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Christiania [1] is a self-governing "free town" established in 1971, a city within the city, on the site of a military barracks as an alternative to mainstream culture. The government has recently cracked down on long-standing activities such as the open use of soft drugs (hard drugs, firearms, and automobiles are among the items prohibited though). Nonetheless it's quite safe and popular as a tourist site. Keep in mind that it's a residential area, not commercial. Photography of the central "Pusher Street" will not be tolerated by the dealers.
Christiana is car free, and parking conditions outside can be hellish on good weather, so do what everyone else does and jump on a bike, if that doesn't cut it, take public transit; there are two options:
There are hundreds of buildings on Christiania, in all sorts of imaginative shapes, sizes and colours - from old army buildings dating back to the by-gone barrack days, to elaborate self-build homes. The best way to see them is just walking around sucking in the atmosphere. All the buildings have their own unique story to tell - if you're friendly, open minded, a bit lucky - and outside the main tourist season, you can sometimes get locals to tell you the, often amazing, stories of their particular house, otherwise the regular walking tours are a good introduction to the main sights.
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Smoke-away? Arguably the most famous tourist draw to Christiania, is no longer there, but rather on the National Museum in downtown. The old colourful hash-stalls which used to line Pusher street, was torn down down by the Christianites in 2004, in an attempt to gain permanent rights to occupy the area from the right wing government. One of them, the signature blue "Ryg med hjem (Smoke-away, rather than take-away)" booth, was salvaged, and is now on display in the modern collection of the National museum, complete with furnace, sales tables and instruments to sell marijuana, but without the authentic goods. The present marijuana salesmen have to make do with parasols and gas lamps. |
Christiania is something of a powerhouse in Copenhagen's cultural life, especially on the alternative scene, and there will almost always be something going on, in one of the many club and venues dotted around the central part near Pusher street, or the open air scene on Café Nemoland (listed under drink)
Christiania offers some truly unique shopping, apart from it's (in)famous major export item; Cannabis. If you want to bring home a really unique souvenir from Copenhagen, there are a bunch of interesting options here. In addition to stores listed below, there is also a Bazaar at the entrance to Pusher street where you can buy everything from Cannabis posters, to bongs and Jamaican clothing.
Despite the best efforts by the police to shut down the Cannabis trade here, the selling is still going on - relatively openly. The Cannabis market in Copenhagen is estimated to around 1 billion kroner (€134 mio) annually, and with Christiania still being the epicentre, neither is there much chance of the trade disappearing any time soon. But potential buyers should be aware that police occasionally patrol the area, and you could potentially be fined if you are caught possessing hashish. Visitors should also take note that harder drugs are frowned upon on Christiania, and no attempts should be made to buy, or even ask for, harder drugs.
With some of the best vegetarian food you'll find anywhere in town, the residents love for everything organic, and the social responsibly (and socialism) so enshrined in the fabric of Christiana culture, that prices are kept at quite reasonable levels - especially considering the quality, Christiania is an excellent place for lunch and dinner. Often there is an open barbecue up on Pusher street dishing some yummy burgers and hot dogs.
There is no public option for sleeping, unless you bump into someone willing to lend you a couch. The nearest hotels are in Amager or Downtown
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CHRISTIANIA (officially Kristiania), the capital of Norway, forming a separate county (amt), and the seat of a bishopric (stift). Pop. (Igor) 229,101. It lies on the south-eastern coast, at the head of Christiania Fjord, about 80 m. from the open waters of the Skagerrack, is 59° 54' N. (about the latitude of the southern extremity of the Shetland Islands) and 10 45' E., mainly on the west bank of the small Aker river. The situation is very beautiful, pine-wooded hills rising sharply behind the city, while several islands stud the fjord. The town is mainly modern, having increased rapidly in and since the second half of the 19th century, when brick and stone largely superseded wood as the building material. It is the seat of government, of the supreme courts, of the parliament (Storthing), and of a university. The harbour is of two parts, the Bj6rvik, where the larger steamers lie, and the Pipervik, west of this. On the promontory intervening between these two inlets stands the old fortress of Akershus, occupied as an arsenal and prison, and having a pleasant promenade upon its ramparts. Until 1719 it was a royal palace. At the head of the Bjdrvik the principal railway station (Hovedbanegaard) stands in the Jernbanetory (railway square), and north-west from this runs the principal street, Karl-Johans-gade. In this street, passing the Vor Frelsers Kirke (Church of our Saviour), the Storthings-Bygning (parliament-house, 1866) is seen, facing a handsome square planted with trees. Beyond this is the National theatre (1899), with colossal statues of the dramatists Ibsen and BjOrnsen. It faces the Fridericiana University, housed in three buildings dating from 1853, but founded by Frederick VI. of Denmark in 1811, embracing the five faculties of theology, law, medicine, - history and philology, mathematics and natural sciences. The - equipment of the university is very complete: it has attached to it a large and valuable library, natural history, ethnological and numismatic collections, with one of Scandinavian anti- - quities; also botanical gardens and an observatory. The KarlJohans-gade gives upon the beautiful Slotspark, a wooded elevation crowned with the royal palace (slot), a plain building completed in 1848. North of the university is the museum of art, containing a noteworthy collection of sculpture and paintings of ancient and modern foreign masters, and of native works. The historical museum adjoining this contains northern antiquities, including two viking's ships, excavated, in 1867 and 1880 respectively, from the burial-places of the viking chiefs who owned and, according to custom, were buried in them. Another noteworthy collection is that of industrial art. The Bank of Norway, the exchange, and the courts of law lie between the harbours. Other institutions are the Freemasons' Lodge, housed in one of the handsomest buildings in the city (1844), a conservatory of music, naval, military and art schools, Athenaeum, and the great Dampkjiikken or kitchen (1858), where dinners are provided for the poor.
The suburbs of Christiania are attractive and rapidly growing. On the east side of the river Aker is that of Oslo, with the existing episcopal palace, and an old bishop's palace, in which James VI. of Scotland (I. of England) was betrothed to Princess Anne of Denmark (1589). In the environs of the city are the royalpleasure castle of Oscarshal (1847-1852), on the peninsula Bygdb (Ladugaard) to the west of the city, and the Norwegian national museum (1881), containing industrial and domestic exhibits from the various provinces. Close at hand is an interesting collection of old Norwegian buildings, brought here from all parts, and re-erected, including an example of the timber church of the 12th century (Stavekirke). A collection of ancient agricultural implements is also shown. On Hovedb (Head Island) in the fjord, immediately opposite to the Akershus, are the ruins of a Cistercian monastery, founded in 1147 by monks from Kirkstead in Lincolnshire, England, and burnt down in 1532. There are sanatoria and inns among the surrounding hills, on which beautiful gardens are laid out, such as Hans Haugen, Frognersaeter, Holmenkollen, where the famous ski (snow-shoe) races are held in February, and Voksenkollen. Electric tramways connect the city and suburbs, and local steamers run from the Pipervik to the neighbouring islands and fjord-side towns and villages.
Christiania has two railway stations, the Hovedbanegaard by the Bj6rvik, and the Vestbanegaard by the Pipervik. From the first trains run south to Fredrikshald and Gothenburg, east to Charlottenberg and Stockholm, north to Hamar and Trondhjem, and Otta in Gudbrandsdal, and to Gjovik and the Valdres district. From the west station start the lines to Drammen, Laurvik, Skien and Kongsberg (for the Telemark district). The eastward extension of the railway between Bergen and Vossevangen, undertaken in 1896, had as its ultimate object the connexion of Christiania and Bergen by rail. With these extensive land communications Christiania is at once the principal emporium of southern Norway, and a favourite centre of the extensive tourist traffic. Regular passenger steamers serve the port from Hull, Newcastle, Grangemouth and London, from Trondhjem, Bergen and the Norwegian coast towns, from Hamburg, Amsterdam, Antwerp, &c. Except for two large shipbuilding yards, one with a floating dock, the other with a dry dock, most of the manufactories are concentrated in the suburb of Sagene, on the north side of the city, deriving their motive power from the numerous falls of the river Aker. They embrace factories for cotton and woollen spinning and weaving, paper, flour, soap and oil, bricks and tiles, matches, nails (especially horse-shoe nails), margarine, foundries and engineering shops, wood-pulp, tobacco, matches, linen, glass, sail-cloth, hardware, gunpowder, chemicals, with sawmills, breweries and distilleries. There is also a busy trade in the preparation of granite paving-stones, and in the storing and packing of ice. Imports greatly exceed exports, the annual values being about 71 and i z millions sterling respectively. The former consist principally of grain and flour, cottons and woollens, coffee, iron (raw and manufactured), coal, bacon and salt meat, oils, sugar, machinery, flax, jute and hemp, paperhangings, paints, colours, &c., wines and spirits, raw tobacco, copper, zinc, lead and tin, silk, molasses and other commodities. The principal exports are wood-pulp, timber, nails, paper, butter and margarine, matches, condensed milk, fish, leather and hides, ice, sealskins, &c. Of the imports, Great Britain supplies the greater part of the cotton and woollen yarn, the machinery (including ships), and the raw metals; the United States about one-half of the oils and fats, and a large proportion of the foodstuffs, and skins, feathers, &c. Of the exports, almost the whole of the timber goes to Great Britain, together with the larger portion of the paper and food-stuffs (butter, &c.). The harbour is ice-bound for three or four months in the winter, when ships lie at DrObak, lower down the fjord; but ice-breakers are also used. Early in 1899 the municipality voted £47,000 for the construction of a pier, a harbour for fishing-boats, protected by a mole, and a quay, 345 ft. long, On the shore underneath the Akershus. These works signalized a great scheme of improvement, involving a general rearrangement of the entire harbour.
The present suburb of Oslo represents the original city, which was founded on this site under that name (or Opslo) by Harald Sigurdsson in 1048. By the close of the 14th century it was established as the chief city of Norway. Trade was long dominated by the powerful Hanseatic League, at least until the beginning of the 16th century. The town, built mainly of wood, was no less subject to fires than all Norwegian towns have always been, and after one of these King Christian IV. refounded the capital on the new site it now occupies, and gave his name to it in 1624. By the close of the century it was fortified, but this did not prevent Charles XII. from gaining possession of it in 1716.
See L. Daae, Det gamle Christiania, 1624-1824 (Christiania, 1890); Y. Nielsen, Christiania and Umgegend (Christiania, 1894); G. Amneus, La Ville de Christiania. .. Resume historique, &c. (Christiania, 1900).
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Freetown Christiania, shortly and commonly called just Christiania, is a Danish special community, as a village,partially self-governing with 850 inhabitants, and with an area of 85 acres near the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen. The Freetown is always in the centre of controversies, since its creation in a squatted military area in 1971. In the Freetown, cannabis was legal until 2004. Inhabitants of Christiania are called "Christianites". Christiania has become home to several ventures such as carpenters, blacksmiths, a bikeshop, as well as several cafés, restaurants, jazz, blues and night clubs.
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= In 2007, the National Heritage Agency proposed protection status for some of military buildings, now in Christiania. These are:
After the military had left, the area was only guarded by a few watchmen and sometimes of homeless people went in the area for sleep or for living there.On 4 September, 1971, neighbours of the area broke down a wall for making a place where their children could play.On 26 September, 1971, Christiania was opend to people by Jacob Ludvigsen, a well-known provo and journalist who published a magazine called Hovedbladet ('The main paper'). In the paper, Ludvigsen wrote an article in which he and five others went on exploration into what he called 'The Forbidden City of the Military'. The spirit of Christiania quickly developed into one of the hippie movement, the squatter movement, collectivism and anarchism, in contrast to the site's previous military use.
Meditation and yoga have always been popular activities for the Christianites, and for many years Christiania had their own internationally acclaimed theater group Solvognen, who, beyond their theater performances, also staged many happenings in Copenhagen and even throughout Sweden. Ludvigsen had always talked about drugs, hard drugs (now are illegal in Christiania) and soft drugs. The "problem" of drugs made Christiania really famous, and the most know part of the Freetown. The neighbourhood of the Freetown is accessible through many entrances and cars are not allowed.Danish authorities have repeatedly removed the large stones blocking the main entrance claiming they need access to the area for fire trucks and ambulances in the event of a fire or medical emergency, yet the residents respond by placing them back each time as they feel attacks by the authorities. The people in Christiania have developed their rules, without the Danish government. The rules forbid stealing, violence, guns, knives, bulletproof and hard drugs. A famous street in the Freetown is known as Pusher Street, where hash and Skunk weed were sold openly from permanent stands until 2004, it nevertheless does have rules forbidding hard drugs, such as cocaine, speed, ecstasy and heroin. The commerce is not really clean, but since the rules require a consensus they cannot be removed unless everybody agrees. The Since 1994, residents have paid taxes and fees for water, electricity, trash disposal, etc. The future of the area remains in doubt. In the street are forbidden photoes.
On April 24, 2005, a 26-year-old Christiania resident was killed and three other residents injured in a violent gang assassination on Pusher Street. The reason for this was a fight between few Christianites and people from the hash, market of Copenhagen.
On May 14, 2007 workers from the governmental Forest and Nature Agency, helped by police, entered Christiania to destroy, abandoned building of Cigarkassen ('the cigar box'). They were met by angry and scared Christianites who feared that the police were going to demolish other houses too. Road blocks were built and the trucks were sabotaged so that they could not move.After the police then entered the Freetownand Christianites attacked heavily policemen with fireworks and stones, and built barricades in the street outside Christiania gate. The police used tear gas on the people. The police later had to retreat from Christiania. The riot continued over night ath the entrances to Christiania and Christianites bombarded the police with stones and Molotov cocktails. After that police retreat. All in all over 50 Christiania activists and rioters from outside were arrested.
Since the 1970s the Gay House (Bøssehuset), one of Christiania's autonomous institutions, had been a centre for gay activism, parties and theatre. The how was very famous in Denmrk for humoristic and artistic verities shows, and became a meet point for all homosexuals in Copenhagen. Durin 1980s and 1990s the house was leaved without any ctivity. In 2002 The humorous and artistically high-ranking variety-style shows still have fame among Copenhagen homosexuals. The original pioneers having aged (and for some part died) during the 1980s and 1990s, the house was less used and was empty from about 2000 onwards. In 2002 a group of young gay performers and activists, Dunst, were invited to take over the house so it could remain a centre for gay creativity. However, after 9 months they were asked to leave Christiania again. Dunst claim they introduced a democratic management form and established open workshops for photography, art, music, dance, video etc. They also did a cbaret show. However three 'Save Christiania' nights, a cabaret show and three support parties in order to be able to downpay some of the Gay House's debt to Christiania. According to Dunst, however neighbours would never readily accept them and the newcomers were accused of not understanding "the Christiania lifestyle". Dunst claim they also received verbal abuse. In 2004 Dunst participated in 'Christiania Distortion' (an event supported by Christiania) in a bus circling araund the Freetown.
Around 1984 a biker gang had arrived in Christiania and conquered a part of the hash market. Violence on the premises increased at this period and many Christianites felt unsafe and unhappy with the new residents. This resulted in sabotage acts directed towards the bikers as well as the publication of several provocative manuscripts urging the Christianites to throw out the powerful and armed bikers. This tension culminated when the police found a murdered individual who had been sliced to pieces and buried beneath the floor of a building. Christiania reacted with two colossal community meetings—one outside the building—where it was agreed that the bikers had to leave. They did, and have never returned.
In Christiania cars are prohibited. However, 132 cars are owned by residents and need to be parked on the streets nearthe Freetown. In 2005, born a parking space for only 14 cars outside the Freetown. In 2001 few residents in one of Christiania's sections proposed to make a big parkking for their cars. other Christiania residents and citizens criticised the poposal.
Since its opening, Christiania has been famous for its open cannabis trade, taking place in the famous central street called 'Pusher Street'. Since 2003, however, the 'officially' open hash trade has been ended by authorities. However hs is still sold in the Freetown and sometimes harddrugs too, same if them ar eofficial proibhited in the city. Hard drugs, including heroin and cocaine, have been ruled out of Christiania since 1979 by the community's own rules.
In January 2006, the government proposed that Christiania would be turned into a mixed alternative community and residential area adding condominiums for 400 new residents. Current residents, now paying DKK 1450 (USD 250) per month, would be allowed to remain but need to begin paying normal rent for the facilities. Christiania has rejected this yhing , fearing the freetown would turn into a normal Copenhagen neighbourhood. In particular, the concept of privately owned dwellings is claimed to be incompatible with Christiania's collective ownership.
In order to present a reasonable use of area after an eventual "cleaning", the Danish government commissioned an architectural competition. 17 proposals were received, of which only eight have met the formal competition requirements. All of the proposals were rejected by ojudges. The cost of the architectural competition was 850,000 Danish Kroner (113,000 Euro, 145,000 USD).
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