Amerikakaj ( lit. "America Quay") is a 700 metre long quay along the west side of the Søndre Frihavn dock in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. The name commemorates the transatlantic passenger ships of the

Scandinavian America Line The Scandinavian America Line (''Skandinavien-Amerika-Linien'') was founded in 1898, when ''Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskap'' (DFDS) took over the steamship company Thingvalla Line. The passenger and freight service between Scandinavia and New York ...

which used to berth along the quay during the first half of the 20th century. Today

DFDS DFDS is a Danish international shipping and logistics company. It is the busiest shipping company of its kind in Northern Europe and one of the busiest in Europe. The company's name is an abbreviation of Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab (literally ...

's ferries to

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

berth at its north end. A number of buildings along the quay date from the Freeport of Copenhagen which originally occupied the grounds. The buildings have their address on Dampfærgevej, a parallel street which separates the quay from Amerika Plads, a

mixed-use development Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some ...

of mainly modern buildings.

History

The quay was built as part of the

Freeport Freeport, a variant of free port, may refer to: Places United States *Freeport, California *Freeport, Florida *Freeport, Illinois *Freeport, Indiana *Freeport, Iowa *Freeport, Kansas *Freeport, Maine, a New England town **Freeport (CDP), Maine, the ...

which opened to traffic in 1894. It was originally known simply as Vestkaj (English: West Quay) but received its current name in 1965 to commemorate the transatlantic passenger ships which used it as a berth. The first direct passenger route between Scandinavia and America was operated by

Thingvalla Line Thingvalla line was a shipping company founded by Danish financier, industrialist and philanthropist Carl Frederik Tietgen in 1879 in Copenhagen, Denmark. It maintained a route between Copenhagen and New York City calling at Kristiania (present d ...

which was founded by Carl Frederik Tietgen in 1879. Their ships originally berthed at

Larsens Plads Larsens Plads (English: Larsen's Place) is a waterfront in Copenhagen, Denmark, which runs along the Zealand side of the main harbour from the Nyhavn canal in the south to the Nordre Toldbod area just south of Langelinie to the north. The name refe ...

but when the new Free Port opened, they relocated to its West Quay. The name of the company was changed to Scandinavian America Line when it was taken over by

in 1898. In 1935 the ship ''Fredrik VIII'' sailed the Scandinavian America Line's final voyage from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The ship was scrapped in 1936. After that time, cargo and passenger service continued under the DFDS name.

Buildings

The historical buildings along the quay include the free port's Central Power Station, ''Manufakturhuset'' and the Silo Warehouse. Other warehouses have been demolished to make way for modern apartment buildings.

Danish mormon emigrant memorial

Halfway along the quay, on a flight of stairs, is a statue of a young girl, commemorating the Danish

mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

s who were among the first Danes to emigrate to America. It is created by the American sculptor Dennis Smith and symbolically depicts his great-grandmother Kristina (Christina) Beck who in 1868 emigrated with her parents from Saltum in

Vendsyssel Vendsyssel () is the northernmost traditional district of Denmark and of Jutland. Being divided from mainland Jutland by the Limfjord, it is technically a part of the North Jutlandic Island, but the name often used informally for the entire island. ...

in the far north of Jutland to

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. Installed on 6 July 2000, the statue depicts the girl facing a strong wind as she looks out across the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

prior to the family's departure for America where they settled in Alpine, Utah. The setts on the promenade beneath the statue are inscribed with about 200 names and the year of their departure of Danish mormons who all emigrated to Utah in the period from 1850 until 1900.

Gallery

Image:Fyrtårnet, Amerikas Plads.jpg, The Central Power Station at the south end of Amerikakaj Image:Frihavnens Elektriske Centralstation.JPG, The power station and the ''Manufakturhuset'' Image:Amerikakaj - Regionernes Hus.JPG, The Silo Warehouse Image:Dampfærgevej 10.JPG, Warehouse 12 seen from the north

References

External links

{{coord, 55.6972, N, 12.5954, E, source:wikidata, display=title Streets in Østerbro