Ravelinen

In the capital city of Copenhagen, we have Ravelinen here by the Ramparts on outer Christianshavn, and we have the small garden venues on Frederiksberg — just below Frederiksberg Palace — all of them unique historic eateries with atmosphere, and with both indoor and outdoor seating.

Ravelinen was built in 1728 and is, of course, listed today. From the beginning, the building served as a kind of tollhouse and military guardroom, where guards would stop passersby to check that they had paid the city toll when crossing from the countryside into the city. Amager was open farmland, and Christianshavn was — from this point of view — the beginning of the big city. The name ravelin is French and means “a V-shaped outwork between two bastions.” In more modern Danish, it simply means a small forward fortification positioned between two of Christianshavn’s rampart bastions — Elephant’s Bastion toward the SAS Hotel, and Lion’s Bastion toward Christiania and Holmen. King Christian IV had the rampart fortifications built around Christianshavn to protect the city from this side — and today the Christianshavn Ramparts are the most intact and unspoiled of all the historic outer defense structures.

This is also where people traditionally take their evening walk on the night before Great Prayer Day. The system consisted of a row of bastions, and between them projected even smaller outworks — the slender ravelins — such as Ravelinen. It originally sat as a small artificial island in the moat, which is hard to imagine today, as the road between Amager and Christianshavn has grown wide and forces itself through the old moat.
Previously, there was only a narrow road from Amager to Ravelinen and then a wooden bridge from Ravelinen to Christianshavn. In 1856 the city dismantled the fortifications and with them Amager Gate, but the artificial island remained — and so did the Ravelinen building. The toll system lasted surprisingly long and was not abolished until 1915.

In 1941 the building opened as a restaurant and tavern with a magnificent view of the moat. More structures have been added since.

The Accise House

The Acciseboden on the Christianshavn Ramparts lies slightly further toward Torvegade than Ravelinen — on the same side and right along the edge of the rampart. It is the very beautiful small yellow building with the elegantly shaped roof — and the somewhat less interesting barrack-style toilets on the back side.

The house dates from 1718–20 and is not — despite the name — an accise house, but a porter’s or guard’s residence, while the actual accise house was further out on Amager, where Amagerbrogade and Markmandsgade meet at Christmas Møllers Plads.
Accise is French and means “domestic tax on consumer goods, especially when brought into the city,” so an accise-bod was a city customs booth. Later it was called consumption tax, and today we call it VAT — paid at purchase, not at the city gates.

When farmers came to the city with goods, they had to pay a tax at the accise house located near Markmandsgade.

As one moved further into the city afterward, people were checked again at Ravelinen to ensure they had paid tax on the goods, and further in still we find the fine yellow house we today call “Acciseboden,” even though it was only ever a porter’s house. The house once stood further out on the road, but when the road was widened in the 1930s, the entire structure was carefully rolled ten meters back along the rampart. The actual accise house from the 1820s at Markmandsgade was demolished in 1913, but the one we now call Acciseboden is fortunately preserved.

Amager Gate

We all know Vesterport, Østerport, and Nørreport from everyday speech in Copenhagen. But Amagerport is used far less. Historically, Copenhagen had four city gates through which everyone had to pass when entering or leaving the city — and here the city collected tolls. The gates were actual buildings, but today only the names survive as the Vesterport, Østerport, and Nørreport train stations. Since there is no station on Amager, the name has almost vanished from everyday use.

Amager Gate stood where Torvegade cuts through the ramparts. The first gate was built in 1668, the next in 1724, richly decorated with sandstone ornaments — especially on the Amager-facing side.
It was the least significant of the four gates, since it did not lead into the open countryside but only to the island of Amager, and only Amager farmers passed through it.
In 1856 Copenhagen abolished its fortifications — meaning the ramparts and defense systems around the city were officially given up — and in return we gained the wonderful park areas like Christianshavn Ramparts, which opened as a public recreational area around the turn of the century.

Other former ramparts later became Østre Anlæg, the Botanical Garden, Ørsted Park, and Tivoli — all once part of a major defensive ring around the city with its three gates. (One can still see a preserved historic city gate in Stege, a rare survival despite being a nuisance to modern traffic.)
In 1920 Copenhagen’s road authorities placed kilometer stones at the locations of the former gates.
Here on Christianshavn, the stone stands exactly where the gate once stood. The stones were designed by architect P.V. Jensen Klint (father of furniture architect Kaare Klint), who also designed Grundtvig’s Church and the beautiful “Soup Tureen” public toilet at Trianglen.

The Old Mill

Up on the rampart today stand the remains of an old mill — Lille Mølle (“Little Mill”). You can see it from Ravelinen when the trees are not too leafy. The mill was built around 1800, but before that a post mill stood on the same site.

At that time there was fresh open air around the ramparts, as Christianshavn did not have tall buildings yet. The ramparts also had no trees back then. This made them ideal for harnessing wind power from their elevated position.
The mill last operated in 1890, and in 1897 the sails were removed. Unfortunately, the mill cap was also removed, replaced by a flatter roof. Fortunately, the remains of the mill and the miller’s farm survived.
Until 1918 the mill served for a period as a military straw depot. In 1918 engineer E.F. Bundgaard from Southern Jutland took over the property and set up his home and a workshop for instruments and apparatus.
Upon the death of Bundgaard and his wife, the entire property

including the complete interior — was bequeathed to the National Museum. The rooms are still waiting to be opened to the public as an intimate museum, similar to the old Klunkehjem apartment in central Copenhagen.
The mill and miller’s farm are listed and owned by the National Museum. The miller’s house actually serves as the official residence of Denmark’s Chief Antiquarian — the head of the National Museum.
In 1889 the mill had a large neighbor — Christianshavn Gasworks, a beautiful gas holder similar to the one we know as the Gas Theater on Østerbro today. Designed by Ludvig Fenger, it was sadly demolished in 1948. There was also, for a time, a paupers’ cemetery in the area.

Christianshavn Canal

Christianshavn is often called “the Copenhagen Amsterdam,” with its dense canal atmosphere. Christianshavn Canal is one of the three remaining canals in inner Copenhagen (excluding the naval canals around Christiansholm, Arsenal Island, Dok Island, Frederick’s Island, and Nyholm).

Many canals have sadly disappeared over time — for example Holmens Kanal, which was filled with gravel and paved over. But, as in Aarhus where they reopened the river, such things can be reversed.

Between the harbor channel and Christianshavn Canal lie the two parts of Christianshavn — essentially islands — including Wilders Plads and the Greenland Trade Square. Here you find the beautiful churches Christianshavn Church and Church of Our Saviour.
Christianshavn Canal, with Ovengaden oven Vandet and Ovengaden neden Vandet along each side, is a wonderfully atmospheric waterway used almost as a communal front garden by locals. Couples, dog owners, people with thermos flasks or beer bottles — and on warm summer evenings even their dinner — all gather here.
Sailboats line the canal, and life abounds.
Along the canal you find the elegant 18th-century naval arsenal building, Søkvæsthuset (the old naval hospital), the former Wildersgade Barracks (now cooperative housing), and nearby two other former barracks: Bådsmandsstræde Barracks and the Strandgade Barracks, now known as Irgens Gård.
Copenhagen Women’s Prison once stood where Lagkagehuset bakery now sits on Christianshavn Square. There is waterside dining near Torvegade, cozy boat rentals, and at the Appelbys Plads end you can see a section of the Christianshavn Ramparts.

Christianshavn Canal is one of the city’s most charming places, best experienced both from the quay and from the water. A canal tour is highly recommended.

Carlsberg Supplies the Beer

Ravelinen is the perfect place for a cold beer — especially outdoors in the summer warmth.

The beer comes from the world-famous Carlsberg, known to many today from the major TV drama series The Brewer.
Beer production originally began in Brolæggerstræde, where dark malt beer was the specialty.

The man behind the Carlsberg name was brewer J.C. Jacobsen, who moved the brewery to Valby Hill and named it after his son Carl. Production began there in 1847. The brewery later became known as Old Carlsberg when Carl started his own New Carlsberg Brewery. The original 1840s brewery is now an industrial heritage museum.

Both J.C. and Carl Jacobsen were passionate supporters of art and culture, evident in the magnificent industrial complex with the Elephant Gate at Valby Hill.
Carl Jacobsen founded the country’s first Glyptotek, which today functions as the Carlsberg Museum. He also founded and donated to the city the extraordinary Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, next to Tivoli.

Copenhagen has received countless monuments and buildings as gifts from Carlsberg — among them the greenhouses in the Botanical Garden, the tower of St. Nicholas Church, the Academy of Sciences building opposite the Glyptotek, and of course The Little Mermaid from 1913 at Langelinie — now a national icon.

Carlsberg also funded the reconstruction of Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød.
Much of Carlsberg’s architectural activity was overseen by architect Vilhelm Dahlerup, also known for the Royal Theatre, the Pantomime Theatre in Tivoli, and the Lake Pavilion.

Peter Olesen, journalist og forfatter