 175,000-200,000 Muslims in the country live
in the Copenhagen area, with the highest concentration in Nørrebro and
Vestegnen. There are also up to 7,000 Jews in Denmark, with most living
in Copenhagen, where there are several synagogues. Jews have a long
history in the city and the first synagogue in Copenhagen was built in
1684. Today, the history of Danish Jews can be experienced at the Danish
Jewish Museum in Copenhagen.
Since Copenhagen consists of many municipalities, it is difficult to
divide the city into city and suburb. But in the Finger Plan from 1947,
a non-administrative area is found, called the inner metropolitan area.
This area includes the built-up part of Copenhagen Municipality (part of
Vestamager is considered neither "city" nor "park" but "non-urban
area"). Other municipalities or parts thereof included in the area are
Frederiksberg, Gentofte, Hvidovre, large parts of Herlev, Rødovre and
Gladsaxe municipalities and smaller parts of Tårnby and Brøndby
municipalities.
The area covers around 180 km² and has
approximately 925,000 inhabitants (between 900,000 and 950,000), and
none of the area can be considered a suburb. "The inner city" is a
tougher interpretation of the concept of city than, for example,
Statistics Denmark uses the term "urban area". The figure can be used
for comparison with other big cities. Eg. the corresponding figure for
Stockholm ("inner city") is only 300,000. The plan has never been
officially adopted in any forum, but the educational visual expression
in the plan has proven to be so strong that decision-makers locally and
centrally have followed the plan's thoughts.
For a number of years, Copenhagen has ranked high in international quality of life surveys. Its stable economy along with its educational provision and level of social security make it attractive to locals as well as visitors. Although it is one of the world's most expensive cities, it is also one of the most livable with its public transport, cycling facilities and environmental initiatives. In order to lift Copenhagen to the "most livable city" in 2013, its open spaces, increasing activity on the streets, urban planning in favor of cyclists and pedestrians, and for residents urban life-encouraging features with the awakening of community, culture and cuisine were identified. Other sources have ranked Copenhagen highly for its business environment, accessibility, restaurants and environmental planning. Despite a top score on quality of life, it scored low on employee engagement and affordability.
The oldest and most famous theater in the capital is the Royal
Theater, founded in 1748, located at the end of Kongens Nytorv. Since
its foundation, the theater has been the national stage for theatre,
plays, opera and ballet. The theater has a large stage called Gamle
scene, which can accommodate approx. 1,600 spectators. Within the last
few years, however, opera and plays have been given independent
buildings. The opera house was built in 2005 on Holmen opposite
Amalienborg and can accommodate up to 1,703 spectators. The theater was
built in 2008 at Kvæsthusbroen near Nyhavn. The Royal Danish Ballet can
still be found on the old stage of the Royal Danish Theatre. Since it
was founded in 1748, it is one of the oldest ballet companies in Europe.
It is the home of the Bournonville ballet style.
In addition to
the more traditional offerings such as theatre, opera and ballet, which
the Royal Theater can offer, there are a host of other theaters that
offer reinterpretations of classic plays as well as completely new
pieces and genres, such as Folketeatret and Nørrebro Teater.
Copenhagen has had a large jazz scene for many years. Jazz came to
Copenhagen in the 1960s, when American jazz musicians such as Ben
Webster, Thad Jones and Dexter Gordon moved to the city. Musically, they
gathered at the Jazzhus Montmartre, which in the 1960s was the European
center for modern jazz. The jazz club closed in 1995, reopened in May
2010, but is expected to close again in 2020/2021 due to challenges
arising in connection with the closure due to the corona epidemic. Every
year in July, the Copenhagen Jazz Festival is celebrated, which fills
venues and squares with jazz concerts.
The most important venue
for rhythmic music in Copenhagen is Vega on Vesterbro, which has been
voted "best concert venue in Europe" by the international music magazine
Live. Pumpehuset and Den Grå Hal are also popular indoor concert venues.
The largest indoor concerts are held in the Park, where there is room
for up to 55,000 spectators. The biggest outdoor concerts are often
organized in Valbyparken, including Grøn Koncert, which has ended the
tour in Copenhagen since 1985 and since 2017 has also started in
Copenhagen.
For free entertainment, you can take a walk up
Strøget, especially between Nytorv and Højbro Plads, which in the late
afternoon and evening transforms into an improvised three-ring circus
with musicians, magicians, jugglers and other street acts.
As Denmark's capital, Copenhagen contains some of the most important
collections of Danish history and culture, but some museums also have
collections of great international quality. The National Museum, founded
in 1807, is the most important museum in Denmark for culture and
history. The museum contains, among other things, a multitude of ancient
finds with priceless objects such as The solar car. New Carlsberg
Glyptotek also displays a wide collection of objects from prehistoric
times to the present day. The museum has ancient collections from
Mesopotamia, Egypt including a large collection of mummies, ancient
Greece with a piece from the Parthenon frieze that is of international
quality, and various artifacts from ancient Rome. The Glyptotek is
completely unique and the only one of its kind in the Nordic countries.
The Statens Museum for Kunst is the country's largest art museum
with large collections and often exhibitions of recent art.
Thorvaldsen's Museum from 1848 with Bertel Thorvaldsen's many figures
was the city's first proper art museum. The Hirschsprung collection
contains mostly paintings from the Golden Age and the Skagen painters.
The modern art is presented primarily in Arken in Ishøj and Louisiana in
Humlebæk north of Copenhagen.
In addition to Danish art and
handicrafts, David's Collection contains one of the ten most important
collections of Islamic art in the Western world. The war museum from
1838 contains an enormous collection of military equipment from the
Middle Ages until recent times.
The natural history museums are
represented by the Botanical Garden, the Geological Museum and the
Zoological Museum. The three museums have entered into a collaboration,
the Statens Natural History Museum, and are expected to be united in a
building at the Botanical Gardens in 2024 as a national natural history
museum. Experimentarium and Planetarium deal with general physics and
astronomy.
Copenhagen also contains more specialized museums such
as Arbejdermuseet, Frihedsmuseet, Copenhagen City Museum, Storm P Museum
and Enigma (expected to open in 2022), which is a successor to the Post
& Tele Museum.
Copenhagen has a number of parks, the two largest being Valbyparken
and Fælledparken, respectively. 64 and 58 ha. Valbyparken is also
surrounded by football pitches and allotment gardens. A beach is being
built (as of 2021) at the water's edge towards Copenhagen Harbour. The
large lawn in the park lays, among other things, space for Green
Concert. The public park on Østerbro is among the most visited
attractions in Denmark, with several million visitors a year. The third
largest park in Copenhagen is Frederiksberg Have (32 ha). Here you can
e.g. enjoy the view of Norman Foster's elephant house in the Zoo, which
occupies the western part of the garden.
In addition to parks,
the city has some very open nature areas, the largest of which is Amager
Fælled at 223 ha. Amager Fælled consists of approx. one quarter original
salt marsh and three quarters filled seabed. The community has been
continuously reduced and has ceded areas to e.g. Ørestad and ball
fields. There are currently being prepared to be built in the southern
part. This construction creates (as of 2021) a lot of debate, especially
in the Copenhagen media and in Copenhagen politics. In addition, there
is the Sydhavnstippen, which is a 40 ha nature area with plenty of
wildlife and plant life.
Another very popular park is Kongens
Have in central Copenhagen with Rosenborg Castle. The park has been open
to the public since the beginning of the 18th century. In the center of
the city, along the former ramparts, there are a number of parks, of
which Tivoli is the best known.
Something special for Copenhagen
is that several cemeteries also have a double function as parks,
although only for quiet activities. Assistens Cemetery, where H.C.
Andersen, among other things, is buried, is an important green breathing
hole for Indre Nørrebro. It is official policy in Copenhagen that in
2015 all residents must be able to reach a park or beach on foot in less
than 15 minutes.
In addition to parks, Copenhagen also has a
number of forests, including Vestskoven (15 km²) in the western part and
Hareskoven (9 km²) in the north-western part. The animal park (11 km²)
is located in the northern part and contains both forest, plain and a
golf course.
Just west of the ring of parks from the old ramparts
are Copenhagen's Indre Søer. Other significant lakes include Damhussøen
and i.a. Utterslev Mose and Bagsværd Lake.
Copenhagen has a
number of sandy beaches. The largest is Amager Strandpark, which opened
in 2005, which includes a 2 km long artificial island and a total of 4.6
km of sandy beach. In addition, there are beaches at Bellevue and
Charlottenlund along the north coast and Brøndby along the south coast.
The beaches are complemented by several harbor baths along the
waterfront. The first and most popular of these is located at Islands
Brygge.
Many Danish media companies have their headquarters in Copenhagen.
The state-funded DR started its radio activities here in 1925. At the
beginning of the 1950s, the company was also responsible for spreading
television throughout the country. Today, the media company has several
television and TV channels, which are controlled from DR Byen, built in
2006/07 in Ørestad. The Odense-based TV 2 has gathered its Copenhagen
activities at Teglholmen.
Two of the three major national
newspapers, Politiken and Berlingske, as well as the two major tabloid
newspapers, Ekstra Bladet and BT, have their headquarters in Copenhagen.
Furthermore, Jyllands-Posten has an editorial office in the city. In
2003 Politikens Hus merged with Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten and formed
the company JP/Politikens Hus. Berlingske, founded in 1749, is Denmark's
oldest newspaper. Berlingske Media, which i.a. publisher Berlingske is
owned by the London-based Mecom Group. In addition, there are a large
number of local newspapers such as Vesterbro Avis. Other media companies
include Aller Media, which is the largest publisher of weekly and
monthly magazines in Scandinavia, Egmont, which i.a. stands behind
Nordisk Film, and Gyldendal, the largest Danish book publisher.
Copenhagen also has a relatively large film and television industry.
Filmbyen, located on a disused military base in the suburb of Hvidovre,
houses several film companies and studios. Among the film companies is
Zentropa, in which the film director Lars von Trier is a co-owner, who
is behind several international film productions and who was one of the
founders of the dogma movement. Historically, Copenhagen, and especially
the company Nordisk Film, was the center of the film industry in
Northern Europe in the 1910s and 1920s, with hundreds of annual film
productions. Nordisk Film in Valby still produces many films and today
has 1,200 employees (as of 2006) and is the largest producer and
distributor of electronic entertainment in the Nordics.
The largest concentration of cafes is in Indre By, Østerbro and
Vesterbro. The first Copenhagen cafe opened in 1831 at the Hotel
D'Angleterre, but it was only with the opening of Café Sommersko in 1976
that the cafe culture really came to Copenhagen, and there are now over
300 cafes spread across the city.
Copenhagen's nightlife is
centered around Indre by, Nørrebro and Vesterbro, i.a. Laurits Betjent,
Nasa, Rust and Vega.
Within the last decade, Copenhagen has
really distinguished itself with restaurants that can measure up among
the best. Most prominent is Noma, with 2 stars in the Michelin guide
since 2007, which has also been named the best restaurant in the world.
In addition to Noma, Copenhagen had 11 restaurants that have received
one star in the Michelin guide per 2021. With 18 stars, Copenhagen is
the Nordic city with the most stars, which has been the case for a
number of years. In 2016, Restaurant Geranium was the first Danish
restaurant ever to receive three Michelin stars (which is the highest
score), which they have maintained ever since.
The sausage cart
has traditionally been the favorite place to eat for the little hungry,
but is now being challenged by burger bars, pizzerias, shawarma and
sushi bars and the like. Smørrebrød restaurants are another type of
lunch catering that is characteristic of Copenhagen.
Copenhagen
is the capital in the world where organic food has the largest market
share. One in ten purchases is organic in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen represents a wide range of sports and is often a leader in
the field in Denmark. Larger sports facilities include The park, but
also e.g. Brøndby Stadium, Farum Park and Gladsaxe Stadium for football,
Østerbro Stadium for athletics, Ballerup Super Arena for track cycling,
Rødovre Skøjte Arena for ice hockey, Brøndbyhallen for handball and
Bagsværd Rostadion for rowing.
The largest Danish stadium Parken,
located on Østerbro, is both the home ground for the Danish national
football team and the football club F.C. Copenhagen. F.C. For a number
of years, Copenhagen has been very dominant in the Danish Superliga with
thirteen championships since 2000. In addition, Copenhagen is, among
other things, hometown of football clubs Brøndby IF, AB, B.93, Frem and
Fremad Amager. In addition to the park, larger football stadiums include
Brøndby Stadium (Denmark's second largest), Gladsaxe Stadium and Farum
Park. Østerbro Stadium is the city's largest stadium for athletics.
Within handball, KIF Kolding København is the biggest Copenhagen
team. However, they only have a men's team associated with the handball
league. KIF Kolding Copenhagen is a partial continuation of AG
Copenhagen, which merged with Kolding IF Handball. Despite great success
in the Champions League in the spring of 2012, AG Copenhagen suddenly
fell into financial crisis in the summer of the same year, which on 31
July 2012 led to the club filing for bankruptcy.
Within
athletics, it is the club Sparta in particular that has made a name for
itself and the men's team has won the Danish athletics tournament 29
years in a row until 2014 and the women's team has won the Danish
athletics tournament 17 years in a row until 2014. The Copenhagen
Athletics Games were held in the period 2005 –2007, and before that the
Copenhagen Games were held (1973-1986). Both aspired to display
world-class athleticism.
The men's ice hockey championship was
won many times until the mid-1970s by the Copenhagen clubs KSF and
Rungsted IK. Since then, the DM has primarily been won by Jutland clubs,
while Rungsted Seier Capital and Rødovre Mighty Bulls have changed to
being Copenhagen's best men's ice hockey team. On the women's side,
Hvidovre Ishockey Klub has been very dominant in the DM with 8
championships in the 10 tournaments since 2011, often with Herlev IK as
the closest competitor.
Copenhagen has a long tradition of rowing
and has produced several national team rowers. DSR, which is Denmark's
largest rowing club, and Kvik, both located in Swan Mill Bay, have rowed
the traditional Swan Mill Match every year since 1895. In addition,
there are a number of other clubs, e.g. Copenhagen Rowing Club and
Bagsværd Rowing Club.
Copenhagen can display a number of golf
courses, including Copenhagen Golf Club in Dyrehaven and Royal Golf
Center in Ørestad. The Royal Golf Center has been built with a view to
being able to hold PGA tournaments.
In the Municipality of
Copenhagen, plans have been made to make Copenhagen the host of future
international sporting events. In 2009, Copenhagen hosted the World
Outgames, which is an international sporting event for homosexuals. And
the ambition of holding world championships in e.g. Handball and ice
hockey are currently being reinforced. of the construction of the
Copenhagen Arena.
For equestrian sports, the Charlottenlund
Trotbane, opened in 1891, is in the northern suburbs and is the oldest
in the Nordic region. Likewise, to the north, there is also the
Klampenborg Galopbane. From 1922 to 1976, the Amager Trotting Track also
existed in Tårnby.
Copenhagen was one of the host cities at the
European Football Championship 2020, which took place in June and July
2021. Three group stage matches and a round of 16 final were played in
the Park.
The 1st stage of the Tour de France 2022 was run as a
single start in the city center on 1 July.
Twin cities
Twin
cities are in Denmark at municipal level. Copenhagen Municipality has,
for example, a sister city cooperation with Beijing and a sector
cooperation with Buenos Aires. Most of the neighboring municipalities
have also chosen to have twin towns. There are therefore around 85 (as
of 2009) foreign cities which in this way have a part of Copenhagen as a
twin city.
Primary schools can be found all over the city, both private and
public. As in the rest of Denmark, the vast majority of schools are
public primary schools, which are managed and financed by the
municipalities. For the municipality of Copenhagen, approx. 72% of
students in public schools, while the figure is higher for the
surrounding municipalities. The private schools established under the
Free Schools Act include traditional Grundtvig-Kold free schools, larger
private schools (typically established as real schools), small schools,
Christian free schools, Catholic schools, Muslim schools, German
minority schools, Steiner schools, Freinet schools and others. The
private schools are financed with 75% from the state and 25% from
parental payment.
Youth programs, which can be divided into
vocational and upper secondary education, can be found all over the
city. Among the better known are Gefion Gymnasium, Det frie Gymnasium
and Ingrid Jespersens Gymnasieskole. In addition, the country's oldest
2-year STX education is located in Copenhagen, namely Nørrebro
Gymnasium. Until 2020, the institution was called Academic Student
Course.
In addition to primary and secondary schools, part of the
country's higher education institutions are located in Copenhagen. The
University of Copenhagen is Denmark's oldest university. It was
inaugurated in 1479, and the university's oldest buildings are located
on Frue Plads, where Copenhagen's oldest house is located in the
university yard. In 2007, the former Royal Veterinary and Agricultural
College at Frederiksberg and Denmark's Pharmaceutical University were
merged with the University of Copenhagen, which now has 5,500
researchers and almost 40,000 students. In addition, the University of
Copenhagen has departments in northern Amager and health sciences at the
Panum Institute in Østerbro.
Copenhagen Business School, formerly
called the Copenhagen Business School, is housed in four modern
buildings on Frederiksberg. The school has approx. 19,000 students and
675 permanent researchers. The IT University in Copenhagen was
established in 1999 as part of CBS, but from 2003 is an independent
university that still collaborates with CBS. More than 2,500 students go
to university, where you can study for a master's degree in IT.
The engineering programs are gathered at the Technical University of
Denmark in Lyngby. In addition to the primary location in Lyngby, DTU
also has departments in i.a. Helsingør and Risø. In total, the
institution has approx. 7,000 students.
On Holmen is a campus
with several institutions with artistic and creative subjects. This
concerns, among other things, The State Theater School, the Danish Film
School and the Academy of Fine Arts' School of Architecture. Other
creative subjects can e.g. is studied at Denmark's Design School and the
Royal Danish Conservatory of Music.
There are two vocational
colleges and two business academies in Copenhagen, which offer courses
such as teaching, nursing, construction, design, management, etc. The
University of Applied Sciences UCC and the University of Applied
Sciences Metropol both have approx. 10,000 students, while KEA
(Copenhagen Business Academy) has approx. 3,000 students. In addition,
Niels Brock Copenhagen Business College.
Denmark's Library School
was also previously located in Copenhagen with up to 2,000 students, but
the program is no longer an independent educational institution, but is
today a smaller part of the Department of Communication at the
University of Copenhagen.
In addition to the research carried out
at public institutions, a great deal of research is carried out by
private companies, such as Novo Nordisk and Lundbeck.
As the country's largest urban area, the capital area is a natural
economic powerhouse for the country, but also for southern Sweden, the
urban area plays an important economic role.
Previously,
Copenhagen was characterized by a number of large industrial companies
such as Burmeister & Wain and Dansk Sojakagefabrik. Copenhagen was also
the starting point for C.F. Tietgen's extensive network of companies
(Privatbanken, Det Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab, De Danske
Spritfabrikker and others). However, since the end of the Second World
War, in line with similar trends in the rest of Europe, heavy industry
has moved outside the city or completely out of the country, and
Copenhagen has increasingly become a city of knowledge.
Politically, most of the central administration is located in
Copenhagen, where most ministries have offices on or in the area around
Slotsholmen. Likewise, most agencies are located in the Copenhagen area,
which together with the many private knowledge workplaces provides a
highly specialized labor market with many knowledge-intensive jobs.
The Copenhagen area is home to a handful of strong business clusters
in the areas of biotech, cleantech, IT and shipping. The clusters within
biotech and cleantech have many overlaps, within e.g. biomass
production. Both clusters are supported by cluster organizations for the
growth and promotion of the industries. Within biotech, the cluster
organization is Medicon Valley and within cleantech/environmental
technology it is the newly founded Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster.
Clusters have received a greater focus from the regional political side,
as clusters such as the cleantech cluster cover more than 350 companies
and approx. 30,000 jobs.
Several of the largest Danish companies
have their headquarters in the city area; especially companies within
the pharmaceutical industry (Novo Nordisk, Lundbeck, Ferring etc.) and
shipping (A.P. Møller-Mærsk, Torm, D/S Norden, J. Lauritzen) are
important for the area's economy. Likewise, several large financial
groups together with the National Bank characterize central Copenhagen,
including Danske Bank, Nordea Bank Danmark and Nykredit. Carlsberg, ISS
and Skandinavisk Tobakskompagni are other large companies headquartered
in the Copenhagen area.
According to the tourist organization HORESTA, the number of hotel nights in the capital region in 2018 was approx. nine million, which is approx. 1 million more than in 2012. Most foreign tourists in Copenhagen still come from Sweden, Norway and Germany.
In Copenhagen, there are five 5-star hotels, which include counts
Hotel Nimb in Tivoli and Hotel Skt. Petri in Indre By. An extensive
renovation in 2012–2013 of the famous Hotel D'Angleterre on Kongens
Nytorv has made the hotel Copenhagen's only 6-star hotel.
Copenhagen has a total of 12 hotels with more than 300 rooms and
Europe's largest hostel, Danhostel Copenhagen City on Kalvebod Brygge,
with a total of 1020 beds. The city's – and Scandinavia's – largest
hotel is the 75 meter high Bella Sky Comwell in Ørestad with a total of
812 rooms spread over two towers. With its 86 meters and 26 floors, the
Radisson Blu Scandinavia Hotel at Islands Brygge is Denmark's tallest
hotel. 8 out of Copenhagen's 11 largest hotels were built in the 21st
century, whereas the Admiral Hotel in Frederiksstaden, which opened in
1978, is located in a building built in 1787. The Radisson Blu Royal
Hotel by Arne Jacobsen from 1960 is also worth mentioning. It is
centrally located by Vesterport.
Since the 1990s, cruise tourism – like many other large port cities in Europe and the rest of the world – has seen significant growth in Copenhagen. In the period 2005-2012, the number of calls increased by over 100, and the number of passengers almost doubled as the tonnage increased. In the Port of Copenhagen, cruise ships dock in three different – and from 2014 four – areas: Langeliniekaj, Nordre Toldbod, Frihavnen and Nordhavnen (opening in 2014). In 2012, a cruise ship docked in the Port of Copenhagen 372 times with a total of 840,000 passengers, which was the best season so far in both Copenhagen and the rest of Denmark. Copenhagen is thus Scandinavia's largest cruise port and Northern Europe's second largest, second only to Southampton.
The Copenhagen area is home to a handful of strong business clusters
in the areas of biotech, cleantech, IT and shipping. The clusters within
biotech and cleantech have many overlaps, within e.g. biomass
production. Both clusters are supported by cluster organizations for the
growth and promotion of the industries. Within biotech, the cluster
organization is Medicon Valley and within cleantech/environmental
technology it is the newly founded Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster. The
latter is considered one of the strongest in the world, partly as a
result of annual growth rates of over 10% within exports.
Within
shipping, the activities are gathered in The Danish Maritime Cluster,
which has its center in Copenhagen. It is one of the world's leading
maritime clusters, and accounts for 24% of Denmark's exports and 10% of
total Danish production. The cluster as a whole employs 80,000 people in
the companies themselves and 35,000 in related professions, the majority
of which are found in the large shipping companies in Copenhagen. The
cluster has a large number of partners in education and research,
including among others CBS, the University of Copenhagen and DTU. The
organization of the cluster is led by the Maritime Development Center
and Europe, which is also located in the city.
Within financial
IT, there is also a business cluster. While finance and IT make up 5% of
Denmark's general employment, the figure is 14% for the Capital Region.
Since 2009, the organization Copenhagen Finance IT Region has tried to
develop and maintain the industry in the region. One of the challenges
is that 50% of jobs in the sector are at risk in relation to
outsourcing, compared to 25% for the service sector in general. The
cluster organization has a number of partners, including CBS, the
Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, Dansk Metal and DI ITEK.
Strøget and Købmagergade are the two biggest shopping streets with
the biggest and most common shops, while many of the side streets have
the more "quirky" shops. On Gammeltorv by Strøget is the Caritas well,
which is considered one of the finest memorials from the Renaissance. In
the bridge districts, especially the main streets, such as Nørrebrogade,
Amagerbrogade and Østerbrogade from the center, function as traditional
shopping streets.
In central Copenhagen are the department stores
Magasin du Nord, Illum and Illums Bolighus, while shopping centers are
found in several different places in the city, with Fields in Ørestad,
City 2 in Taastrup and Fisketorvet at Dybbølsbro being the largest. In
the central districts, other centers include e.g. Amager Centre,
Frederiksberg Centre, Nørrebro City Center and Spinderiet in Valby, as
well as Copenhagen Central Station and Copenhagen Airport also contain a
number of shops. In the suburban areas there are e.g. Lyngby Storcenter,
Glostrup Storcenter and Rødovre Centrum.
Copenhagen is famous for having a balance between new and old
architecture and a homogeneous building mass of 5-6 storeys in height.
In 2008, the Citizens' Representative Council decided that Indre By
should be kept free of high-rise buildings. Thus, large parts of Indre
By appear quite well-preserved despite historic city fires and
bombardments, even though many of the famous towers and spires are of
recent date. However, large city fires have meant that there are not
very many buildings older than 1728 left. Contrary to e.g. Stockholm is
Copenhagen, characterized by point-by-point renovations of the building
stock rather than violent clearances of larger neighborhoods. At the
same time, the economy has often put restrictions on the most ambitious
projects, which is why knock-on solutions such as at the Statens Museum
for Art are widespread. Large parts of Indre By are subject to building
conservation.
Some of the oldest buildings in the inner city are
Sankt Petri Church from the 15th century and the Consistory House from
approx. 1420. Christian IV occupies a special place in the city's
history. Not only did he double the city's area and build Christianshavn
and Nyboder, but he was also the capital's first urban planner. Of all
the king's many magnificent buildings, Børsen (1619–25) in the Dutch
Renaissance style stands out as a unique building in European
architecture. Baroque Copenhagen is also represented by the famous
twisted staircase spire on the tower of Our Saviour's Church.
The
new district of Frederiksstaden, which was started in 1749, was
characterized by the Rococo style. In the center, a large square,
Amalienborg Slotsplads, was built with four noble mansions surrounding
the Equestrian Statue of Frederik V. The entire quarter is included in
the Cultural Canon.
After the city's fire in 1795 and the British
bombardment in 1807, large parts of the city had to be rebuilt. It
became a house, with corners cut off so that the fire escapes could get
around the corners. Most of Indre By is characterized by this
architecture.
The fall of the ramparts (1856) was the start of an
unbridled era, where new neighborhoods quickly sprung up. In the bridge
quarters and on Gammelholm, an abysmal difference arose between the
decorated facades facing the street and the dark backyards and small
apartments.
One of the greatest architects of the 20th century,
Arne Jacobsen, introduced modernism to Denmark and marked the city with,
among other things, Royal Hotel (1960) and Nationalbank (1978).
The post-war planning of the capital area was supported by the Finger
plan (1947). The finger plan determined that the urban densification in
the future should primarily be concentrated in corridors along the
S-Bahn network, while the spaces in between should be kept free for
green areas.
The 1970s and 1980s were characterized by
international modular architecture with no distinctive character and a
construction zeal that was mainly concentrated around the suburban
municipalities, most often in the form of prefabricated concrete
construction. In the central parts of Copenhagen during the period, the
focus was mostly on urban renovations, this time aimed at the miserable
backyards in the bridge districts.
At the beginning of the 1990s,
the Municipality of Copenhagen was in crisis, but there was still enough
money to initiate large conservation urban renewal projects on Vesterbro
and Amagerbro. The construction of Ørestad was supposed to help pull the
capital out of the doldrums.
Towards the end of the century, a
real flourishing in architecture began with the additions to the Statens
Museum for Art and the Royal Library. Then followed significant
buildings such as the Opera House, the Theater and the Tietgen College
in Ørestad Nord.
Copenhagen has long been a densely built-up but not very tall city.
This is due, among other things, to a great respect for the city's
historic towers and very strict local plans. In the past 100 years, the
general maximum building height has been approx. 25 meters. This has
meant that the tallest buildings in Indre By to date are the towers and
spires of Copenhagen City Hall, Christiansborg, Our Saviour's Church and
Nikolaj Kunsthal.
The tallest buildings in Copenhagen are Herlev
Hospital at 120 m and the tower at Christiansborg at 106 m. However, the
tallest man-made structure in Copenhagen is the Gladsaxesenderen at 220
metres. With its 267 m (incl. 47 m natural height), the top of the
Gladsaxesenderen is the third highest point in Denmark after two other
transmitter masts. Until Turning Torso in Malmö was inaugurated in 2005,
Domus Vista in Frederiksberg was the tallest residential building in the
Nordic region, but is now only the second tallest.
Copenhagen has stable supplies of water, electricity, telephony and
other supplies, which ensure that the city can function.
In 1580,
the first common water supply in Copenhagen was established by running a
line from Lake Emdrup over Nørreport to, respectively. Gammeltorv,
Amagertorv and Købmagergade.
Since 1859, when Copenhagen's first
waterworks were built, Copenhageners have mainly been supplied with
groundwater. From 1859 from 14 spring sites along Harrestrup Å. Since
Søndersø Water Works at Farum (1891), Thorsbro Water Works at Ishøj
(1905), Nybølle Water Works and Islevbro Water Works (1923), Marbjerg
Water Works (1934), Lejre Water Works (1939), Slangerup Water Works
(1954) and Regnemark Water Works at Køge Å ( 1964). These waterworks
collect from 56 spring sites. From here, groundwater is pumped up from
underground. Over the years, several other spring sites have had to
close as a result of industrial pollution, pollution from agriculture or
because pumping up too much water has had harmful effects locally on
streams, lakes, etc. Experiments with mixing surface water with the
ordinary groundwater have not decisively changed this. Over the years,
the water has been stored first in Damhussøen and Sankt Jørgens Sø,
later the Cisterns in Søndermarken, Brønshøj Water Tower and Bellahøj
Højdebeholder. Today, the water is mainly stored at Tinghøj in Gladsaxe.
It was Københavns Vand and formerly Københavns Vandforsyning that was
responsible for the supply of drinking water to most of Copenhagen,
until 2001 when it was taken over by Københavns Energi, and in 2013 by
HOFOR as a collaboration between part of the capital region's
municipalities. Electricity, telephony, etc. is basically supplied by
large suppliers such as Ørsted and TDC, but there are also smaller
companies that contribute.
In recent decades, Copenhagen has
created good opportunities for waste products from production and
households to be removed from the road with the establishment of
incineration plants and treatment plants. The more specialized and
hazardous waste is handled as in the other Danish municipalities by
Nordgroup in Nyborg.
Heat in Copenhagen is largely provided by
district heating or natural gas. In Copenhagen Municipality, this is
delivered by HOFOR via a network of district heating pipes, which covers
around 85% of the heated area. The other municipalities are also well
involved, with either district heating or natural gas, and there is
widespread district heating or natural gas in e.g. Hvidovre and Gentofte
municipalities.
In large parts of the city, it is possible to get
gas via the city's distribution network. This city gas is used in areas
with district heating primarily for, among other things, cooking, but in
areas without district heating also for heating homes and water. It is
also Copenhagen Energy that is responsible for the distribution of gas
in most of the city, just as they take care of the sewer network.
The company R98 was responsible for the renovation in Copenhagen and
Frederiksberg Municipality, but from March 2010 this has been taken over
by private hauliers.
The largest hospital in Copenhagen - and Denmark - is Rigshospitalet,
which is located on Østerbro by Fælledparken. The hospital is able to
treat virtually all types of patients and often has the greatest
expertise in a given field. Hvidovre Hospital is also one of the largest
hospitals and has, among other things, the largest maternity ward.
Bispebjerg Hospital and Herlev Hospital are among the other large public
hospitals in Copenhagen. In addition to the public hospitals, there are
also a number of private hospitals, which typically cater to specific
patient groups, e.g. Herlev Private Hospital and Copenhagen Private
Hospital.
The responsibility for the ambulance service in
Copenhagen lies with the Capital Region, which has outsourced the task
primarily to Falck. Copenhagen Fire Service covers the center of
Copenhagen and the northern part of Copenhagen Municipality, while
Frederiksberg Fire Service handles driving in Frederiksberg and Vanløse.
For the municipalities of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Tårnby and
Dragør, police duties are handled by the Copenhagen Police. They are
headquartered at Politigården, close to the main railway station. Police
duties in the other municipalities are handled for the western suburbs
by Copenhagen's Vestegns Police with headquarters in Albertslund and for
the northern suburbs by Nordsjælland's Police with headquarters in
Helsingør.
Rescue preparedness is a municipal area of
responsibility, but the task can be put out to tender, and therefore a
private contractor carries out the task in many places. The various
municipalities that make up Copenhagen have chosen different solutions.
Inside the city (Copenhagen and Frederiksberg municipalities), on Amager
and to the west, there are municipally owned fire services, while Falck
handles the task in the other municipalities around Copenhagen. In the
event of larger or more complicated incidents, such as the flooding of
the Lyngby motorway in relation to cloudbursts in 2011 and 2014, the
state emergency services are ready to help.