Ørstedsparken
Encyclopedia
Ørstedsparken is a public park in central Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. One in a series of parks which were laid out on the grounds of the old fortification ring
Fortifications of Copenhagen (17th century)
The fortifications of Copenhagen underwent a comprehensive modernization and expansion in the 17th century. The project was commenced and largely masterplanned by Christian IV in the early 17th century but continued and completed by his successors...

 after it was decommissioned in the 1870s, the park still retains elements from the old fortifications in its topography—a section of the moat now serve as an elongated lake and former bastions appear in the landscape as small hills. The park is named for the physicist Hans Christian Ørsted
Hans Christian Ørsted
Hans Christian Ørsted was a Danish physicist and chemist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields, an important aspect of electromagnetism...

 who is commemorated with a large monument.

History

When Copenhagen's old fortification ring
Fortifications of Copenhagen (17th century)
The fortifications of Copenhagen underwent a comprehensive modernization and expansion in the 17th century. The project was commenced and largely masterplanned by Christian IV in the early 17th century but continued and completed by his successors...

 was decommissioned in 1868 and its grounds were relinquished to the City, it was decided that a significant part of it should be reserved for parkland for the city's rapidly growing population. The City Council adopted a plan for the redevelopment of the area in 1872 which resulted in three new parks—Ørstedparken, the no longer existing Aborreparken and Østre Anlæg—as well as the relocation of University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden
University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden
The University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden , usually referred to simply as Copenhagen Botanical Garden, is a botanical garden located in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark...

 a few years later.

Ørstedsparken includes the area from Ahlefeldt's Bastion til Bastion to Helmer's Bastion of the old Western Rampart. Gardener and landscape architect Henrik August Flindt
Henrik August Flindt
Henrik August Flindt was a Danish gardener and landscape architect. His specialty was manor house gardens, of which he designed around 200 in Denmark and abroad...

 was charged with the design and construction began in 1876. The new park was inaugurated on 27 October 1879. It was a promenade park and also included Copenhagen's first public playground. The grounds were listed in 1963.

Layout




Ørstedsparken covers 6.5 ha
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

 and is bounded by Nørre Voldgade , Nørre Farimagsgade, H. C. Andersens Boulevard and Frederiksborg Gade, with seven entrances distributed on all sides. It retains much of its original character.

The old fortifications have partly been preserved in the landscaping of the park. A section of the old moat now forms an elongated lake which runs along the length of the park. It has an area of 1,8 ha and a depth of about 4 metres. In 1994, an underground connection to Peblinge Sø was created to improve the water quality. The water circulates between the two lakes, especially during the winter. The wrought iron bridge which today crosses the lake, originally spanned the gap created with the demolition of the Northern City Gate in 1857. In 1873, the bridge was dismantled and re-built at its current location.

Monuments and statues

H. C. Ørsted Monument

The monument over Hans Christian Ørsted
Hans Christian Ørsted
Hans Christian Ørsted was a Danish physicist and chemist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields, an important aspect of electromagnetism...

 stands on the former Holck's Bastion. It was designed by Jens Adolf Jerichau
Jens Adolf Jerichau
Emil Jens Baumann Adolf Jerichau was a Danish sculptor. He belonged to the generation immediately after Bertel Thorvaldsen, for whom he worked briefly in Tome, but gradually moved away from the static Neoclassicism he inherited from him and towards a more dynamic and realistic style.He was a...

 and erected in 1876, when work on the park just started. The monument consists of a bronze statue of Ørsted mounted on a granite plinth. Ørsted is seen demonstrating the effect of an electric current
Electric current
Electric current is a flow of electric charge through a medium.This charge is typically carried by moving electrons in a conductor such as wire...

 on a magnetic needle. With his hands he is connecting the wires from an electric battery, thereby making a magnet oscillate. At the foot of the statue sit the three Norns
Norns
The Norns in Norse mythology are female beings who rule the destiny of gods and men, a kind of dísir comparable to the Fates in classical mythology....

 or goddesses of destiny in Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

, Urðr
Urðr
Urðr is one of the Norns in Norse mythology. Along with Verðandi and Skuld , Urðr makes up a trio of Norns that are described as deciding the fates of people...

 (the past) who is noting the past, and Ørsted's name, on a tablet, Verðandi (the present), who with her distaff is spinning the thread of fate, and Skuld
Skuld
Skuld may refer to:* Skuld, one of a group of three norns in Norse mythology* Skuld , a princess in Norse mythology* 1130 Skuld, an asteroid discovered on 2 September 1929 and named after the Norn...

 (the future), who is silently awaiting the fullness of time with a rune stick in her hand.

Other memorials

Besides the monument for H.C. Ørsted, the park also contains monuments for
  • Anders Sandøe Ørsted
    Anders Sandøe Ørsted
    Anders Sandøe Ørsted was a Danish politician and jurist. He served as the Prime Minister of Denmark in 1853-1854 as leader of the Cabinet of Ørsted....

     (1778–1860) who was a lawyer and politician, brother of Hans Christian Ørsted. The monument was created by Vilhelm Bissen
    Vilhelm Bissen
    Christian Gottlieb Vilhelm Bissen was a Danish sculptor, son of Herman Wilhelm Bissen. He is mainly known for a number of statues around Copenhagen, including the equestrian statue of Absalon on Højbro Plads and the Stork Fountain on the adjoining Amagertorv...

     after a model by Herman Wilhelm Bissen
    Herman Wilhelm Bissen
    Herman Wilhelm Bissen was a Danish sculptor.Bissen first studied painting in Copenhagen, then became a pupil of the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. In 1824, he travelled to Rome and met Christian Daniel Rauch in Berlin. Under the influence of Thorvaldsen, his style changed from romanticism to...

     and erected uin 1902
  • Niels Lauritz Hvidt )1777–1856), who was a politician, shipowner and chairman of the National Bank as well as a member of the Danish constitutional assembly. The monument was created by Vilhelm Bissen
    Vilhelm Bissen
    Christian Gottlieb Vilhelm Bissen was a Danish sculptor, son of Herman Wilhelm Bissen. He is mainly known for a number of statues around Copenhagen, including the equestrian statue of Absalon on Højbro Plads and the Stork Fountain on the adjoining Amagertorv...

     after a model by Herman Wilhelm Bissen
    Herman Wilhelm Bissen
    Herman Wilhelm Bissen was a Danish sculptor.Bissen first studied painting in Copenhagen, then became a pupil of the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. In 1824, he travelled to Rome and met Christian Daniel Rauch in Berlin. Under the influence of Thorvaldsen, his style changed from romanticism to...

     and erected in 1877.
  • Natalie Zahle 1828–1913, a leading female figure and , founder of Zahles School nearby. Monument designed by Ludvig Brandstrup
  • Bertel Thorvaldsen
    Bertel Thorvaldsen
    Bertel Thorvaldsen was a Danish-Icelandic sculptor of international fame, who spent most of his life in Italy . Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a Danish/Icelandic family of humble means, and was accepted to the Royal Academy of Arts when he was eleven years old...

    , monument designed by Einar Utzon-Frank
    Einar Utzon-Frank
    Aksel Einar Utzon-Frank was a Danish sculptor and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. During his lifetime, he produced a large number of sculptures, many of which stand as public monuments...

     and erected in 1954.

Classical replicas

Spread over the park are also a large number of statues, granted by the Albertina
Albertina
The Albertina is a museum in Vienna, Austria, containing the world's best collection of old master prints and drawings.Albertina, a feminine adjectival form of Albert , may also refer to:...

 Foundation which was created by the head of Carlsberg, Carl Jacobsen
Carl Jacobsen
Carl Christian Hillman Jacobsen was a Danish brewer, art collector and philanthropist, the son of J. C. Jacobsen, who founded the brewery Carlsberg and named it after him.-Career:...

. Among these are:
  • The Dying Gaul – designed by unknown artist
  • Silenus
    Silenus
    In Greek mythology, Silenus was a companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus.-Evolution of the character:The original Silenus resembled a folklore man of the forest with the ears of a horse and sometimes also the tail and legs of a horse...

     with the Infant Bacchus
    Dionysus
    Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...

    – designed ny Lysippos
    Lysippos
    Lysippos was a Greek sculptor of the 4th century BC. Together with Scopas and Praxiteles, he is considered one of the three greatest sculptors of the Classical Greek era, bringing transition into the Hellenistic period. Problems confront the study of Lysippos because of the difficulty of...

  • Satyr
    Satyr
    In Greek mythology, satyrs are a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus — "satyresses" were a late invention of poets — that roamed the woods and mountains. In myths they are often associated with pipe-playing....

     with Cymbals
    – cast after a Roman copy of a Greek original from c. 300 BC (Uffizi Gallery
    Uffizi
    The Uffizi Gallery , is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.-History:...

    ), erected in 1886
  • The Grinder – cast after a Roman copy of a Greek original from c. 200 BC (Uffizi Gallery
    Uffizi
    The Uffizi Gallery , is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.-History:...

    ), erected in 1886
  • Apollo Belvedere
    Apollo Belvedere
    The Apollo Belvedere or Apollo of the Belvedere—also called the Pythian Apollo— is a celebrated marble sculpture from Classical Antiquity. It was rediscovered in central Italy in the late 15th century, during the Renaissance...

    – designed by Leochares
    Leochares
    Leochares was a Greek sculptor from Athens, who lived in the 4th century BC.-Works:Leochares worked at the construction of the Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus, one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World". The Diana of Versailles is a Roman copy of his original...

    , the model after which the bronze was cast was either a Roman marble replica of the original by Leochares from the latte 4th century BC or an original Roman work from the 1st or 2nd century AD. Musei Vaticani, Cortile del Belvedere, Rome
  • Resting Hermes
    Hermes
    Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...

  • The Lizard Slayer
    Apollo Sauroctonos
    The Apollo Sauroktonos is a 1.49m high ancient sculpture in the Louvre, as Inventaire MR 78 . It is a 1st - 2nd century AD Roman marble copy of an original by Praxiteles. It shows a nude adolescent male about to catch a lizard climbing up a tree...

    – designed by Praxiteles
    Praxiteles
    Praxiteles of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Attic sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue...

    , cast after Roman marble copy in the Louvre Museum of a no longer existing Greek original from c. 350 AC and erected in 1887
  • Resting satyr – designed by Praxiteles
    Praxiteles
    Praxiteles of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Attic sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue...

    , Cast after a Roman copy of a Greek original from c. 350 BC.
  • Joan of Arc
    Joan of Arc
    Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...

     at Domrémy
    Domremy
    Domremy or Domrémy is part of the name of several communes in France:* Domremy-la-Canne, in the Meuse department* Domrémy-la-Pucelle, in the Vosges department, formerly Domrémy, which was the birthplace of Joan of Arc...

    – designed by Henri Chapu
    Henri Chapu
    Henri-Michel-Antoine Chapu was a French sculptor in a modified Neoclassical tradition who was known for his use of allegory in his works.-Life and career:...

  • Young Satyr playing Flute – cast after Roman copy of Greek original from c. 300 BC (Uffizi Gallery
    Uffizi
    The Uffizi Gallery , is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.-History:...

    ), erected in 1887.
  • The Wrestlers – cast after a Roman copy of a Greek original from c. 300 BC (Uffizi Gallery
    Uffizi
    The Uffizi Gallery , is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.-History:...

    ), erected in 1887
  • Young Satyr drinking Wine – designed by Louis Hasselriis
    Louis Hasselriis
    Louis Hasselriis was a Danish sculptor known for his public statuary. He studied under Herman Wilhelm Bissen. From 1869 and for the rest of his life he lived in Rome, but retained strong links with his homeland and also with the USA...


Flora

The park has a number of unusual varieties of trees. These include Dawn Redwood
Metasequoia
Metasequoia is a fast-growing, deciduous tree, and the sole living species, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, is one of three species of conifers known as redwoods. It is native to the Sichuan-Hubei region of China. Although the least tall of the redwoods, it grows to at least 200 feet in height...

, Maidenhair Tree and Pagoda Tree
Styphnolobium japonicum
Styphnolobium japonicum Schott , the Pagoda Tree is a species of small tree or shrub in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae....

 from China, Gleditsia
Gleditsia
Gleditsia is a genus of locust trees in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae, native to North America and Asia. The Latin name commemorates Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch, director of the Berlin Botanical Gardens, who died in 1786....

 from the USA, European hornbeam and Horse Chestnuts
Aesculus
The genus Aesculus comprises 13-19 species of woody trees and shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere, with 6 species native to North America and 7-13 species native to Eurasia; there are also several hybrids. Species are deciduous or evergreen...

. In March–April, Common Butterbur is blooming on the embankments of the lake, and in the large garden behind the H. C. Ørsted monument, 26,000 Dutch crocus
Crocus
Crocus is a genus in the iris family comprising about 80 species of perennials growing from corms. Many are cultivated for their flowers appearing in autumn, winter, or spring...

es bloom in shades of blue, yellow and white. These were planted after World War II.

Facilities and use

In 1991, a café pavilion was built on a site overlooking the lake. It houses Café Hacienda, which serve as a venue for public debates on Sundays.

There are also two public playgrounds in the park, one supervised, and barbecues for public use. There are often open events on the lawns, with e.g. concerts in the summer.
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