History Research of Amager Fælled

History Research of Amager FĂŚlled Yatu Tan collaboration archived with Gabrilelle Sanchez

History of Amager: Amagerport Date: 1860-1875 Location: 55.67264, 12.59397 Outside Amager Fælled

G: I’m a bit curious about people living here and areas they could enjoy into these areas. Did this become very common P: No, they used these areas (fortifications) to walk but it was very rare that they walked out onto Amager. Sometimes on a Sunday afternoon they would walk out and have a Sunday picnic and walk. Hans Christian Anderson has a short story, going out to walk, about his walk over to Amager side during the time of the fortification – not a fairytale.

But, no you didn’t go out there.

G: Was it because it wasn’t safe?

Knudsen, Pernille Ulla, et al. “History of Amager Fælled.” 15 Feb. 2019.

P: Here in this area some butchers were living and there was a little theatre and you could go there and drink. But you had to be back when they closed the gates.

There was a gate and they were closed every night.

View of Amagerport and Amager seen from the Church of the Savior Church.

Source: “Udsigt over Amagerport Og Amager Set Fra Frelserskirkens Tårn.” Kbhbilleder. dk, kbhbilleder.dk/kbh-museum/26058.

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The Recluse Date: 1912 Location: Unknown Inside Amager Fælled

Road to shooting ranges at Amager Fælled, 10 September 1907.

Source: “Amager Fælled.” Kbhbilleder.dk, kbhbilleder.dk/kbh-museum/58475.

A recluse escapes from the photographer towards his cabin. In the background are the shooting range barracks, today known as Ballonparken.

An unknown man built his cottage on the swampy grounds of Amager Fælled to the west of Islands Brygge. He lived as a recluse and did not want to be recognised by anyone. He wanted to be one with his chickens and rats. The fellow man was an abomination to him, whom he thought was worse than the plague. To his horror, when he discovered a photographer was taking this picture of him, he immediately fled the scene into the safety of his cabin. No one in the area knew who he was nor where he came from. He remains as one of Copenhagen’s unsolved “riddles”.

A recluse escapes from the photographer towards his cabin. In the background are the shooting range barracks, today known as Ballonparken. Source: “Amager Fælled.”

Kbhbilleder.dk, kbhbilleder.dk/kbhmuseum/82929.

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The Rope Maker Date: 1870 Location: 55.66093, 12.57943 Outside Amager Fælled

Knudsen, Pernille Ulla, et al. “History of Amager Fælled.” 15 Feb. 2019.

After Copenhagen’s fortifications were removed in 1875, the city that was held inside bubbling for so long exploded, in size and development. Jacob Hølm was one of the two key entrepreneurs who kick-started the development of Amager during and just before the Industrial Revolution. He built some of Copenhagen’s first steel ships. He moved his rope factory in Christianshavn to Amager during the time. He built the entire factory to place the old factory as well as housing for his workers. Areas of Amager were built before the fortification was turned down. The streets were filled with their factories of glue, canvas, candle and the famous kettle brand, Madam Blå.

The rope factory that housed his workers was what we know today as Amager Centre. The glue factory is what we know today as Amager Banken.

A ropemaker is photographed standing within trees by a lake on Amager Fælled. You can see he is holding the rope and the rope has been laced around the trees.

Source: “Amager Fælled.” Kbhbilleder.dk, kbhbilleder.dk/kbh-museum/58533.

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Ballonparken Date: 1872 Location: 55.66222, 12.58098 Inside Amager Fælled

“Ballonparken.” Arkitekturbilleder, www. arkitekturbilleder.dk/bygning/ballonparken/.

Located at the north-west edge of Amager Fælled is Ballonparken, Islands Brygge’s oldest settlement. The barracks were built to serve as a training camp for the recruits at the Artillery regiment to live in. Ballonparken was transferred from the Artillery Regiment transferred to the Air Force troops in 15 years after the Ballonhangaren was built. The area consisted of a school, depot, and a number of ballon plane companies, and had an annual racking facility of approximately 55 men.

Knudsen, Pernille Ulla, et al. “History of Amager Fælled.” 15 Feb. 2019.

German Refugee Camp: After the second world war, the barracks were converted into a German refugee camp. The refugees were escaping hunger and communism in their home in East Germany where the Russians had occupied. The refugees were not very popular among the Danish population, and so were kept on Amager, slightly outside of Copenhagen’s city centre.

Today the area is a collectively self-contained residential area, which consists of 30 buildings and forms accommodation for approx. 100 adults and 50 children.

A row of houses and people walking in Ballonparken around the 1900s. Source: “Ballonparken.” Arkitekturbilleder, www. arkitekturbilleder.dk/bygning/ballonparken/.

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Shooting Ranges Date: 1781 Location: 55.66052, 12.57216 Inside Amager Fælled

Knudsen, Pernille Ulla, et al. “History of Amager Fælled.” 15 Feb. 2019.

A part of Amager Fælled was used as a shooting range for the Artillery regiment to practice their artillery fire.

A map from 1781 showing the Artillery shooting range.

Source: Knudsen, Pernille Ulla, et al.

“History of Amager Fælled.” 15 Feb. 2019.

Road to shooting ranges at Amager Fælled, 10 September 1907.

Source: “Amager Fælled.” Kbhbilleder.dk, kbhbilleder.dk/kbh-museum/58475.

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Ballonhangaren Date: 1917 Location: 55.641840, 12.563807 Inside Amager Fælled

Knudsen, Pernille Ulla, et al. “History of Amager Fælled.” 15 Feb. 2019.

“It was another part of military history: it’s not just soldiers shooting, its also about technology and how its developed and changed.”

“Ballonhangaren.” Arkitekturbilleder, www.arkitekturbilleder.dk/bygning/ ballonhangaren/.

Ballonhangaren was built in 1917 and lived its peak period the following 25 years as the center of the army balloon runners until the unit was shut down in 1947. The hangar constitutes a distinctive element in the environment around Islands Brygge, together with the housing estate Ballonparken which was built in the 1880s.

The hangar, which was been used as a riding school since 1961, is like a green oasis in the middle of the big city with the nature-preserved Amager Fælled as the closest neighbor. The balloon hangar at Amager is one of its kind in Denmark, and was protected in 2014.

A crowd standing in front of a Zeppelin being carried by ropes out of the Ballonhangaren.

Image source: Rimas Steponaitis

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Execution Site Date: 1875 Location: 55.667685, 12.604534 Outside Amager Fælled

Knudsen, Pernille Ulla, et al. “History of Amager Fælled.” 15 Feb. 2019.

Contrary to popular belief, the infamous executions on Amager took place in Christiashavn Fælled, located north-east of Amager Fælled. People living in Copenhagen took to newspapers to find out when executions were taking place.

At the second last execution, 30,000 people came to watch. The prisoners sat in prisons within the fortifications and they had the choice of being driven by wagon over Christianshavn Torvegade to the execution site on Amager, or walking. If they chose to walk, they would live half an hour longer, walking along the fortification over a little wooden bridge, what we know today as Langebro, that you could not drive on, only walk.

In the 18th century, the execution area was a little fortification in the shape of a star with water around it. It was called the Swedish fortification as it was built during the war with the Swedes.

This path is known today as “Dead Man’s Path”. The phrase ‘Amager halshug” is an expression of the area’s eerie past that means you’re swearing youre right otherwise you have the right to be executed on Amager. The execution area is on what we know today as Dalslandsgade 7.

A map of Christianshavn Fælled in 1834 indicating the old dumping area, execution site, a few houses, two graveyards and some factories, and marshes. Source: Knudsen, Pernille Ulla, et al. “History of Amager Fælled.” 15 Feb. 2019.

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Nokken Date: 1970 Location: 55.026743, 10.574267 Inside Amager Fælled

“Så Meget Har Nokken Ændret Sig.” Berlingske.dk, 15 July 2011, www.berlingske. dk/samfund/saa-meget-har-nokken-aendretsig.

This area in the northwestern part of Amager dates back to the 1930s and was owned by the Port of Copenhagen. They allowed some of their employees to use the area for angling. This created the first settlement on site and the ‘garden association’, Nokken, arose.

Since then, the City of Copenhagen took over, causing the area of Nokken to undergo a huge change and been taken over as Islands Brygge where residential properties are listen as shown in the photograph from 2011.

Photo of Nokken taken in 2011.

Source: “CHRISTIANSHAVNERNET - Fotos - Information - Debat - Kommentarer.”

Amager Faelled, Christianshavnernet, www. christianshavnernet.dk/Christianshavn/ Havnefronten/AmagerFaelled.html.

Photo of Nokken taken in 1970.

Source: “CHRISTIANSHAVNERNET - Fotos - Information - Debat - Kommentarer.”

Amager Faelled, Christianshavnernet, www. christianshavnernet.dk/Christianshavn/ Havnefronten/AmagerFaelled.html.

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