Sønder Boulevard ( lit. "South Boulevard") is a boulevard in 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 ) , 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 ...

, whose broad central reserve has been turned into a

linear park A linear park is a type of park that is significantly longer than it is wide. These linear parks are strips of public land running along canals, rivers, streams, defensive walls, electrical lines, or highways and shorelines. Examples of linear p ...

with various facilities for sports and other activities. It runs from

Halmtorvet Halmtorvet (English: The Haymarket) is a public square in the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located next to Copenhagen Central Station in front of the Meat District. The oblong square eventually turns into Sønder Boulevard, ...

next to

Copenhagen Central Station Copenhagen Central Station ( da, Københavns Hovedbanegård , abbreviated ''København H'') is the main railway station in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the largest railway station in Denmark. With more than 100,000 travellers every day, it is the se ...

in the north east to the Carlsberg district in the southwest.

History

Sønder Boulevard follows the initial stretch of Denmark's first railway, the

West Line West Line or Westline may refer to: * West Line, Chennai Suburban, a railway line in India * West Line, Missouri, a village in Cass County, USA * West Line (C-Train), a railway line in Calgary, Alberta, Canada * West Line Historic District (Austin, ...

between Copenhagen and

Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 51,916 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...

, which opened in 1847. In 1864, the rail line was moved to a more northern course, through

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 ...

, before being moved to its current position just south of Sønder Boulevard in 1911. The portion of the abandoned railway terrain closest to the city was transformed into a broad street in the emerging Vesterbro district. A direct continuation of Stormgade the street was given the name Ny Stormgade (New Storm Street).In 1905., the street was refurbished and renamed Sønder Boulevard. The name complemented those of Vester Boulevard (West Boulevard, now

H. C. Andersens Boulevard H. C. Andersens Boulevard is the most densely trafficked artery in central Copenhagen, Denmark. The 1.3 km long six-lane street passes City Hall Square on its way from Jarmers Plads, a junction just north of Vesterport station, to Lange Bridge wh ...

and Nørre Boulevard (North Boulevard, now

Nørre Voldgade Nørre Voldgade ( lit. "North Rampart Street") is a street in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It runs north-east from Jarmers Plads for approximately 600 metres to Gothersgade where it turns into Øster Voldgade. The succession of Nørre Voldgade, ...

). Sønder Boulevard was long a dilapidated thoroughfare dominated by traffic. The

elm tree Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of Nor ...

s which originally lined it were hit by

Dutch elm disease Dutch elm disease (DED) is caused by a member of the sac fungi (Ascomycota) affecting elm trees, and is spread by elm bark beetles. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease was accidentally introduced into Americas, America ...

and had to be removed. After Halmtorvet was refurbished between 1999 and 2003, Sønder Boulevard was given similar treatment from 2005 to 2007. The project was designed by SLA.

Design and facilities

The boulevard has sections with different forms of vegetation such as lawns and perennial gardens. Facilities include a playground with a

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

theme, a ball cage, a track for

BMX bike A BMX bike is an off-road sport bicycle used for racing or stunt riding. BMX mean''s bicycle'' ''motocross''. Construction Though originally denoting a bicycle intended for BMX racing, the term "BMX bike" is now used as a generic term to e ...

s and seating areas with very different ambiences.

Buildings

Most of the boulevard is lined with typical Copenhagen five-storey residential buildings from the late 19th and early 20th century.

Absalon's Church Absalon's Church ( da, Absalons Kirke) is a defunct church in the Absalons Sogn of Copenhagen, Denmark. It was begun in 1926 to designs by Arthur Wittmaack and Vilhelm Hvalsøe. It opened on 2 September 1934. It is named after bishop Absalon A ...

(No. 73) was completed in 1934 to design by

Arthur Wittmaack Arthur Carl Johann Wittmaack (2 June 1878 – 30 October 1965) was a Danish architect. His work was part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics. Biography Wittmaack was born in Malmø, Sweden. He was th ...

. Wittmaack had already designed the cinema Boulevard Teatret which opened at No. 79-81 in 1924. In 1965, it was taken over by Peter Refn og Knud Hauge and operated as Copenhagen's first

art cinema An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...

under the name Camera. It closed after Refn took over

Grand Teatret Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and co ...

in 1974.

Public art, monuments and memorials

A plaque on No. 106 commemorates that a stray British bomb hit No. 106 and exploded during

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 ...

on 21 March 1945, killing 11 people in the building.

Transport

and

Carlsberg station Carlsberg station () is an S-train station in Copenhagen, Denmark, that serves the Carlsberg area of the Vesterbro/Kongens Enghave district. Situated on the Høje Taastrup radial of the S-train network, it opened on 3 July 2016 and replaced Engh ...

are located close to each end of the street. Enghave Plads Station on the

Copenhagen Metro The Copenhagen Metro ( da, Københavns Metro, ) is a 24/7 rapid transit system in Copenhagen, Denmark, serving the municipalities of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, and Tårnby. The original system opened in October 2002, serving nine stations on t ...

City Circle Line The City Circle Line ( da, Cityringen) or M3 is a loop line of the Copenhagen Metro. It has been claimed by COWI A/S that the City Circle Line is the largest construction project to have taken place in Copenhagen during the last 400 years.

will open close to the junction with Flensborggade and Ny Carlsberg Vej in 2019.

Cultural references

The Camera cinema (Sønder Boulevard 81) was used as a location in the 1967 film '' Fantasterne'' and again in the 1968 film '' Min søsters børn vælter byen''.

References

External links

Sønder Boulevard
on SLA's website
Sønder Boulevard
with images on online architecture guide {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonder Boulevard Streets in Vesterbro/Kongens Enghave Parks in Copenhagen Linear parks