Skydebanehaven (English 'The Shooting Range Gardens') is a small

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to re ...

in the heart of the Vesterbro district of

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. Its name refers to the former shooting range of the

Royal Copenhagen Shooting Society The Royal Copenhagen Shooting Society ( Danish: Kongelige Kjøbenhavnske Skydeselskab og danske Broderskab) was founded some time before 1443 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Originally it served to train citizens to contribute to the defence of the city bu ...

which used to be located on the site. The most distinctive feature of the park is the

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

Shooting Range Wall which was constructed in 1887 to shield traffic on

Istedgade Istedgade (also called ''Strassen'') is a 1-kilometer straight street in the district of Vesterbro in the Danish capital, Copenhagen. It starts at Copenhagen Central Station and runs parallel to Vesterbrogade to Enghave Plads and Enghaveparken. ...

from stray bullets. The other end of the park is bounded by the rear of the former headquarters of the Shooting Society, a Neoclassical mansion which has more recently housed the

Museum of Copenhagen The Museum of Copenhagen (Danish: Københavns Bymuseum) is the official museum of Copenhagen, Denmark, documenting the city's history from the 12th century to the present. History The Museum of Copenhagen was founded in 1901. Starting in 1925, t ...

. Access to the park is either through a small gate in the Shooting Range Wall, through an unassuming gate next to Absalonsgade 14 (off Vesterbrogade), or a third gate at the northeastern and of Matthæusgade. The section of the park located closest to Istedgade is occupied by a public playground. The Vesterbrogade end of the park is dominated by lawns and flower beds.

History

The Shooting Society's shooting range

The

was originally based in Kompagnistræde. Museum of Copenhagen, 1888

In the 1750s, it established a shooting range at a site outside the

Western City Gate The Western City Gate ( sr, Западна капија Београда, Zapadna kapija Beograda), also known as the Genex Tower ( sr, Кула Генекс, Kula Geneks) is a 36-story skyscraper in Belgrade, Serbia, which was designed in 1977 b ...

. In 1782 the society acquired a piece of land, stretching from present day

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 ...

to the beach just south of the city. The society also built a mansion, completed in 1787, which was to serve as a venue for its active social life. Skydebanehaven in the 1890s

When Vesterbro started to develop in the second half of the 19th century, after the city had been allowed to develop beyond its now decommissioned fortifications, the city expropriated much of the Shooting Society's grounds. In 1887 a tall wall was constructed to shield newly established

from stray bullets from the shooting range. The wall was designed by the architect

Ludvig Knudsen Ludvig Harald Knudsen (18 August 1843 – 16 March 1924) was a Historicist Danish architect. He mainly designed churches. Biography Ludvig Knudsen was born in Copenhagen. He was the son of Jens Christian Knudsen (1801-1856) and Johanne F. Ja ...

in a

style. Knudsen also modernized the interior of the Shooting Society's mansion in the 1890s and added a small new wing towards the gardens.

A municipal park

In 1949 the society moved to Sølyst Manor at

Klampenborg Klampenborg is a northern suburb to Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located in Gentofte Municipality, directly on Øresund, between Taarbæk and Skovshoved. Like other neighbourhoods along the Øresund coast, Klampenborg is an affluent area with many ...

north of Copenhagen, while the city acquired the rest of the property on Vesterbrogade.

Buildings and structures

Shooting Range Wall

The Shooting Range Wall, designed by Ludvig Claussen, was built in red brick in a

style by

. The wall is flanked by two apartment buildings. The wall is supported by heavy

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...

es towards the park. The wall is topped by four small towers with conical spires and its central section is

crenellated A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

. The design employs a number of other decorative elements, including a

Lombard band A Lombard band is a decorative blind arcade, usually located on the exterior of building. It was frequently used during the Romanesque and Gothic periods of Western architecture. It resembles a frieze of arches. Lombard bands are believed to h ...

, blinded arcades, decorative brickwork and two coats of arms. The complex was listed in the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1989.

Royal Copenhagen Shooting Society building

The Royal Copenhagen Shooting Society's former building is built to a Neoclassical design by Johan Henrich Brandemann (1736–1803). The building was expanded by Ludvig Claussen with a small new wing towards the gardens.

History

The Shooting Society's shooting range

A municipal park

Buildings and structures

Shooting Range Wall

Royal Copenhagen Shooting Society building

Skydebanehaven today

References

External links