Dragør () is the main town of Dragør Municipality, (Denmark), which includes the village of Store Magleby. The city hall and seat of the municipal council lies on Kirkevej 7 (postal code 2791 Dragør) in Store Magleby, which has enough space for such a large building.

Geography

Dragør, on the southeastern coast of the island of

Amager Amager ( ), located in the Øresund, is Denmark's most densely populated island, with more than 216,000 inhabitants (January 2022). The protected natural area of ''Naturpark Amager'' (including Kalvebod Fælled) makes up more than one-third of the ...

, is located only 12 km from central

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. Together with the neighbouring village of Store Magleby, it forms a separate urban area with a population of 12,304 (1 January 2025).BY3: Population 1. January by urban areas, area and population density
The Mobile Statbank from

Statistics Denmark Statistics Denmark () is a Danish governmental organization under the Ministry of the Interior and Housing, reporting to the Minister of Economic and Internal Affairs. The organization is responsible for creating statistics on the Danish society ...

Dragør has many well-preserved historical buildings. The old part of the town is a compact, picturesque maze of alleys with yellow-painted houses, red roofs, and

cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on Cobble (geology), cobble-sized stones, and is used for Road surface, pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Sett (paving), Setts, also called ''Belgian blocks'', are often referred to as " ...

streets built in the traditional Danish style. Many of these buildings are hundreds of years old. Dragør was a prosperous seafaring town in the latter half of the 19th century, and its charming harbour front is still in use.

History

Dragør was founded in the 12th century, and grew quickly as a fishing port. In 1370, the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

was granted some trade privileges in the town. Dragør continued to grow - as the home of one of the largest fishing fleets in the country and as a base for salting and processing fish. The first part of the name, ''Drag-'', refers to drawing (dragging) boats ashore. The ending ''-ør'' is common in Scandinavian placenames and means a beach covered in sand or gravel. The area has a Dutch ancestry that is still much in evidence. In the early 16th century, King Christian II invited a group of farmers from the Netherlands — at the time a more agriculturally advanced nation than Denmark — to settle in the area and produce food for the royal household. Twenty-four families arrived. They and their descendants settled in the village of Store Magleby. Tensions between the Dutch farmers of the inland and the Danish fishermen and sailors at the coast are still detectable now, with a certain rivalry between citizens of Store Magleby and Dragør. The Dutch peasants delivered vegetables to the Amagertorv market in

. Among their many other achievements they were responsible for introducing the carrot to Denmark. Dutch and

Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...

were still spoken on Amager until the 19th century. Dragør was made an independent parish 1 April 1954, before that being a part of Store Magleby parish.

Attractions

* The Amager Museum, an open-air recreation of life in old rural Amager. * Dragør Museum, a seafaring museum located at Dragør harbour. * The Kastrupgaard Collection (''Kastrupgårdsamlingen'') in nearby Kastrup. An art museum on the premises of an estate from the 18th century. * Mølsted Museum, in the heart of old Dragør in the artist's studio, an art museum dedicated to the works of seascape painter Christian Mølsted (1862–1930). * Dragør is the sister city of Kodiak, Alaska.

Economy

Prior to its dissolution,

Maersk Air Maersk Air A/S was a Danish airline which operated between 1969 and 2005. Owned by the Maersk, A. P. Møller–Mærsk Group, it operated a mix of scheduled and chartered passenger and cargo services. Headquartered at Dragør, its main operating ...

had its headquarters in Dragør. When it existed, Sterling Airlines had its head office at Copenhagen Airport South in Dragør.Contact
" Sterling Airlines. Retrieved on 13 February 2011. "Head office Sterling Airlines A/S Copenhagen Airport South 2791 Dragoer Denmark."

Notable people

* Hans Nielsen Jeppesen (1815 in Dragør – 1883) a Danish merchant and ship-owner * Peter Mærsk Møller (1836 in Rømø – 1927 in Svendborg) a Danish sea captain, started the

Maersk (), usually known simply as Maersk ( ), is a Danish Freight transport, shipping and logistics company founded in 1904 by Arnold Peter Møller and his father Peter Mærsk Møller. Maersk's business activities include Port operator, port operat ...

business conglomerate, lived in Dragør 1864 to 1884 * Christian Mølsted (1862–1930) a Danish artist who specialized in marine painting *

Arnold Peter Møller Arnold Peter Møller (2 October 1876 – 12 June 1965), better known as A. P. Møller, was a Danish shipping magnate, businessman who was the founder of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group in 1904. Biography A. P. Møller was the son of captain Pe ...

(1876 in Dragør – 1965) a Danish shipping magnate who founded A.P. Moller-Maersk Group in 1904 * Marcel Hansen (born 1965) a Danish serial rapist and twice-convicted murderer who was sentenced to life imprisonment, brought up in Dragør * Silja Schandorff (born 1969 in Dragør) a Danish ballerina, performed with the Royal Danish Ballet 1985 to 2009 * Anne Skare Nielsen (born 1971) a Danish futurist, lecturer, author and partner in Future Navigator; she lives in Dragør

Sport

* Marc Dal Hende (born 1990 in Dragør) a Danish footballer who plays for

FC Midtjylland Football Club Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Superliga, which they ...

* Frederik Schram (born 1995 in Dragør) an Icelandic football goalkeeper, plays for FC Roskilde * Freja Ravn (born 2000 in Dragør) a Danish badminton player, specializing in doubles play

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dragor Municipal seats in the Capital Region of Denmark Municipal seats of Denmark Copenhagen metropolitan area Cities and towns in the Capital Region of Denmark Dragør Municipality