Havneparken (English: The Harbour Park) is a

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 ...

located directly on the waterfront in the district of

Islands Brygge Islands Brygge (English: Iceland's Quay) is a harbourfront area in central Copenhagen, Denmark, located on the north-western coast of Amager. The neighbourhood is noted for its waterfront park Havneparken, which is one of the most popular areas ...

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 = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. It is one of the most lively and popular places along the Copenhagen harbourfront. Located in a former dockland area, the park has retained a number of features from the area's industrial past, including disused

railway track A railway track (British English and UIC terminology) or railroad track (American English), also known as permanent way or simply track, is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties (sleepers, ...

s and an abandoned

railway car A railroad car, railcar ( American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is ...

used as an exhibition space, while am old

ship hull A hull is the watertight body of a ship, boat, or flying boat. The hull may open at the top (such as a dinghy), or it may be fully or partially covered with a deck. Atop the deck may be a deckhouse and other superstructures, such as a funnel, der ...

turned upside-down serves as an idiosyncratic

bandstand A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an orname ...

and

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

. The park is also the location of the Islands Brygge Cultural Centre and the Islands Brygge Harbour Bath.

History

The first plans to transform the area into a park was conceived by local grassroots in 1978. In 1983-84, an area of 1 hectare, located just south of

Langebro Langebro (literally "Long Bridge") is a bascule bridge across the Inner Harbour of Copenhagen, Denmark, connecting Zealandside H. C. Andersens Boulevard to Amagerside Amager Boulevard. It is one of only two bridges to carry motor vehicles across t ...

, was put at the disposal of Islands Brygge Local Council. In 1995, the park was extended with an additional 2,8 hectares of waterfront, located to the south of the original area. In 2002 a temporary harbour bath was constructed and the following year, it was replaced by a larger and permanent harbour bath.

Features

Islands Brygge Cultural Centre

Islands Brygge Cultural Centre (Danish: Islandsbrygge Kulturhus) is a community arts centre, located in the middle of the Harbour Park. It was built in 2000 as a replacement for an earlier cultural centre that was demolished as part of the redevelopment of the northernmost part of the Islands Brygge neighbourhood. The centre has a restaurant and arranges a multitude of cultural activities.

Islands Brygge Harbour Bath

Islandsbrygge Harbour Bath is a public swimming facility, located in the water off the northern part of the park. Built to the design of architects

Julien de Smedt Julien De Smedt (born 1975 in Brussels, Belgium) is the founder and director of JDS Architects based in Brussels, Copenhagen, Belo Horizonte and Shanghai. Projects include the VM Housing Complex, the Mountain Dwellings, the Maritime Youth House ...

and

Bjarke Ingels Bjarke Bundgaard Ingels (; born 2 October 1974) is a Danish architect, founder and creative partner of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). In Denmark, Ingels became well known after designing two housing complexes in Ørestad: VM Houses and Mountain D ...

in 2003, it has a total of 5 pools and a capacity of 600 people. There are two pools dedicated to children, two 50 metre pools for swimming and a diving pool with three and five metre

springboard A springboard or diving board is used for diving and is a board that is itself a spring, i.e. a linear flex-spring, of the cantilever type. Springboards are commonly fixed by a hinge at one end (so they can be flipped up when not in use), and ...

"Pinen" bandstand

Pinen is a bandstand, constructed by resting a hull turned upside-down on two

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s. The ship is a former

Limfjord The Limfjord (Danish language, common Danish: ''Limfjorden'' , in north Jutlandish dialect: ''Æ Limfjord'') is a shallow part of the sea, located in Denmark where it has been regarded as a fjord ever since Viking Age, Viking times. However, i ...

ferry, "Pinen", built in 1954. It operated between the island Mors and the Salling Peninsula until 1978, when the

Sallingsund Bridge Sallingsund Bridge (Sallingsundbroen) is a bridge that crosses Salling Sund between the island of Mors and the Salling peninsula on the mainland (Jylland (Jutland)) in Denmark. The bridge is 1717 metres long, the longest span is 93 metres, and th ...

was constructed. Pinen was torn down 2011 after 15 years of neglected repair.''Bryggebladet''
Pinens endeligt
Retrieved 2015-02-14,

Preserved industrial structures

In the redevelopment of the area. a number of existing industrial structures was preserved and incorporated into the design of the park. This was done to commemorate the history of the site and to create a

sense of place The term sense of place has been used in many different ways. It is a multidimensional, complex construct used to characterize the relationship between people and spatial settings. It is a characteristic that some geographic places have and some ...

. The quayside still features the disused

s and an old

contains an exhibition on the

local history Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history. Local history is not merely national history writ small bu ...

of the neighbourhood, rusty steel profiles have been left and now serves as

pergola A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. The ...

s, upon which

Honeysuckle Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both contin ...

and

Clematis ''Clematis'' is a genus of about 300 species within the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Their garden hybrids have been popular among gardeners, beginning with ''Clematis'' × ''jackmanii'', a garden standby since 1862; more hybrid cultivars ...

are trained and bits of wall from now demolished buildings have been left.

Activities

Havneparken is one of the most popular places in Copenhagen to enjoy good weather and the quayside serves as an

esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...

popular with strollers. Apart from swimming at the harbour bath, the park also contains facilities for a number of other sports. These include facilities for

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a ...

and streetbasket (at Vestmanna Plads) as well as

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

and

pétanque Pétanque (, ; oc, petanca, , also or ) is a sport that falls into the category of boules sports, along with raffa, bocce, boule lyonnaise, lawn bowls, and crown green bowling. In all of these sports, players or teams play their boules/balls ...

(at Halfdans Plads). The park also has a

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people ...

. The park is also home to many

open-air concert A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or ho ...

s, either performed at the bandstand or a variety of other locations.

References

{{Copenhagen parks Parks in Copenhagen Port of Copenhagen