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Runde Taarn. — Round Tower. — La Tour Ronde.
Turm.
Der Hu
li
de
delsliv vil udfolde sig omkring Soklen af Biskop
Absalons Rytterstatue.
Saa langt fra at udviske eller forflygtige det h i
storiske Billede vil disse Nutidens Foreteelser
tværtimod understrege og forstærke det — thi det
er jo næsten uforandret den samme Færd, der
øves, de samme Interesser, der røgtes som dem, Bi
skop Absalon for næsten 800 Aar siden var den
første til at beskytte mod fremmed Overlast og An
greb paa de aabne Strande, hvor der nu er Torve
og Kajer. Med dette in mente er det ogsaa som om
Statuen af Absalon, Bispen i Brynje og Jernhat,
faar forøget Liv —: med berettiget Stolthed skuer
han fra sin stejlende Hingst ud over al denne
Handel og Tummel, over mod Slotsholmen, hvor
han byggede »Køpmannæhafn«s første Værn og
skabte Betingelserne for hele Byens senere Ud
vikling.
I
adskillige Sekler holdtes Byen dog indenfor
meget snævre Rammer. Bortset fra Anlæggelsen af
Bydelen Christianshavn, der fandt Sted i Begyn
delsen af det 17. Aarhundrede, fik København først
sin virkelige betydningsfulde Udvidelse midt i det
19. Aarhundrede, da de seneste Volde og Fæst
ningsanlæg fra Renæssancetiden blev sløjfede.
(The Palace Church), with its green dome, and
behind this again
Thorvaldsens Museum,
which
contains
Bertel Thorvaldsen’s
works in the origi
nal or casts. The four wings of the building enclose
a court with the master’s grave in the centre, thus
forming a mausoleum over Denmark’s most
famous sculptor.
Now, as in the earliesl times, Slotsholmen is still
an island, separated from the other quarters of the
town on the one side by the harbour channel and
on the others by a canal which curves pic-
turesquely along its stone quays and moss grown
wall-work foundations. No less than eight bridges,
including the beautiful old marble bridge adorned
with medallions, lead in all directions into the
city, in the heart of which it lies, so to speak,
moored with its precious cargo of historical
buildings and national memorials.
A personal consideration of these memorials will
facilitate the acquiring of the feeling peculiar to
and permanently pervading this particular part of
the town, — and which is further enhanced by the
immediate surroundings
( »Prinsens Palais
« with
the
Oldnordisk Museum
and
Collection of
an-
tiques)
on the inner side of the canals, and the
picturesque part of the town Christianshavn on the
opposite side of the harbour channel, all of which
cannot but create, both in natives and re-
flective strangers, a never-to-be-forgotton impres-
sion in which this
aspect of Copehagen
is, so to
speak, elevated into the sphere of esthetic delights.
Thus we construe the picture outwardly trans-
mitted to us whilst at Amagertorv we dwell a few
moments on the scene opening to us. Before long
the gårdener wives from Amager (Copenhagen’s
flower- and kitchen garden) will begin to display
their hanging gardens of flowers for sale on Hoj-
broplads, and on the quay at Gammel Strand the
fisher-wives from Skovshoved offer the live catch
of their fishermen from the preceding night in the
Sound. A motley and loud-voiced folk and market
life develops here around the plinth of
the
equestrian statue of Bishop Absalon.
Far from effacing the historical picture or ren
dering it transient, the present day life as here pre
sented, quite the contrary tends rather to empha-
size and vivify it, as it is practically the same
traffic which is carried on, the same interests
pursued, as those which Bishop Absalon almost
800 years ago was the first to protect against mole-
station and attack on the open shores, where now
these markets and quays stand. W ith this in mind
the statue of Absalon, the Bishop in cuirass and
morion, seerns to acquire added life, as he gazes in
righteous pride from liis rearing stallion out over
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