Middelgrundsfortet or Fort Middelgrund, known as Ungdomsøen (The Youth Island) since 2015, is a sea fort located on an artificial island in the

Øresund Øresund or Öresund (, ; da, Øresund ; sv, Öresund ), commonly known in English as the Sound, is a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border, separating Zealand (Denmark) from Scania (Sweden). The strait has a length of ; its width v ...

between

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

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

. The fortress is constructed at a point where the seabed is 7 meters below the water surface, and at the northern meeting point of the straits Kongedybet and Hollænderdybet.

History

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 government constructed the fort between 1890–94 to serve as a part of Copenhagen's

coastal fortifications The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

, partly using material excavated from Frihavnen. It is one of three artificial islands that were created to defend the entrance to Copenhagen's harbour. (The other two are

Flakfortet Flakfortet, meaning sand-shoal fortress, is a sea fort located on the artificially built island of ''Saltholmrev'', in the Øresund between Copenhagen and Saltholm. The island and fort are simply known as ''Flakfortet''; the name of the island; ' ...

and

Trekroner Fort Trekroner Søfort (literally ''Three Crowns Sea Fortress'') is a Coastal defence and fortification#Sea forts, sea fort at the entrance to the Copenhagen#Harbour, Copenhagen harbour. From 1713 until after World War I, Trekroner Fort was part of th ...

.) Middelgrundsfortet was the largest sea fortress in the world, and is still the largest man-made island without

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

, with an area, including wave breakers, of approximately 70 000 m²; the buildings total approximately 15 000 m². A

HAWK Hawks are bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. Th ...

battery was placed on the island in the 1950s. The fortress remained an active military installation until 1984; in 2002 it was sold to a private investor.

Facilities

The fort has been used as a hotel, with 200 rooms linked by 2 miles of corridors. Ferries connect Middelgrundsfortet with

Langelinie Langelinie (English: Long Line) is a pier, promenade and park in central Copenhagen, Denmark, and home of ''The Little Mermaid'' statue. The area has for centuries been a popular destination for excursions and strolls in Copenhagen. Most cruise s ...

, Copenhagen.

Ungdomsøen

Two scout organisations,

Det Danske Spejderkorps The Danish Scout Council (DSC; da, Dansk Spejderråd, formerly ''Fællesrådet for Danmarks Drengespejdere'', FDD) is the national Scouting federation of Denmark. Scouting was founded in Denmark in 1909 and among the charter members of WOSM in 1 ...

and KFUM-spejderne, bought the island in April 2015 for 20 million kroner (£1.94M) with money donated by the A. P. Møller and

Nordea Nordea Bank Abp, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a European financial services group operating in northern Europe and based in Helsinki, Finland. The name is a blend of the words "Nordic" and "idea". The bank is the result of the successive m ...

funds. The two Danish scout organisations intend to develop the facility, at a cost of 25 Million euros, as an adventure playground "for the development of children and young people "(not just scouts)" into active, engaged and curious people who take the lead for positive social change", with space for 400 campers. Ungdomsøen ("The Youth Island") was officially opened in August 2019 by its patron Princess Benedikte.

Cultural references

A view of Middelgrundsfortet from the northwest is seen at 1:07:16 25 in the 1975 ''

Olsen-banden The ''Olsen Gang'' ( da, Olsen-banden, no, Olsenbanden, german: Die Olsenbande) is a Danish comedy film series created by Danish director Erik Balling and special effects expert Henning Bahs about the eponymous fictional criminal gang. The gang's ...

'' film '' The Olsen Gang on the Track''.

References

External links

Ungdomsøen website (English)

Middelgrundsfortet website (archived)
Fortifications of Copenhagen Artificial islands of Denmark Sea forts {{Denmark-struct-stub