Løve Apotek (literally "Lion Pharmacy") was the first pharmacy 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 ...

. It opened in 1620 and operated until its closing in 1971, for a total of approximately 350 years. For the entire duration of its existence, it was located at the corner of

Amagertorv Amagertorv (English: Amager Square), today part of the Strøget pedestrian zone, is often described as the most central square in central Copenhagen, Denmark. Second only to Gammeltorv, it is also one of the oldest, taking its name from the Amage ...

(No. 33) and Hyskenstræde (No. 1). The most recent building that it occupied was built for the pharmacy in 1908.

History

17th century

Løve Apotek was established by Esaias Fleischer on 12 September 1620 and served as pharmacy for the Danish Royal Court from 1633 to 1715. Esaias Fleischer was married twice, last to Maren Hansdatter, a sister of

Hans Nansen Hans Nansen (28 November 1598 – 12 November 1667) was a Danish statesman. Biography The son of a burgher, Evert Nansen, he was born at Flensburg. He made several voyages to the White Sea and to places in northern Russia, and in 1621 entered ...

's wife. He died in January 1663. In 1650 his pharmacy privilege was made heritable, and his son Gregorius Fleischer inherited the pharmacy. He ran it for fifty years, from 1665 to 1715.

18th century

The pharmacy was from 1716 to 1742 owned by Andreas Winter. The pharmacy was then acquired by August Günter. His son ran it until 1790. It was then endowed to his son-in-law, Ludvig Manthey, who had just passed his pharmaceutical exam. The pharmacy was destroyed in the

Copenhagen Fire of 1795 The Copenhagen Fire of 1795 (''Københavns brandes 1795'') started on Friday, 5 June 1795, at or around 3 pm by the Navy's old base south east of Kongens Nytorv on Gammelholm, in the Navy's magazine for coal and timber, the so-called Dellehave. A ...

. Manthey commissioned

Caspar Frederik Harsdorff Caspar Frederik (Friedrich) Harsdorff, also known as C.F. Harsdorff, (26 May 1735 – 24 May 1799) was a Danish neoclassical architect considered to have been the leading Danish architect in the late 18th century. Early life and training ...

to designed a new building for the pharmacy and it was already completed the following year. In 1796, he was also appointed as director of the Royal Porcelain Manufactory. In 1800. he was sent abroad by the king to study porcelain manufacturing.

Hans Christian Ørsted Hans Christian Ørsted ( , ; often rendered Oersted in English; 14 August 17779 March 1851) was a Danish physicist and chemist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields, which was the first connection found between electricity ...

, his protégé, managed his pharmacy while he was away.

19th century

In 1805, Manthey took over the management of

Ørholm Ørholm is a neighbourhood and locality on the Mølleåen river in Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen9, Denmark. Ørholm Watermill has a history that dates back to at least the 15th century but the current industria ...

and

Brede Works The National Museum of Denmark's new museum, Brede Works, lies in the countryside just north of Copenhagen in Denmark's largest, protected industrial plants. At the museum of Industrial culture, the visitors can be guided around by its own virtua ...

. He therefore sold the pharmacy on Amagertorv to Max Boye, who kept it until 1835. His successor, Jørgen Albert Bech, who owned the pharmacy from 1835 to 1859, was later able to purchase the estates Tårnborg and Kruusesminde at

Korsør Korsør is a town on Zealand, Denmark. It is located in Slagelse Municipality. Until 2007 Korsør was the seat of Korsør Municipality. The town is located west of Slagelse, north-west of Skælskør and connects to Nyborg through the Great Bel ...

. The next owner, Harald August Faber, operated the pharmacy until his death in 1873. Niels Nørgaard Aggersborg was the owner from 1877 to 1889. He was succeeded by Paolo Victor Madvig, who owned it until 1904.

20th century

August Kongsted and Anton Antons, who acquired the pharmacy in 1908, founded Løvens Kemiske Fabrik (now

Leo Pharma LEO Pharma A/S is a multinational Danish pharmaceutical company, founded in 1908, with a presence in about 100 countries. Its headquarters are in Ballerup, near Copenhagen The company is 100% integrated into a private foundation owned by the LEO F ...

) the same year. The company acquired a lot in Hyskenstræde and constructed a production facility. Managing director Aage Frederiksen was among the residents in 1919. Løve Apotek (Amagertorv 33)

The photographer

Frederik Riise Frederik Riise (8 December 1863 – 11 January 1933) was a Danish photographer and exhibition curator. He was a noted portrait photographer and is also remembered for his numerous photographs of buildings, streets and monuments in Copenhagen ...

operated a

photographic studio A photographic studio is often a business owned and represented by one or more photographers, possibly accompanied by assistants and pupils, who create and sell their own and sometimes others’ photographs. Since the early years of the 20th ce ...

in the top floor of the building between 1909 and 1913. The photographic studio was from 1914 to 1928 continued by

Julius Folkmann Julius Doris Folkmann (24 December 1864 - 29 January 1948) was a Denmark, Danish photographer. He was chairman of Dansk Fotografisk Forening in 1921–1040. He also worked as a cinematographer on a few films in the early 1910s. Early life and ed ...

. August Kongsted's son August Julius Helmuth Kongsted took over the pharmacy in 1920. Its production facilities relocated to Brønshøk in 1926 and

Ballerup Ballerup is a Danish town, seat of the Ballerup Municipality, in the Region Hovedstaden. There are approximately 25 schools in Ballerup Municipality. Ballerup has its own educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of ...

in 1958, August Julius Helmuth Kongsted died in 1939. The pharmacy was then passed on to his son-in-law, Ludvig Holtmann, who ran it until it closed in 1971.

Building

The current building at the site was built in 1907–08. It was designed by Victor Nyebøllle og Chr. Brandstrup. A lion relief from Harsdorff's building has been installed above the gate.

Pharmacists

* 12.09.1620 - 13.01.1663 Esais Fleischer * 16.06.1665 - xx.04.1715 Gregorius Fleischer * 23.03.1716 - xx.xx.1742 Andreas Winther * 21.04.1742 - xx.xx.1758 August Günther * 13.10.1758 - 13.02.1790 Christopher Günther * 05.08.1791 - 30.06.1805 Johan Georg Ludvig Manthey * 17.07.1805 - xx.xx.1835 Marx Boye * 31.07.1835 - 30.04.1859 Jørgen Albert Bech * 31.05.1859 - xx.12.1873 Harald August Faber * 22.04.1874 - 31.10.1876 Boet efter ovenstående * 12.01.1877 - 31.10.1889 Niels Nørgaard Aggersborg * 01.09.1889 - 31.12.1904 Paolo Victor Madvig * 01.12.1904 - 01.02.1907 Gustav Rink + * 01.12.1904 - xx.xx.1908 Claus Albert Clausen * 30.05.1908 - 18.12.1917 August Julius Helmuth Kongsted+ Ø 30.05.1908 - 11.04.1920 Anton Marius Mathias Christian * Antons * 21.10.1920 - 24.04.1939 August Julius Helmuth Kongsted * 06.11.1939 - 30.04.1971 Carl Ludvig Holtmann

References

External links

{{Commons
Renderings
for Harsdorff's building in the

Danish National Art Library The Danish National Art Library is the national research library for architecture, art history, visual arts and museology in Denmark. It was founded in 1754 as part of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and has been located at Charlottenborg' ...

Early Danish pharmaceutical companies
Pharmacies in Copenhagen Retail companies established in 1620 1620 establishments in Denmark 1971 disestablishments in Denmark Buildings and structures completed in 1908