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A mid-nineteenth century
view from Knippels Bridge,
linking Copenhagen with
the island o f Amager.
To the left can be seen that
part o f the waterfront o f
Christianshavn that forms
the present site o f
Burmeister
<§l
Wain’s diesel
engine factory and o f
the Company’s new
administration offices.
The history o f the area is
told in this book.
OLD SHIPS, OLD HOUSES
ENGL I SH S UMMA R Y
G
enerally speaking the people of Copenhagen took little notice of the fact
that the harbour basin at Holms Place was being filled-in. Nevertheless,
the work which was carried out during the summer of
1 9 5 5 ,
brought
to an end the existence of what had some hundreds of years ago been the
winter harbour of the city.
Its former name, as least as far back as 1
goo,
and probably earlier, had been
Grønnegaards Havn and it was situated on the north shore of the island of
Amager facing across an arm of the sea, at this point only a couple of hundred
yards wide, to the city of Copenhagen itself.
Here, in the early 1 600 ’ s, King Christian IV established a købstad, or
market town, on the northern, or city, side of Amager and since that date the
whole district has been known as Christianshavn, although since 1 674 it has
been a corporate part of the capital.
The bu ilding o f Christianshavn was first and fo rem o st a m ilita ry , o r defen
sive dev elopm en t. The low -ly ing parts o f Am ag er’s n o rth sho re w e re filled-in
w ith e arth excavated from a m oat w h ich in tu rn c u t off th e area from th e re st