(København) the capital of Denmark, the largest economic and cultural center of the country. Situated on the western shore of the Øresund, the greater part of it on Sjælland (Zealand) Island, the smaller part on Amager Island; bridges connect the two parts of the city. The climate is temperate maritime, with a mild and unstable winter and a cool summer. The average temperature in January, the coldest month, is -0.4°C and in July, 16.7°C. The precipitation is 530 mm a year.
Copenhagen proper (area, 85.56 sq km; population, 601,200), with its suburbs and satellite cities, forms a vast conurbation, Greater Copenhagen, with a population of about 1.4 million (1972), which is about 30 percent of the country’s total population. Greater Copenhagen forms a separate administrative unit, or ami.
Administration. The city is administered by the city council, elected for a term of four years. The council elects the executive body, or magistracy, and the chief burgomaster. The jurisdiction of the council is limited; it handles only the local budget, the municipal economy, city improvements, health supervision, and a few other matters. The administrative unit of Copenhagen is headed by an amtmand (sheriff) appointed by the government, who controls the activity of the council. Greater Copenhagen includes 22 big municipalities (Copenhagen proper, Frederiksberg, Gentofte, and 19 suburbs), which have their own councils.
History. Copenhagen was mentioned for the first time in sources in 1043 as the village of Havn (harbor). In 1167, Bishop Absalon built a castle near the village and surrounded Havn with fortifications. In 1170, Havn was called K0benhavn (merchant’s harbor). Between 1186 and 1416, Copenhagen belonged with interruptions to the Roskilde episcopal see and was repeatedly ravaged by the Hanseatics (especially in 1369). It was declared a city in 1254. It came under the direct rule of the king in 1416 and was given broad privileges in 1422. In 1433, it became the residence of the king. For its courageous defense in the war between Denmark and Sweden in 1658–60, Copenhagen was given new privileges: the burghers were made equal in rights with the nobility.
Copenhagen reached the high point of its development as Denmark’s commercial center in the 18th century but declined in the early 19th century. The economic revival and reconstruction of Copenhagen began in the second half of the 19th century. At that time the ramparts, city walls, and old fortifications were torn down, and the building up of the city’s boroughs and suburbs was freely permitted. Copenhagen became an important industrial center in the 20th century.
It was occupied by the fascist German troops in April 1940, and it became the major center of the Danish Resistance Movement. A general strike in protest against the occupation of Den-mark took place in Copenhagen from June 30 to July 4, 1944. Copenhagen was liberated from the fascist German invaders on May 5, 1945, by detachments of the Danish Resistance Movement and the British armed forces.
Economy. Copenhagen is an important transportation hub at the junction of routes connecting the Baltic and North seas and Northern and Central Europe, and it is the center of the country’s foreign trade and industry. Its large port handled 10.5 million tons of freight in 1970. Railroads connect Copenhagen with other parts of Denmark and with Western European countries (by railroad ferries). Kastrup International Airport is on Amager Island.
A considerable portion of the enterprises of the Danish manufacturing industry is concentrated in Copenhagen. The most developed industries are machine building, especially shipbuilding (including ocean-going diesel ships, tankers, and whaling and other ships produced at the biggest wharf belonging to the Burmeister og Wain concern and elsewhere); the production of electrical equipment, refrigerators, agricultural machines, bicycles, motorcycles, medical and control-and-measurement equipment and instruments, and watches; and automobile assembly. Other industries include chemicals, paper, and cement, as well as various branches of light industry and the food-processing industry. The traditional production of porcelain and faience articles is still carried on. The industrial enterprises use mainly imported raw materials and fuels and produce for export. Copenhagen is Denmark’s financial center; the Commercial Bank, Danish Agricultural Bank, and other banks are located in Copenhagen, as well as the boards of big industrial and commercial companies.
Architecture and city planning. Old Copenhagen, which has retained traces of the medieval radial-ring planning and narrow winding streets, is located on Sjaelland and Amager islands, in zones directly adjoining the sound, and on small islands. The center of old Copenhagen, situated on the island of Slotsholmen, is the site of the palace and parliament of Christiansborg (1733–40, architect E. D. Häusser; restored after the 1794 fire by C. F. Hansen in 1800–20 and after the 1884 fire by T. Jørgensen in 1907–22; in pseudobaroque style), the Stock Exchange in the Danish Renaissance style (1619–40, architects L. and H. Steenwinkel), and Thorvaldsen’s Museum in the classical, style (1839–48, architect M. G. Bindesbø11). Sjaelland Island contains the Danish Renaissance Rosenberg Palace (1606–34, architects L. and H. Steenwinkel); a citadel (1661); the baroque palace Charlottenborg, now the building of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (1672–77, architect L. van Haven); the baroque palace complex Amalienborg (construction begun in 1750, architect N. Eigtved); the Nyboder residential quarter (1631–48); and the Town Hall (1892–1905, architect M. Nyrop, in the style of Danish national romanticism). On Amager Island, in the region of Christianshavn (founded in 1618), there is the Frelsers Kirke (1682–96, architect L. van Haven), as well as ancient and modern port and residential facilities and remnants of fortifications.
Since the early 20th century Copenhagen has been growing radially to the northwest and the south, merging with the suburbs, where residential complexes are being constructed. The main 20th-century structures are Grundtvig’s Church (1921–40, architects P. V. Jensen-Klint and K. Klint), the radio-center complex (1938–45, architect V. T. Lauritzen), and the SAS air-line building (1959, architect A. Jacobsen). The general plan for the development of Copenhagen, published in 1948 and drawn up by the architects S. E. Rasmussen and others, provides for building up the city in the shape of a hand with outstretched fingers and with green parks in the intervals.
Educational, scientific, and cultural institutions. Copenhagen is the site of the University of Copenhagen, the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, the Danish Engineering Academy, the Danish Technical High School, the Danish Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the Danish Royal Academy of Music, and many other specialized educational institutions. The city’s scientific institutions include the Danish Royal Academy of Science and Literature, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, and the Danish Academy of Technological Sciences.
Libraries in Copenhagen include the National (Royal) Library, the university library, the Municipal Library, and the Public Library, which has a large children’s library. The museums of Copenhagen include the National Museum, the City Museum, the Royal Marine Museum, the Danish Museum of Decorative Art, the New Carlsberg Glyptotek, the Danish Royal Military Museum, the Museum of the Danish Resistance Movement of 1940–45, the State Art Museum, the Zoological Museum, Thorvaldsen’s Museum, the Museum of the History of the Theater, the Museum of the History of Music, and the Danish Film Museum. Functioning theaters include the Royal Theater (drama, opera, and ballet) and the drama theaters the People’s Theater, the New Theater, the New Scala, the Youth Theater, and the Gladsaxe Theater. The Danish Royal Conservatory is located in Copenhagen.