Posted by The royal family has long been living at their mansions called Amalienborg – they are located in Frederikstaden which was a new development of Copenhagen begun in the late 16th century. The area has some old mansions which have long ago been transformed from private residences into apartments or offices.
Despite the area being the fanciest area of old Copenhagen there was a catch – the harbor was a working harbor with local industry. So the Amalienborg palace was blocked from the harbor view by the business down at the water.
There used to be a shipyard in front of the palace where they would build merchant vessels during the 19th century. Towards the end of the 19th century the shipyard was abandoned and replaced by a port terminal for a new company Thingvalla Line which operated ships between Scandinavia and America supplying a service to the many Scandinavians who were migrating across the Atlantic around the turn of the 19th and 20th century.
The ship to America continued to 1935 after this time the ferry terminal were still in use but now it was for a ferry to Oslo which continues till this day. But the ferry terminal was moved to the northern harbor of Copenhagen around 1980. After this the area in front of Amalienborg was no longer in use and it could be taken over by other industries.
The area was eventually acquired by the A.P. Møller foundation and they created a small park down at the harbor to make a little green area in front of Amalienborg. The area is now used by the local residence from the surrounding area.
The view from the garden is pretty – on one side you can see across the street to Amalienborg palace and the Marble Church. Across the harbor you can see the Copenhagen opera which is also donated by A.P. Møller foundation – the late head of the shipping company was fascinated by this axis of Copenhagen and donated a lot of money for the beautification of the area.
FrejaTravels 