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T H E R O Y A L S A L T R E F I N E R Y I N C H R I S T I A N S H A V N
During excavating work, preparatory to the building of the Royal Dock on
Christianshavn (ill. p. 83) a salt spring was uncovered.
On the initiative of Count Danneskjold-Samsøe (ill. p. 94), a salt refinery
was established here. When it was decided after a time, to move this from
its position immediately adjoining the dock, the obvious choice for a new
site was that owned by Michael Fabritius (ill. p. 8^), but he demanded an
unreasonably high price. Danneskjold-Samsøe selected Rostgaards Place next
door instead.
The Royal Salt Refinery was a remarkable, and in some ways symbolic
feature o f the merchantile renaissance. It was financed by the Crown and was
planned to be an enterprise on a considerable scale. At one period it was even
proposed to extend the plant to occupy the whole area covered by the
powder factory (ill. p. 89). Despite all the high hopes and, for the period,
vast, subsidies invested in it by the Crown ; the lack o f sufficient profitable
markets for its product made the otherwise thoroughly efficient and produc
tive venture completely uneconomic. The result was that the planned exten
sions were never carried out (ill. p. 92), and the whole scheme was finally
abandoned after a comparatively short time.
A R O U N D A P O W D E R M I L L A N D A C H U R C H
The powder factory remained, and this together with the barracks housing its
soldier-workers stood as an isolated military community surrounded by the
shipyards and houses of the town (ill. p. 99). The military area was by now
surrounded by shipbuilding yards, and Peter Applebye, an Englishman, built
a long rope walk by the ramparts (ill. p. 97, 1 0 1 ) and on the site now occupied
by the large machine halls of B &W the Dutchman Jan van Osten established
his shipbuilding wharf, (ill. p. 103).
The dwelling houses along the Christianshavn Canal underwent periodic
rebuilding and modernization according to the popular architectural style of
the period (ill. p. 105-). The two properties at nos 4 and 6 Strandgade ceased
to be of equal size as a result of a redivision of land holdings (ill. p. 107).
A t one p e rio d th e re w e re plans d raw n up fo r th e bu ild ing o f an in firm ary
fo r among o the rs th e G erm an m ercen aries of th e garrison .
This was to be built on the ground left derelict after the salt refinery had
closed down (ill. pp. 109, 1 1 1 ) . These plans were dropped and instead Frede
r ik ’ s Church was built on the site to serve their spiritual needs together with
those of the German congregation of the district (ill. pp. 1 1 2 , 1 1 3 ) .
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