Copenhagen

I

Introduction

Copenhagen (Danish, København), city, capital of Denmark and of Copenhagen County, a major seaport and commercial centre. The greater part of Copenhagen is on the eastern coast of Sjaelland Island. The smaller part, called Christianshavn, is on Amager Island. These two sections of the city are connected by bridges. Copenhagen is near Malmö, Sweden, from which it is separated by the Øresund (The Sound).

As a constituent administrative district of Denmark, Copenhagen is governed by a body of elected municipal councillors and a group of magistrates appointed by the monarch. Population 501,158 (2006 estimate).

II

Economy

Copenhagen is the principal seaport and commercial centre of Denmark, and a large proportion of the country's foreign and domestic trade passes through its port. Exports include cattle, wool, grain, and dairy produce; imports include coal, petroleum, and industrial raw materials. The industrial establishments of Copenhagen include shipyards; machine shops; plants for the manufacture of engines; chemical works; textile mills; factories for the production of mathematical instruments, watches and clocks, pianos, leather goods, tobacco, and chocolate; sugar refineries; and breweries and distilleries. Copenhagen, internationally famous for the manufacture of fine porcelain, is also noted for the production of handwrought silverware.

III

Places of Interest

From the harbour the city's business district extends north-east, on Sjaelland Island to Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen's main square. To the north and east of Kongens Nytorv is the fashionable section of the city, containing the royal and governmental palaces and buildings. At the northern end of the city is Frihavn (“free port”), built in 1894 for the development of the city's foreign and domestic trade. Copenhagen is partly encircled by gardens and boulevards laid out in 1863, when the city's ancient fortifications were dismantled.

Among the city's principal buildings are the cathedral, Vor Frue Kirke (Church of Our Lady), built on the site of an earlier structure erected in the 12th century; Charlottenborg Palace, constructed in 1672, now the seat of the Academy of Arts, founded in 1754; Prinsens Palace, the national Museum of Northern Antiquities, founded in 1807; the former royal palace of Christiansborg, constructed 1731-1745, subsequently twice destroyed by fire, rebuilt again after 1903, and since 1918 the seat of Denmark's Parliament, supreme court, and ministry of foreign affairs; the Thorvaldsen Museum, opened in 1848, containing notable works of sculpture; the Royal Theatre, erected in 1874; and the Royal Library, containing about 600,000 volumes. Among the city's leading attractions are the Tivoli Gardens, a world famous amusement park. An educational centre, Copenhagen is the site of the University of Copenhagen, the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (1856), and the Technical University of Denmark (1829). The city is also an important centre of northern European literature and art and is the seat of the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters, founded in 1742.

IV

History

Copenhagen was a fishing village until the middle of the 12th century; it grew in importance after coming into the possession of Bishop Absalon, who fortified it in 1167. It soon became a place of commercial importance, because of its harbour, and received municipal rights in the middle of the 13th century. It was repeatedly attacked by the Hanseatic towns. The city was chosen to be the capital in 1443 by Christopher III (Christopher of Bavaria). Between 1658 and 1659 it withstood a severe siege by the Swedes under Charles X. In 1801, during the Napoleonic Wars, in an effort to compel the Danes to recognize Britain's right of search on the high seas, a British flotilla, commanded by Horatio Nelson, destroyed a Danish fleet in the harbour of Copenhagen. In 1807 the city suffered great damage, and hundreds of people were slain, when British naval vessels bombarded the city to prevent Denmark from surrendering its fleet to Napoleon. During World War II Copenhagen was occupied by German troops from April 1940 until May 1945 and survived unscathed.

From 1948, slum clearance and urban development programmes led to the building of council estates in the suburbs. In the late 1960s, however, students and squatters initiated widespread protests against housing policies, working conditions, nuclear weapons, and the Vietnam War. This movement culminated in 1968, and in 1971 the occupation of former military quarters, the Bådsmandsstraede in Christianhavn, led to the founding of the Free City of Christiania.

In 1996 Copenhagen was named Cultural Capital of Europe. More urban projects are underway. Most notably, a new bridge and tunnel link between Copenhagen and Malmö, Sweden, was opened in July 2000.