139 / 165
Christiansholm can be seen on the far right. In this picture
a warship is being rigged, and behind it we see the rest of
the dismantled navy. The picture gives us a good impres
sion of the lively traffic in the harbour.
132
THE LIBERTY M EMOR IAL c.
1 7 9 7
In memory of the great agricultural reforms - and espe
cially the abolition of adscription
178 8
- a group of citi
zens decided in
1 7 9 1
to erect a memorial in the shape of
an obelisk. Many artists, among them the sculptors J.
Wiedewelt, A . Weidenhaupt, and N. Dajon, contributed to
the work, but the main credit is due to the director of the
Academy of Fine Arts, N. A . Abildgaard. After some
hesitation it was decided to put up the memorial in a cir
cular square outside Vesterport (the western gate), where
the foundation stone was laid in the summer of
1 7 9 2
. The
arrangement of the figures in this picture is not in accord
ance with the final one, for which reason the drawing can
be dated to
1 7 9 7
- before the sculptures were placed on
the memorial. A fence surrounds the monument, because
the authorities were afraid that owing to the situation far
outside the city it might be destroyed - indeed, they con
sidered posting a sentry. In the background on the left
the spire of St. Petri and on the other side Vesterport.
Reproduced p.
80
.
133
THE ESPLANADE
c
.
180 0
178 1-8 5
trees were planted on the territory between the
moat at the Citadel and Toldbodvej, and here a promenade
for the citziens was laid out. It stretched from the entrance
of the Custom House area to Østerport (the eastern gate)
and was called the Esplanade. It is here seen from the pre
sent Grønningen with the Citadel on the left. The large
building at the centre of the etching is no.
76
in Bredgade.
It was built
1 7 5 4 - 5 7
and still exists. To the right of it
part of the north pavilion belonging to the Frederiks Hos
pital can be seen.
Reproduced
p.
8 1
.
13 4
THE CHERRY W ALK c.
1800
On either side of the rampart between Vesterport (the
western gate) and Langebro bridge there were prome
nades. The inner one was called the Philosophy walk, the
outer one, whose entrance we see here, the Cherry walk.
Originally it was an exclusive promenade, to which only
a few privileged had a key. On the right the enormous
walls of Vesterport push into the ramparts while the Store
Kongen wind mill crowns the bastion in the background.
To-day this is where the Town Hall Square is.
1 3 5
NICOLAI CHURCH AFTER THE FIRE
17 9 5
The great city fire
17 9 5
was fatal to the Nicolai Church.
Already on the first day of the fire the whole building was
burnt down to the ground so that only walls and tower
were left - the latter more or less unharmed. Soon the con
gregation asked Peter Meyn to design a new church in the
same place, but the authorities had other plans. In
1800
a
Royal decree commanded that all religious activities
should be discontinued and the ruin demolished. This did
not happen until
1 8 1 7
when the crumbling walls began
falling down. Only the tower was permitted to remain.
For more than
20
years this ruin lay abandoned in the
heart of the city among new houses thus constituting a
truly romantic motif for the painters of that time. In this
view we see playing children and housewives doing their
laundry. The present church was (with the exception of
the tower) built during the first World War, the spire,
however, is from
1 9 1 0
.
Reproduced p.
82
.
13 6
THE BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN APRIL
2
,
18 0 1
In reply to Denmark's entering the League of Neutrality
together with Russia, Sweden and Prussia, England sent
down a large fleet through the Sound. Copenhagen pre
pared for war, but they did not succeed in getting ready
the dismantled ships. On April
2
nd, the English, under
Admiral Parker, reached the Roadstead of Copenhagen,
*33