Dronning Louises Bro (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: Queen Louise's Bridge) is a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

across The Lakes in central

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 = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. It joins Frederiksborggade in

Indre By Indre By (lit. English, "Inner City"), also known as Copenhagen Center or K or Downtown Copenhagen, is an administrative district (''by'') in central Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. It covers an area of , has a population of 26,223, and a po ...

(city centre) with

Nørrebrogade Nørrebrogade is the principal shopping street of the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It runs from The Lakes in the southeast to Nørrebro station in the northwest, linking Frederiksborggade and Queen Louise's Bridge with Frederikssu ...

in Nørrebro and separates Sortedam Lake (Sortedam Sø) to the northeast from Peblinge Lake (Peblinge Sø) to the south west. The bridge was designed by Vilhelm Dahlerup, and constructed between 1885 and 1887. The bridge is named after Queen Louise,

King Christian IX Christian IX (8 April 181829 January 1906) was King of Denmark from 1863 until his death in 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg. A younger son of Frederick William, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein ...

's wife. It was listed in 1997.

History

The first bridges

A bridge (fjællebroen)) located close to the site of the current bridge is mentioned in 1562. It provided a link between Copenhagen's North Gate and the Nørrebro Road (Nørrebro Landevej) In 1618-20,

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 monar ...

built a combined embankment and a wooden bridge as part of his new Frederiksborg Road. The crossing was improved in the 1720s. The embankments in each end was reinforced with large stones and the central bridge section was replaced by a drawbridge.

The new bridges

In the second half of the 19th century the bridge was unable to cope with the booming traffic that was a result of the redevelopment of the area outside Copenhagen's fortifications as well as the growing population in general. The crossing was notorious or being windy even on quiet days and the architect Emil Blichfeldt therefore proposed a bridge lined with shop with inspiration from the Medieval bridges of

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

and

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. Blichfeld pointed out that the extension of Frederiksborggade had developed into a thriving shopping street with no vacant shops and that the solution would therefore make sense. His proposal was featured in the magazine Ude og Hjemme in 1883 where it was described as "both practical and artistically well-designed. The proposal was discussed on a meeting in the City Council on 18 April 1884 where it was supported by 13 votes against 12 but the magistrate instead chose a simpler and more traditional proposal by Vilhelm Dahlerup. Construction began in 1885 and the bridge opened on 7 September 1887. The bridge became known as the Peblinge Bridge (Peblingebroen).

Design

Queen Louise's Bridge is built of granite and has three arches. The cast iron railings are decorated by four identical bronze

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...

s featuring Copenhagen's coat of arms surrounded by weapons, helmets and lions. The railing integrates eight lampposts and four flagpoles. It was listed in 1997.

Cultural references

The bridge is mentioned in the song ''Hjerterdame'' on

Gasolin' Gasolin' were a Danish rock band from Christianshavn, Copenhagen, formed by Kim Larsen, Franz Beckerlee, and Wili Jønsson in 1969. Their first drummer was the late Bjørn Uglebjerg. He was replaced by Søren Berlev in 1971. At their formatio ...

s 1986 album '' Forklædt som voksen''. fra 1986. The bridge was located close to

Kim Larsen Kim Mellius Flyvholm Larsen (23 October 1945 – 30 September 2018) was a Danish rock and pop musician. He was a major selling Scandinavian act with over 5 million albums sold. Career Kim Larsen was born in Copenhagen. Inspired by The Bea ...

's home on Rørholmsgade.

References

External links

{{coord, 55, 41, 12.01, N, 12, 33, 49.67, E, type:landmark_region:DK, display=title Bridges in Copenhagen Listed transport buildings and structures in Copenhagen Listed bridges in Denmark Bridges completed in 1887