Christiania

Today we visited a special area of Copenhagen called Christiania. This is going to be a rather long explanation about the area but I feel it is really necessary in order to understand what I saw and experienced today.

 Christiania is a self proclaimed autonomous anarchist (independent or self-governing society) district. It is located on 84 acres of what was an old abandoned military area. Around 1,000 people call it home today.  It started in 1971 when a group of mainly young homeless people decided that since the old military barracks were not being used that they would move in and establish their own society. They became squatters and began fixing up the area and establishing their own rules and basic governing rules. It is known as the hippie town and one of the bases of the movement was the open use of marijuana and other drugs.

Jacob Ludvigsen wrote in a publication:

The objective of Christiania is to create a self-governing society whereby each and every individual holds themselves responsible over the wellbeing of the entire community. Our society is to be economically self-sustaining and, as such, our aspiration is to be steadfast in our conviction that psychological and physical destitution can be averted.


This publication was a calling card for others to move in and join the anti-establishment movement.

Over the years the community has developed some strong self-governing rules and they have worked to exist peacefully with the surrounding communities and the governmental establishment. Marijuana use is still promoted as a right of the adults that live there and there is an area designated as pusher alley for the explicit purpose of selling marijuana and hash. Today other drugs are no longer tolerated. They peacefully coexist with the local police until 2004 when a new police chief decided it was time to shut down the drug sales. Today there are regular raids and sellers are arrested only to have
someone take their place the next day.

There is an eclectic collection of self built houses along with the repurposed military buildings. Some are very nice and modern. The population is controlled and to move in a person must complete an application and be approved by a committee of volunteer citizens. The area is broken down into districts and each district has a volunteer representative that meets once a month with the other district representatives to discuss issues and decide what actions need to be implemented.

I know this is a long explanation about the area but again I think it is important in order to understand the situation and the actual success that they have accomplished.

The walls approaching the entrance give you a hint as to what lies ahead.

The entrance sign.

Signs are posted showing the basic laws of the community.

A map showing the layout of the community. You can see the area is around a moat with raised earthen  embankments 

 They operate their own garbage collection as well as running the recycling center for the entire surrounding community. This is one the garbage trucks. Catch the slogan on the truck.

I am not going to describe all the different buildings but just wanted to show you a general idea of what the community looks like.

 This is one of the hand built homes.

More of the hand crafted homes. 

One of the daycare centers.

They established the very first women’s blacksmith shops for some of the single women living in the community.

A Buddhist stupa for prayer and meditation.

 You can see some of the old government symbols on the buildings.

 There are green park areas and playgrounds for the kids.

This is the large concert/community hall.

Before we left I volunteered to be the “Pusher for the day”. Oops, got to go now I see the police coming.

As you are leaving the sign says “You are now entering the EU.” 

After leaving the state of nervana or euphoria, I went by the Church of Our Saviour with the Spiral Tower and got a good shot of the whole church. Unfortunately it wasn’t open for tourists today.

 This an old ship that was used for many trips to Greenland.

Since I had the afternoon free to explore I went on a canal tour of the city. It was interesting to see the city from a different perspective.

This is the backside of the Royal Palace looking toward the marble church where I visited Friday.

 The backside of the Little Mermaid statue.

 The New opera house.

After my canal tour I went to Tivoli which is a large amusement park in downtown Copenhagen. It is known that Walt Disney visited this park several times before designing and opening Disney Land. The park opened in1843 and is the 2nd oldest operating amusement park in the world. It was a lot of fun seeing it all decorated for Christmas.

Well, it’s hard to believe but tomorrow I leave Denmark and head to Iceland. It has been a great visit and I experienced and learned much more than I had expected. Maybe someday I will return (in much warmer months) to explore even more of this wonderful country.