Frederiksberg Allé is a tree-lined avenue which runs through the southernmost part of the
Frederiksberg
Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...
district of
Copenhagen,
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 = Kingdom of Denmark
, established ...
. It connects
Vesterbrogade
Vesterbrogade () is the main shopping street of the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. The 1.5 km long street runs from the City Hall Square in the east to Pile Allé in Frederiksberg in the west where it turns into Roskildevej. O ...
at
Værnedamsvej to
Frederiksberg Runddel in front of the main entrance to
Frederiksberg Gardens
Frederiksberg Gardens ( Danish: Frederiksberg Have) is one of the largest and most attractive greenspaces in Copenhagen, Denmark. Together with the adjacent Søndermarken it forms a green area of 64 hectares at the western edge of Inner Copenhage ...
. It was originally constructed in 1704 as the king's private road leading to his new summer residence,
Frederiksberg Palace
Frederiksberg Palace ( da, Frederiksberg Slot) is a Baroque residence, located in Frederiksberg, Denmark, adjacent to the Copenhagen Zoo. It commands an impressive view over Frederiksberg Gardens, originally designed as a palace garden in the ...
. It developed into the backbone of an entertainment district in the mid 18th century, and has continued to be associated with theatres until the present day. The avenue is lined with two double rows of
linden trees and bisects
Sankt Thomas Plads, a small round plaza, shortly after its departure from Vesterbrogade.
History
The king's private road
The crown took over the area at the far end of Frederiksberg Allé after ''Ny Hollænderby'', a settlement of Dutch farmers which had been located at the site, had burned down in 1697, and a new summer residence for
Frederick IV was built on a local hilltop between 1699 and 1703. Completed the following year, with inspiration from
France, Frederiksberg Allé was established to provide the king a private road, a ''Route de Roi'', between the main road out of Copenhagen's
Western City Gate and his new palace with its extensive adjoining gardens. The new avenue was known as the ''king's new road'' as opposed to the ''king's old road''
Gammel Kongevej
Gammel Kongevej (literally "Old King's Road) is the principal shopping street of Frederiksberg in Copenhagen, Denmark. Running roughly parallel to Frederiksberg Allé and Vesterbrogade, it extends from Vesterport station at the southern end of ...
.
Country houses and villas
A number of country houses for wealthy Copenhageners were built along the north site of the avenue in the years after 1780, such as Sommerro, Vennersly, Sans Souci and Alléenberg. In 1785 King
Christian VII
Christian VII (29 January 1749 – 13 March 1808) was a monarch of the House of Oldenburg who was King of Denmark–Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein from 1766 until his death in 1808. For his motto he chose: "''Gloria ex amore patriae'' ...
installed a large iron gate at the site where the avenue diverged from Vesterbrogade. Apart from the king only the new land owners were given a key.
Frederiksberg Allé was finally opened to private traffic in 1833. The iron gate was dismantled in 1862 and later installed at
Søndermarken
Søndermarken ( lit. "The Southern Field") is a park in Frederiksberg on the border to Valby and the Carlsberg area in Copenhagen, Denmark. It shares much of its history with Frederiksberg Gardens from which it is separated only by Roskildevej. ...
's entrance on the corner of Pile Allé and Roskildevej. The south side of the street had long remained more open but in the years after 1850 it was built over with private villas.
An entertainment area
The area outside Frederiksberg Palace gardens had thrived as a fashionable destination for excursions ever since the construction of the palace in the first decade of the 18th century. When Frederiksberg Allé, as well as the palace gardens were opened to the public, and Copenhagen's fortifications were decommissioned, allowing for more robust constructions outside the city, numerous
pleasure garden
A pleasure garden is a park or garden that is open to the public for recreation and entertainment. Pleasure gardens differ from other public gardens by serving as venues for entertainment, variously featuring such attractions as concert halls, ...
s and entertainment establishments sprung up along the street. One of the most popular places was ''Sommerlyst'', a large pleasure garden which opened in 1834 at the end of Frederiksberg Allé. It had pavilions, flower beds, a merry-go-round, ferris wheels and a bandstand.
Further down the street.
Georg Carstensen
Johan Bernhard Georg Carstensen (31 August 1812 – 4 January 1857) was one of the developers of Tivoli Gardens and a Danish army officer. He spent most of his childhood in the Near East. He travelled widely and had a career in the military Royal ...
, after leaving
Tivoli Gardens
Tivoli Gardens, also known simply as Tivoli, is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klamp ...
which he had founded in 1843, opened a large entertainment complex in Moorish style named
Alhambra
The Alhambra (, ; ar, الْحَمْرَاء, Al-Ḥamrāʾ, , ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the ...
in 1857. It contained the largest concert hall in Copenhagen which seated 2,000. It was never a success and the buildings were torn down in 1870. Another concert hall, ''Odeon'', which opened the same year as Alhambra, was converted into the Frederiksberg Entertainment Theatre in 1869. Sommerlyst's old main building was torn down in 1855 and replaced with a larger one which contained a theatre and concert space. It was designed by H. C. Stilling who had also worked for Tivoli and Alhambra.
Other popular venues were Valhalla, Schweizer Pavillon, Sankt Thomas and Rosenfryd. They all combined dining with female singers and various other forms of entertainment. Located in one of the former country houses, Sankt Thomas had an anatomic museum and waxworks in a lateral wing, and in 1897 added sports to the palette of entertainment when
Magnus Bech-Olsen
Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wi ...
became a world champion in wrestling by defeating the Turkish
Sultan
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it c ...
's court wrestler.
20th century
At the turn of the century, time ran out for the pleasure gardens and Frederiksberg Allé started to change character. The country houses and villas were pulled down and replaced with denser developments, mostly apartment buildings, although theatres continued to characterize the area. The Fønix Theatre opened in 1919. Frederiksberg Entertainment Theatre was, after for a while serving as a cinema, from 1917 to 1943 owned by the actress
Betty Nansen and is now named the
Betty Nansen Theatre after her. The ABC Theatre opened at No. 80 in 1949 and developed into one of the most important venues for
revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own durin ...
s in the 1950s and 1960s under the leadership of
Stig Lommer.
In 1924 a Roman Catholic girls school, the
Institut Jeanne d'Arc, was built at No. 74. During
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
when Denmark was occupied by
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, the school was accidentally bombed on
21 March 1945 in
Operation Carthage
Operation Carthage, on 21 March 1945, was a British air raid on Copenhagen, Denmark during the Second World War which killed 145 civilians. The target of the raid was the , the Gestapo headquarters in the city centre. It was used for the sto ...
, a British air raid which targeted the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organis ...
headquarters in the Shell House in the city centre, killing 86 school children.
Buildings
No. 23, on the corner with
Kingosgade, is known as ''Little Rosenborg'' due to its
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...
style with two small towers and rich decorations, although its resemblance to
Christian IV
Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian mona ...
's
Rosenborg Castle
Rosenborg Castle ( da, Rosenborg Slot) is a renaissance castle located in Copenhagen, Denmark. The castle was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606 and is an example of Christian IV's many architectural projects. It was built in the D ...
can hardly be described as striking. It was designed by
Johan Daniel Herholdt
Johan Daniel Herholdt (13 August 1818 – 11 April 1902) was a Danish architect, professor and royal building inspector. He worked in the Historicist style and had a significant influence on Danish architecture during the second half of the 19th a ...
´in collaboration with Christian V. Nielsen and completed in 1857.
No. 104, on the corner of Allégade, was completed in 1871 to designs by Johan Schrøder and was listed in 1978.
Frederiksberg Allé today
One of the most modern addresses in Frederiksberg, and in Copenhagen, Frederiksberg Allé is today known for its upmarket boutiques and cafés. Remaining theatres on the avenues are
Betty Nansen Theatre at No. 57, the former Frederiksberg Theatre which is now named after its former director and
Aveny-T, at No. 102, based in Sommerlyst's old main building from 1855.
See also
*
Lorry, Frederiksberg
References
External links
PDFabout the heritage listing of the street
FredningerEgenartsanalyse Frederiksberg Alléby SLA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frederiksberg Alle
Streets in Frederiksberg