Copenhagen - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Copenhagen (/showthread.php?tid=3279)

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Copenhagen - Kyng - 04-27-2019


Here's one I've been wanting to do for a little while - and, after Stockholm, it seems like a logical progression for my next 'overseas' city .

Copenhagen (known in Danish as 'København') is the capital city of Denmark. It's also the largest city in the country, with 777,218 people living there as of July 2018. The wider metro area contains just over 2 million people - so, over one-third of the 5.8 million people living in Denmark live either in Copenhagen, or close enough to be able to work there.

The city was founded on the large Danish island of Zealand - although, it's not known exactly when it first came to be. The earliest official records date from the late 1100s; however, recent archaeological finds suggest that the city could have been founded at least a century before this. In those early days, Copenhagen was primarily a fishing town - although, this industry was powerful enough to allow Copenhagen to emerge as the economic and cultural centre of Denmark by the early 1400s (at which point, it was declared the country's capital). The 1500s brought turmoil to Copenhagen, due to conflict between the established Catholics and the emerging Protestants; however, once Protestantism had taken over across northern Europe, the city expanded rapidly as it became a centre of regional trade.

Unfortunately, this era of prosperity wouldn't last: the 1700s brought plagues and fires, and then much of the city was destroyed by the British in 1807, when it got caught up in the Napoleonic Wars. However, the city was rebuilt, and began to thrive as an industrial and cultural centre (as well as remaining an important trading hub). It became particularly prosperous during World War I, when Denmark's neutrality allowed it to benefit from trade with both Britain and Germany. Sadly, it was unable to repeat this during World War II (when it was occupied by the Nazis); however, once it was liberated, it rapidly expanded its infrastructure. A particularly notable recent development was the Øresund Bridge, which links Denmark to Sweden: the route from Copenhagen starts in a tunnel beneath the sea, then emerges onto an artificial island, then continues over a bridge to the Swedish city of Malmö. There's also been major renewal of the city's public transport network - which is sure to be necessary as the city continues to expand.

There's quite a bit in Copenhagen to draw in tourists. The most famous landmark, of course, is the Little Mermaid statue, based on a character from a tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Other than this, the most notable attraction is probably the Tivoli Gardens, which opened in 1843, and draw in 4.6 million visitors per year. Tivoli is the second-oldest amusement park in the world - and, as it happens, the one that's older isn't far away: Dyrehavsbakken, opened in 1583, is in Copenhagen's northern suburbs. On top of this, the city remains an important cultural hub - as evidenced by the lavish opera house, built in 2004 at a cost in excess of $500 million. Then there's art: in contrast to Stockholm, which seems to put all of its artwork onto its metro system, Copenhagen boasts a wide selection of art galleries, featuring paintings and sculptures from both Denmark and the rest of the world. And that's before I even get onto the gardens and parks, the sites of scientific interest, and the multitudes of restaurants (15 of which have Michelin stars) - but, I can't really cover everything in the opening post, can I ?

So, who's been there, and what did you think of it?

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RE: Copenhagen - Pyrite - 04-27-2019

Bane and I spent a week in Copenhagen a couple of years ago. I thought it was a really lovely place. I could talk about Tivoli Gardens, the museums and, of course, the Little Mermaid, but instead I will briefly mention a place called Superkilen Park. It takes objects from various different cultures and combines them together to create this really intriguing park. It also has this amazing swing set - brought in all the way from Iraq!



The other crazy thing we did was 'accidentally' end up in an underground cistern attraction. That place was really creepy!

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RE: Copenhagen - Kyng - 04-27-2019

Oh wow, I didn't realise Bane went too!

I didn't see that particular park, but I like that swing set. It's a shame we don't have anything quite like it here.

(And, of course, I completely missed the underground cisterns. It sounds like the kind of place you'd visit if you'd already done everything you went to do and still had a day left to fill )

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RE: Copenhagen - Pyrite - 04-27-2019

(04-27-2019, 05:47 PM)Kyng Wrote: Oh wow, I didn't realise Bane went too!

I didn't see that particular park, but I like that swing set. It's a shame we don't have anything quite like it here.

(And, of course, I completely missed the underground cisterns. It sounds like the kind of place you'd visit if you'd already done everything you went to do and still had a day left to fill )

Yeah, I think at the time I probably said I'd been with a friend, not knowing he'd go on to join the forum.  

We stumbled across the cistern completely by chance! I recall we were exploring the outskirts of the city, not too far from the zoo. And upon seeing it, in spite of my uneasiness about being underground and in the dark, we just had to have a look down! 

The other thing I haven't yet mentioned is my journey to get a FC København scarf, which resulted in us attending a match.

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RE: Copenhagen - Detective Osprey - 05-04-2019

My dad has been there, and hopefully I'll follow suit.

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RE: Copenhagen - Kyng - 12-09-2021

(05-04-2019, 11:17 AM)Detective Osprey Wrote: My dad has been there, and hopefully I'll follow suit.

I hope you get the chance one day !

Now, I recently learned that Copenhagen has been reclaiming a lot of land over the past 80 years or so... but a large chunk of it is still completely empty, and this video explains why:



Basically, it wasn't reclaimed because they wanted to build anything specific. Instead, it was reclaimed because they had high unemployment in the late 1930s, and they wanted to give the unemployed people something to do . Once the project was finished, the bulk of the newly-reclaimed land was given to the military, while a small portion in the south-west became a nature reserve. In the 1980s, the military finished their exercises... but there was so much unexploded ammunition that it was still unsafe to build on .

However, the last of the leftover grenades and explosives were cleared in 2010, so this land might actually get built on soon. (Except for the nature reserve, which has been running peacefully through all of this !!!!)

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