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 Guards Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a c ...

, reaching the rank of lieutenant. He attended boarding school at Herlufsholm kostskole.http://www.tivoli.dk/en/om/historie/tivolis+grundlaegger/ retrieved 27 Jan 2015 In 1839, Carstensen moved to Copenhagen permanently and published the periodical publications ''Portefeuillen'' and ''Figaro''. Between 1843 and 1848, Carstensen was active in the development of Tivoli Gardens and

Casino Theatre (Copenhagen) The Casino Theatre was a theatre located at Amaliegade 10 in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was built as an entertainment venue by Tivoli Gardens-founder Georg Carstensen but was converted into a theatre in 1848. It closed in 1937 and the building was de ...

after which he joined the war at

Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...

. He learned that he was no longer required in Tivoli shortly after he returned. He was thought to have abandoned the project as he didn't extend the license of the construction.https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/95897725 retrieved 27 Jan 2015 Following the disagreement with others in the Tivoli Gardens management, Carstensen travelled to the

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with ; Saint John ( da, St. Jan) with ; and Saint Croix with . The ...

and joined the army there. He was married to the daughter of an island planter and assisted in management of the property. He subsequently spent time in New York City where he designed the

New York Crystal Palace New York Crystal Palace was an exhibition building constructed for the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York City in 1853, which was under the presidency of the mayor Jacob Aaron Westervelt. The building stood in Reservoir Squar ...

– an exhibition building constructed for the

Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations The Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations was a World's Fair held in 1853 in what is now Bryant Park in New York City, in the wake of the highly successful 1851 Great Exhibition in London. It aimed to showcase the new industrial achievements ...

in 1853 – in collaboration with the German architect Charles Gildemeister.

Alhambra

In 1855, Carstensen returned to

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 ...

and attempted to construct an establishment to rival Tivoli Gardens, the Alhambra in

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 ...

. The only reminiscent left of this failed project is a street named ''Alhambravej''. The establishment failed to be completed during Carstensen's lifetime. He died on 4 January 1857 at age 44 and was buried in Garnison's Churchyard in Copenhagen.

Relatives

Georg's sister, Annette Adelaide Christine Carstensen, was the mother of Sir Robert Hay-Drummond-Hay, whose second wife Grace Marguerite Hay Drummond-Hay was the first woman to travel airborne from Europe to the US as well as the first woman to circumnavigate the globe in the air. Both of these were achieved aboard a

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carstensen, Georg Danish entertainment industry businesspeople 19th-century Danish businesspeople 19th-century Danish military personnel 1812 births 1857 deaths Burials at the Garrison Cemetery, Copenhagen