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Copenhagen is a play by Michael Frayn, based around an event that occurred in Copenhagen in 1941, a meeting between the physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. It premiered in London in 1998 at the National Theatre, running for more than 300 performances, starring David Burke (Niels Bohr), Sara Kestelman (Margrethe Bohr), and Matthew Marsh (Werner Heisenberg).

It opened on Broadway at the Royale Theatre on April 11, 2000 and ran for 326 performances. Directed by Michael Blakemore, it starred Philip Bosco (Niels Bohr), Michael Cumpsty (Werner Heisenberg), and Blair Brown (Margrethe Bohr). It won the Tony Award for Best Play, Best Featured Actress in a Play, Blair Brown, and Best Direction of a Play (Michael Blakemore).

In 2002, the play was adapted as a film by Howard Davies, produced by the BBC and presented on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States.

Historical debate[link]

The meeting took place in September 1941 when Bohr and Heisenberg were 55 and 39, respectively. Heisenberg had worked with Bohr in Copenhagen for several years starting in 1924.

Heisenberg historians remain divided over their own interpretations of the event. Frayn's 1998 play brought more attention to what previously had been a primarily scholarly discussion. A collection of historical essays provoked by the play was published in English in 2005.^[1]

Much of the initial controversy stemmed from a 1956 letter Heisenberg sent to the journalist Robert Jungk after reading the German edition of Jungk's book, Brighter than a Thousand Suns (1956). In the letter, Heisenberg described how he had come to Copenhagen to discuss with Bohr his moral objections toward scientists working on nuclear weapons, but how he had failed to say this clearly before the conversation came to a halt. Jungk published an extract from the letter in the Danish edition of the book in 1956 which, out of context, made it look as if Heisenberg was claiming to have sabotaged the German bomb project on moral grounds. (The letter's whole text shows Heisenberg was careful not to claim this.)^[2] Bohr was outraged after reading this extract in his copy of the book, feeling that this was false and that the 1941 meeting had proven to him that Heisenberg was quite happy to produce nuclear weapons for Germany.

After the play inspired numerous scholarly and media debates over the 1941 meeting, the Niels Bohr Archive in Copenhagen released to the public all sealed documents related to the meeting, a move intended mostly to settle historical arguments over what they contained. Among the documents were the unsent letters Bohr drafted to Heisenberg in 1957 about Jungk's book and other topics.^[3]

These drafts proved to be significant in several respects. First, they proved to be relatively consistent with Heisenberg's recollections of the meeting^[4] given to Jungk in 1956, meaning that the course of the conversation can now be fairly well established. Bohr and Heisenberg agree that Heisenberg started the visit by stating to Bohr that nuclear weapons were now conceivable. As Heisenberg wrote to Jungk,

This talk probably started with my question as to whether or not it was right for physicists to devote themselves in wartime to the uranium problem -- as there was the possibility that progress in this sphere could lead to grave consequences in the technique of the war.

Bohr confirms this by writing

It had to make a very strong impression on me that at the very outset you stated that you felt certain that the war, if it lasted sufficiently long, would be decided with atomic weapons.

Heisenberg repeated his convictions on the technical feasibility of building nuclear weapons. As Heisenberg recalled:

He [Bohr] replied as far as I can remember with a counter-question, "Do you really think that uranium fission could be utilized for the construction of weapons?" I may have replied: "I know that this is in principle possible, but it would require a terrific technical effort, which, one can only hope, cannot be realized in this war. Bohr was shocked by my reply."

Bohr's draft letters are consistent with this:

I did not respond to this at all, but as you perhaps regarded this as an expression of doubt, you related how in the preceding years you had devoted yourself almost exclusively to the question and were quite certain that it could be done...

(This point is of interest, because it is at odds with the view of some people that miscalculations by Heisenberg had led him to conclude erroneously, that atomic weapons were not feasible.) According to Bohr's later notes, Heisenberg then told Bohr that he had not come to discuss the technical aspects of the potential weapons:

Heisenberg said explicitly that he did not wish to enter into technical details but that Bohr should understand that he knew what he was talking about as he had spent 2 years working exclusively on this question.

Unfortunately, because of Heisenberg's concerns about being monitored — his discussion of any details of Germany's nuclear efforts with someone in an occupied country would have been illegal — his remarks were cryptic. Indeed, Bohr's letters note that Heisenberg spoke "in vague terms", from which Bohr was only able to form an "impression" about Heisenberg's efforts. Bohr wrote of this:

I listened to this without speaking since [a] great matter for mankind was at issue in which, despite our personal friendship, we had to be regarded as representatives of two sides engaged in mortal combat. That my silence and gravity, as you write in the letter, could be taken as an expression of shock at your reports that it was possible to make an atomic bomb is a quite peculiar misunderstanding, which must be due to the great tension in your own mind. From the day three years earlier when I realized that slow neutrons could only cause fission in Uranium 235 and not 238, it was of course obvious to me that a bomb with certain effect could be produced by separating the uraniums. In June 1939 I had even given a public lecture in Birmingham about uranium fission, where I talked about the effects of such a bomb but of course added that the technical preparations would be so large that one did not know how soon they could be overcome. If anything in my behaviour could be interpreted as shock, it did not derive from such reports but rather from the news, as I had to understand it, that Germany was participating vigorously in a race to be the first with atomic weapons.^[5]

This circumspect discussion, combined with Bohr's shocked reaction to it, apparently cut off the discussion between the two. Thus, the Bohr letters cannot resolve the question, posed by the Copenhagen play, of what Heisenberg had tried to convey to Bohr.

The Bohr letters are significant here, because they do eliminate some of the more sinister motives that had been postulated. For example, in a 1998 book, Heisenberg and the Nazi atomic bomb project: a study in German culture^[6] Paul Lawrence Rose had speculated that Heisenberg had visited Bohr as "an intelligence-gathering mission." The release of Bohr's letters disprove that claim, showing that Heisenberg had not come to elicit information from Bohr and did not even want to discuss the technical issues of building a bomb:

Heisenberg said explicitly that he did not wish to enter into technical details but that Bohr should understand that he knew what he was talking about as he had spent 2 years working exclusively on this question.

This shows that Heisenberg wanted to move the discussion into another area of nuclear weapons, not the technology. This passage also appears to counter the arguments of some Heisenberg critics (such as Rose and Bernstein) that Heisenberg's errors in 1940 had led him to conclude that building nuclear weapons was not possible.

Finally, the 1957 Bohr draft letters, written 16 years after the meeting, suggest a conflict between Bohr and Heisenberg. Heisenberg's letter to his wife, written on the eve of his departure from Copenhagen, provides no hint of a fracture. In it, he related his final evening with Bohr as very pleasant and unremarkable: "Today I was once more, with Weizsaecker, at Bohr's. In many ways this was especially nice, the conversation revolved for a large part of the evening around purely human concerns, Bohr was reading aloud, I played a Mozart Sonata (a-Major)."^[7]

In a March 2006 interview^[8] Ivan Supek, one of Heisenberg's students and friends, commented that "Copenhagen is a bad play" and that "Frayn mixed up some things". Supek also claimed that Weizsäcker was the main figure of the meeting. Allegedly, "Heisenberg and Weizsäcker came to Bohr wearing German army uniforms. Weizsäcker tried to persuade Bohr to mediate for peace between Great Britain and Germany and Heisenberg practically completely relied on his political judgement". Supek received these details in a confidential conversation with Margrethe who thought he would never make them public. Supek however felt it was "his duty to announce these facts so that future generations can know the truth about the Bohr - Heisenberg meeting".

Supek's statements about Bohr's recollection of "the Bohr - Heisenberg meeting" mixes up the visit and in so doing, suggests the reason why the meeting did not achieve its purpose. Because Heisenberg could only visit Bohr in occupied Denmark on behalf of the German government, Heisenberg was obliged to make public lectures on behalf of the Government which were monitored by German government officials. Heisenberg had hoped to convey his concerns later during private discussions with Bohr. Heisenberg's contemporaneous letters to his wife and later correspondence with Jungk place the private conversation on Wednesday evening during a walk at Bohr's house away from Weizsäcker.^[9] ("This talk then took place on an evening walk in the city district near Ny-Carlsberg,")^[7] ("Late at night I walked under a clear and starry sky through the city, darkened, to Bohr."). That Supek stated that Margrethe believed that Weizsäcker was present and that Bohr recalled this private meeting as taking place "in my room at the Institute",^[10] where Heisenberg and Weizsäcker had made their public statements may suggest that Bohr blurred two events and did not distinguish between the public statements Heisenberg made and the private message Heisenberg hoped to convey to Bohr later that evening at Bohr's house.

Plot synopsis[link]

The spirits of Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr and Bohr’s wife Margrethe, meet after their deaths to attempt to answer the question which Margrethe poses in the first line of the play, “Why did he [Heisenberg] come to Copenhagen?” They spend the remainder of the two-act drama presenting, debating and rejecting theories that may answer that question.

Heisenberg – “No one understands my trip to Copenhagen. Time and time again I’ve explained it. To Bohr himself, and Margrethe. To interrogators and intelligence officers, to journalists and historians. The more I’ve explained, the deeper the uncertainty has become. Well, I shall be happy to make one more attempt.”

Along the way, Heisenberg and Bohr “draft” several versions of their 1941 exchange, arguing about the ramifications of each potential version of their meeting and the motives behind it. They discuss the idea of nuclear power and its control, the rationale behind building or not building an atomic bomb, the uncertainty of the past and the inevitability of the future as embodiments of themselves acting as particles drifting through the atom that is Copenhagen.

Characters[link]

In most dramatic works where the characters are based on real people, there is a point at which the character deviates from the real person. Michael Frayn works to keep this distinction as small as possible. Having studied memoirs and letters and other historical records of the two physicists, Frayn feels confident in claiming that “The actual words spoken by [the] characters are entirely their own.” With that in mind, the character descriptions apply to both the representative characters as well as the physicists themselves. There is a great amount known about all of the primary characters presented in Copenhagen; the following includes those bits of information which are directly relevant and referenced in the work itself.^[11]

• Werner Heisenberg was born in 1901 in Würzburg, Germany. The son of a university professor, Heisenberg grew up in with an intense emphasis on academics, but was exposed to the destruction that World War I dealt to Germany at a rather young age. He married Elisabeth Schumacher, also the child of a professor, and they had seven children. He received his doctorate in 1923 from the physicist Arnold Sommerfeld, and went to Copenhagen to study quantum mechanics with Niels Bohr in 1924, when he was 22, and replaced Bohr’s assistant, H. A. Kramers. In 1926, The University of Leipzig offered him the opportunity to become Germany’s youngest full professor. Heisenberg is best known for his “Uncertainty Principle,” (translated from the German Ungenauigkeit [inexactness] or Unschärfe [lack of sharpness] Relation, which was later changed to Unbestimmtheit meaning “indeterminate.”) In 1927, he and Bohr presented the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. During the Second World War, Heisenberg worked for Germany, researching atomic technology and heading their nuclear reactor program. After the war, his involvement with the Nazis earned him certain notoriety in the world of physicists, mainly due to the fact that he could have given Hitler the means to produce and use nuclear arms. He continued his research until his death in 1976 in Münich.

• Niels Bohr was born in 1885, making him 38 when Heisenberg first came to work with him. He married Margrethe Norlund in 1912 in Copenhagen and together they had six sons, two of whom died. Harry Lustig notes his biographies that “Most of the world's great theoretical physicists... spent periods of their lives at Bohr's Institute.” Before the war, his research was instrumental in nuclear research, some of which led to the building of the bomb. During the war, however, Bohr was living in occupied Denmark and somewhat restricted in his research; he escaped to Sweden in 1943, just before an SS sweep which would have incriminated him through his Jewish heritage. In America, he worked in Los Alamos on the atomic bomb until the end of the war. He died in 1962 and was survived by his wife, Margrethe.

• Margrethe Bohr, known later in her life as Dronning or “Queen” Margrethe, was born in 1890 in Denmark. She was closely involved in her husband’s work; he would commonly bounce ideas off of her, trying to explain them in “plain language.” She died in 1984, survived by several of her children. Her son Hans wrote, “My mother was the natural and indispensable centre. Father knew how much mother meant to him and never missed an opportunity to show his gratitude and love.... Her opinions were his guidelines in daily affairs,” and this relationship shows in Michael Frayn’s dialogue.

Genre[link]

Copenhagen cannot be labelled simply as a comedy or tragedy; the lack of a protagonist and direct conflict prevents this in large part. David Rush explores a sub-genre of theatre, a later hybrid form known as “drama,” which he describes as a piece which cannot be specifically categorized as a tragedy, but which he notes involves “serious people going about serious business in a serious way.” Seeing as the characters in Copenhagen are already dead, they cannot suffer any tragic fall; though there is definite wit in the arguments, it is taken in a very serious light seeing as it regards subjects like war, fear and nuclear arms. It is most nearly a “drama,” but works in many ways as an expository piece in the manner it presents information to the audience.

Style[link]

The construction of the plot is non-linear, seeing as it does not exist in time and space. Sometimes one character will not notice that there are other people in the space, and speak as if to no one. The world that Frayn presents is outside of our conceptions as audience members, simply by virtue of the fact that no one attending the play has ever died. So the world in which Copenhagen is based is somewhere between heaven and an atom.

It can also be thought to exist “inside the heads” of the characters present. It is a subjective world, taking and manipulating history, picking apart some events and mashing others together to better compare them. The characters are all plagued by some form of guilt or another, particularly in reference to the atomic bomb, and they are trapped in this world, doomed to forever speculate on that evening in Copenhagen in 1941 to determine how the world might have been changed. These are all traits of the artistic style known as Expressionism.

In his preface to A Dream Play, August Strindberg notes that in these worlds, “everything is possible and probable. Time and space do not exist. Working with... real events as a background, the imagination spins out its threads of thoughts and weaves them into new patterns.” Copenhagen is an embodiment of these principles.

Reoccurring images and motifs[link]

Because the concepts in physics and politics are at times very complicated or very abstract, Frayn uses several controlling images to better relate certain ideas to his audience.

• Skiing and Table-Tennis – These two activities are referred to as a pastime of Bohr and Heisenberg’s, and both demonstrate the competition between the two (representative of national competition.) They are also used to suggest Heisenberg’s speed and recklessness which contrasts Bohr’s caution and tediousness.

• Invisible Straight – An anecdote in which Bohr managed to bluff himself in a game of poker by betting on a straight that he thought he had, but he really did not . This principle is applied to nuclear weaponry, suggesting that nations will act differently when they think that an opponent can produce nuclear arms, whether or not the opponent can.

• Cap-Pistols, Land Mines and Nuclear Reactors – These fall into the Toy vs. Weapon theme and once again presents anecdotes of Bohr and Heisenberg’s lives. Their fascination in playing with the new toy blinds them to the danger that it poses.

• Bomb – The term “bomb” appears as a literal looming image in many cases, but it is used figuratively in a couple of instances, as if it should be a joke, but with such grave implications that it cannot be found funny. (In example, Heisenberg refers to a “bomb having gone off” in Bohr’s head .)

• Christian Reaching for the Life-Buoy – Christian was one of Bohr’s sons, who tragically drowned while he and Bohr were out sailing . The phrase “Christian reaches for the life-buoy” appears several times during the play, and every time, the characters seem to hold their breath in the hope that this time, Christian will survive. Bohr had concluded that they would have both drowned had he jumped in to save his son, and this presents an idea of futile heroics, particularly with reference to Heisenberg and what should happen if he were to resist Hitler’s rule .

• “Another Draft” – Whenever the characters conclude that an interpretation of their 1941 meeting is incorrect, they call for “another draft.”

Language[link]

Though the dialogue does not contradict logic, it cannot be called realistic in the strictest sense. One character’s line might fade into the next, as though the second person knew exactly what he was going to say; sometimes a character will slip into a memory and partially relive a former or younger self in a monologue; and over the course of the show, there is a definite ambiguity as to whether they are speaking to one another or to the audience.

The play was originally written in English, but the real people in the exchange may have had this conversation in Danish or German. But even with translation in mind, Frayn defends that the words in the script are those that the characters would actually say. In his post-script, he writes, “If this needs any justification, I can only appeal to Heisenberg himself.” Understandably, Frayn needs to present the characters in an interesting and dramatic light, as well as depicting a setting that no living person has visited, so the accuracy of such dialogue is subject to dwindle by degrees.

Plain language and scientific language both operate in this play. There are several instances when the two physicists start speaking too scientifically for many people to understand, and one of them will remark that they must revert to plain language, to explain it in a way that Margrethe will understand. Even for this effort though, criticism arose about the complexity of the play and the difficulty for viewers to comprehend. A writer for The Commonweal commented on the Broadway premiere, saying that “the play’s relentless cerebral forays can... be frustrating.”

Production history[link]

London Premiere – 1998

Copenhagen opened in the National Theatre in London and ran for more than 300 performances, starring David Burke as Niels Bohr, Sara Kestelman as Margrethe Bohr, and Mattew Marsh as Werner Heisenberg. It was directed by Michael Blakemore.

"Copenhagen" transferred to the Duchess Theatre in London's West End, where it ran from the 8th of February 1999, for more than 750 performances. It had a "second" cast when it opened in the West End, who were responsible for performing at least one of the matinee shows each week. The second cast consisted of David Baron as Niels Bohr, Corinna Marlowe as Margarethe Bohr, and William Brand as Werner Heisenberg, and after six months, they replaced the original cast for the rest of the West End run.

Broadway Opening – April 2000

Continuing under the direction of Michael Blakemore, it opened on Broadway at the Royale Theatre on April 11 and ran for 326 performances. Starring Philip Bosco as Bohr, Michael Cumpsty as Heisenberg and Blair Brown as Margrethe, it went on to win the Tony Award for Best Play, along with two others for Best Featured Actress in a Play (Blair Brown), and Best Direction of a Play (Michael Blakemore). But even for its success, Frayn admitted in an article that “A number of commentators expressed misgivings about the whole enterprise .” Several critics noted that it was heavy with scientific dialogue, a little too heavy for the common audience. Though a writer from Physics World hailed it as “brilliant theatre ,” a Charles Spencer, of the Daily Telegraph, wrote, “I felt that my brain was being stretched to breaking point -- well beyond breaking point, in fact.”

TV Movie – 2002

The play was adapted as a television movie in 2002, with Daniel Craig as Heisenberg, Stephen Rea as Niels Bohr, and Francesca Annis as Margrethe Bohr. The movie substantially cuts down the script of the play, eliminating several recurring themes, and most of the material that established the community of scientists in Copenhagen. It also abandons the abstract staging of the theatrical version in favour of being set in the city of Copenhagen, in Bohr's old house.

Recent revivals

The play has been revived at:

• Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, with Tom Mannion as Niels Bohr, Sally Edwards as Margrethe Bohr, and Owen Oakeshott as Werner Heisenberg. It was directed by Tony Cownie.

• the New Vic Theatre in Staffordshire with John O'Mahony as Niels Bohr, Jamie Hinde as Heisenberg and Deborah Maclaren as Margrethe Bohr. It was directed by James Dacre.

• The Living Theatre in New York City with Lou Vuolo as Bohr, Mary Ann Hay as Margrethe, and Keith Herron as Heisenberg. It was directed by Anne Pasquale.

• The Lyceum theatre in Sheffield with Henry Goodman as Niels Bohr, Geoffrey Streatfeild as Werner Heisenberg and Barbara Flynn as Margrethe. It was directed by David Grindley.

Awards and honors[link]

• 1998 Evening Standard Award for Best Play
• Drama Desk Award for Best New Play
• New York Drama Critics' Circle Best Play
• Tony Award for Best Play
• Prix Molière

Physicists referenced[link]

Over the course of the play, a number of renowned physicists are mentioned. Many of them are referenced in the context of their work with either Bohr or Heisenberg. This is the order they appear in the script:

See also[link]

• Doctor Atomic
• History of nuclear weapons
• Operation Alsos (postwar attempt to gauge the progress of the German bomb project)
• Manhattan Project (Allied wartime bomb project)
• Uranverein (Nazi wartime bomb project)

References[link]

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Cassidy, David C. Uncertainty : the life and science of Werner Heisenberg. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York, NY. 1992.
• Frayn, Michael. Copenhagen. New York, New York. Anchor Books: Random House, Inc. 2000.
• Lustig, Harry. “Biographies of Persons in Copenhagen.” City University of New York Graduate Center: American Social History Project.
• Rush, David. A Student Guide to Play Analysis. Southern Illinois Printing Press, 2005. Carbondale, IL
• Spencer, Charles. review of Copenhagen in The Daily Telegraph, in The Complete Review. Accessed 2-25-09.
• Ziman, John. review of Copenhagen in Physics World, in The Complete Review. Accessed 2-25-09.
• Zoglin, Richard, review of Copenhagen in Time, in The Complete Review. Accessed 2-25-09.

External links[link]

• Copenhagen at the Internet Broadway Database
• BBC site for Copenhagen (TV movie edition)
• PBS site for Copenhagen (TV movie edition)
• Review from the American Institute of Physics
• Documents relating to the 1941 meeting released in 2002 by the Niels Bohr Archive
• Internet Broadway Database page for the 2000-1 Broadway performance
• American Repertory Theatre's production, directed by Scott Zigler
• Michael Frayn's Copenhagen in Debate: Historical Essays and Documents on the 1941 Meeting between Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg
• Copenhagen Symposium at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Copenhagen København
Clockwise: Slotsholmen, Tivoli Gardens, City Hall Square and The Marble Church
Coat of arms
Copenhagen Location in Denmark
Coordinates: 55°40′34″N 12°34′06″E / 55.67611°N 12.56833°E / 55.67611; 12.56833Coordinates: 55°40′34″N 12°34′06″E / 55.67611°N 12.56833°E / 55.67611; 12.56833
Country	Denmark
Region	Capital Region of Denmark
First mention	11th century
City Status	13th century
Government
• Lord Mayor	Frank Jensen (S)
Area
• City	88.25 km2 (34.07 sq mi)
• Metro	3,030 km2 (1,170 sq mi)
Population (2012)[1][2]
• City	551,580
• Density	6,300/km2 (16,000/sq mi)
• Urban	1,213,822 (details)
• Metro	1,935,746 (details)
• Metro density	639/km2 (1,660/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Website	www.kk.dk

Copenhagen ( /ˈkoʊpənheɪɡən/ or /ˈkoʊpənhɑːɡən/; Danish: København pronounced [kʰøb̥m̩ˈhɑʊ̯ˀn] ( listen), Latin: Hafnia) is the capital of Denmark and its most populous city, with an urban population of 1,213,822 (as of 1 January 2012 (2012 -01-01)^[update]) and a metropolitan population of 1,935,746 (as of 1 April 2012 (2012 -04-01)^[update]). With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region. Within this region, Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmö are growing into a combined metropolitan area.^[3][4][5] Copenhagen is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager.

First documented in the 11th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the beginning of the 15th century. During the 17th century, under the reign of Christian IV, it became a significant regional centre.

Copenhagen is a major regional centre of culture, business, media, and science, as indicated by several international surveys and rankings (see International rankings below). Life science, information technology and shipping are important sectors, and research & development plays a major role in the city's economy. Its strategic location and excellent infrastructure, with the largest airport in Scandinavia,^[6] Kastrup, located 14 minutes by train from the city centre, have made it a regional hub and a popular location for regional headquarters^[7] and conventions.

Copenhagen has repeatedly been recognized as one of the cities with the best quality of life.^[8][9][10] It is also considered one of the world's most environmentally friendly cities. The water in the inner harbour is clean and safe for swimming. 36% of all citizens commute to work by bicycle. Every day, they cycle a combined 1.2 million km.^[11]

Since the turn of the millennium, Copenhagen has seen a strong urban and cultural development. This is partly due to massive investments in cultural facilities as well as infrastructure and a new wave of successful designers, chefs and architects.^[9]

History[link]

Reconstruction of Copenhagen as of c. 1500

Copenhagen's founding has traditionally been dated to Bishop Absalon's construction of a castle on the small island of Slotsholmen in 1167 where Christiansborg Palace stands today. Recent archeological finds indicate that by the 11th century, Copenhagen had already grown into a small town with a large estate, a church, a market, at least two wells and many smaller habitations spread over a fairly wide area.^[12] Many historians believe that the town dates to the late Viking age, and was possibly founded by Sweyn I Forkbeard. From the middle of the 12th century it grew in importance, after coming into Absolon's possession, who fortified it in 1167, the year traditionally marking the foundation of Copenhagen. The excellent harbour encouraged Copenhagen's growth until it became an important centre of commerce. However it did not become the nation's capital until the middle of the 15th century, and the archbishop still has residence in Roskilde.

The city's origin as a harbour and a place of commerce is reflected in its name. Its original designation, from which the contemporary Danish name is derived, was Køpmannæhafn, meaning "merchants' harbour" or "buyer's haven" (cf. German "Kaufmannshafen"). The English name for the city is derived from its Low German name, Kopenhagen. The element hafnium is also named for Copenhagen, whose Latin name is Hafnia,^[13] derived from the city's original name, Hafnæ ("harbour"). The bacterium Hafnia is also named for Copenhagen, being coined in 1954 by Vagn Møller of the Statens Seruminstitut in Copenhagen. ^[14]

As the town rose in prominence, it was repeatedly attacked by the Hanseatic League. In 1254 it received its charter as a city under Bishop Jakob Erlandsen. During 1658–59 it withstood a siege by the Swedes under Charles X and successfully repelled a major assault. In 1711 the plague reduced Copenhagen's population of about 65,000 by one-third.^[15]

On 2 April 1801 a British fleet under the command of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker defeated a Danish-Norwegian fleet anchored near Copenhagen. Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson led the main attack.^[16][17][18] He famously disobeyed Parker's order to withdraw, destroying many of the Dano-Norwegian ships before a truce was agreed.^[16][19][20] Copenhagen is often considered to be Nelson's hardest-fought battle, surpassing even the heavy fighting at Trafalgar.^{[16][19][21][22][23]} It was during this battle that Lord Nelson famously "put the telescope to the blind eye" in order not to see Admiral Parker's signal to cease fire.^[21]

The Second Battle of Copenhagen (or the Bombardment of Copenhagen) (16 August – 5 September 1807) was from a British point of view a preemptive attack on Copenhagen, targeting the civilian population in order to seize the Dano-Norwegian fleet.^{[19][21][24][25]} But from a Danish point of view the battle was a terror bombardment on their capital. Particularly notable was the use of incendiary Congreve rockets (containing phosphorus, which cannot be extinguished with water) that randomly hit the city. Few houses with straw roofs remained after the bombardment. The largest church, Vor frue kirke, was destroyed by the sea artillery. The battle is considered the first terror attack against a major European city in modern times by several historians.^[25][26] The confiscation of the navy, would later source the term to Copenhagenize.

Slotsholmen canal, as seen from Børsen (1890–1900). In the background from left to right: Church of the Holy Ghost, Rundetårn, Trinity Church, St. Nicholas Church (before the spire was rebuilt) and Holmen Church.

The British landed 30,000 men and surrounded Copenhagen.^[19][21] The attack continued for the next three days, killing some 2,000 civilians and destroying most of the city.^[19][21] The devastation was so great because Copenhagen relied on an old defence-line whose limited range could not reach the British ships and their longer-range artillery.^[27] Not until the 1850s were the ramparts of the city opened to allow new housing to be built around The Lakes (Danish: Søerne) that bordered the old defences to the west. This dramatic increase of space was long overdue, because the old ramparts were out of date as a defence system, and because of bad sanitation in the old city. Before the opening, central Copenhagen was inhabited by approximately 125,000 people, peaking in the census of 1870 (140,000); today the figure is around 25,000. In 1901, Copenhagen expanded further, incorporating communities with 40,000 people, and in the process making Frederiksberg an enclave within Copenhagen.

During World War II, Copenhagen was occupied by German troops along with the rest of the country from 9 April 1940 until 4 May 1945. The occupation was not a part of the Nazi German expansion, and in the first years German authorities wanted a kind of understanding with the Danish government. Even a general parliamentary election was granted in 1941, with only the Communist Party excluded. But in August 1943, when the government's collaboration with the occupation forces collapsed, several ships were scuttled in Copenhagen Harbour by the Royal Danish Navy to prevent their use by the Germans. Around that time the Nazis started to arrest Jews, although many managed to escape to Sweden.

After the Normandy invasion the Germans feared that the Danish police could become a problem, and in early September 1944 the entire Danish police force was meant to be arrested. But a majority of the Danish police managed to either hide or escape to Sweden. Out of 2,000 policemen captured and deported to Germany fewer than half returned after the war. During the last eight months of occupation Copenhagen suffered a high rate of common criminality.

Ole Lippman, the leader of the Danish resistance movement (SOE), asked for RAF assistance in attacking Nazi headquarters in Copenhagen. Accordingly, vice Air Marshall Sir Basil Embry drew the plans for a spectacular precision attack on the SD and Gestapo building, the former office of the Shell Oil Company. Political prisoners were kept in the attic to prevent an air raid, so the RAF had to bomb the lower levels of the building. The attack came on 22 March 1945, coming in three small waves. All six planes (carrying one bomb each) in the first wave hit their target, but unfortunately one of the aircraft crashed near Frederiksberg girls school. Due to this crash four of the planes in the two following waves assumed the school was the target, and aim their bombs at the school. Several teachers and some 15 students were killed, but 18 (of 20 total) political prisoners managed to escape, the Gestapo archives were completely destroyed, and Hitler became so insecure of the situation that he withdrew only half of the roughly 200,000 soldiers in Denmark to reinforce German forces on the Rhine.^[28][29][30]

Since the summer of 2000, Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmö have been connected by a toll bridge/tunnel (Øresund Bridge), which carries railroad and automobile traffic. As a result, Copenhagen has become the centre of a larger metropolitan area which spans both nations. The construction of the bridge has led to many changes to the public transport system and extensive redevelopment of Amager, south of Copenhagen.

In December 2009 Copenhagen hosted the worldwide climate meeting COP15. When US President Barack Obama participated in the end of this meeting it was the fourth time an American President had visited Copenhagen during his term (Obama also visited Copenhagen in October 2009, George W. Bush in 2005 and Bill Clinton in the 1990s).

Geography[link]

Amager Square seen from St. Nicholas Church

Location[link]

Copenhagen is located on the eastern shore of the island of Zealand, partly on the island of Amager and on a number of natural and artificial islets between the two. Copenhagen faces the Øresund to the east, the strait of water that separates Denmark from Sweden, and which connects the North Sea with the Baltic Sea. The Swedish towns of Malmö and Landskrona lie on the Swedish side of the sound directly across from Copenhagen.

Copenhagen is part of the Øresund region, which consists of Zealand, Lolland-Falster and Bornholm in Denmark and Scania in Sweden.

Copenhagen Municipality[link]

Copenhagen Municipality is an administrative unit which covers the central part of the actual city of Copenhagen. It is a fairly small part of the actual city which falls within the municipality both because it covers a confined area and because the enclave of Frederiksberg is an independent municipality. Since a reform in 2006–08, Copenhagen is divided into 10 official districts (Danish: Bydele).^[31]

The suffix -bro in the names Østerbro, Nørrebro, Vesterbro and Amagerbro should not be confused with the Danish word for bridge, which is also 'bro'. The term is thought^{[citation needed]} to be an abbreviation or short form of the Danish word brolagt meaning paved referring to the roads paved with cobblestones leading to the city's former gates. Today the Frederiksberg enclave, whilst not part of the Copenhagen municipality (and so administratively independent), is considered to be part of the city of Copenhagen. Frederiksberg became an enclave in 1901 when the former districts of Vanløse and Valby were incorporated to Copenhagen municipality. Since 1902 no further incorporations has been made to the municipality.

The highest population density is no longer found in the city centre ("Indre by", which means Inner town) due to office buildings, department stores and council buildings, etc. The highest population density is instead found in the districts closest to the city centre, where there is a density of 15,000 inhabitants per km². For example at the entire Nørrebro district,^[32] the parts of the Østerbro district between the big park Fælledparken and the large harbour areas,^[33] the east and north Frederiksberg.^[34] Also the Vesterbro part of the official Vesterbro-Kongens Enghave district and small Christianshavn^[35] across the harbour has a high population density. In other words, the highest population density whithin Copenhagen is found in the areas surrounding the city centre.^[36]

The lowest population density in the municipality exists in a part of the Amager Vest district. At the western coast of the island of Amager a large area was embanked from the shallow strait of Kalveboderne in the 1930s. The main reason was to provide an occupation for unemployed workers during the Great Depression. As the area was later used as a military training area, the ground contains much unexploded ammunition which has hampered urban development. In the 1980s most of the embankment was declared a nature reserve and thus remains uninhabited, although a part now makes up the Ørestad quarter. Also, a golf course has been established a few kilometres from the city centre.

The area of Copenhagen has also grown in other places as a result of landfill. Thus, all of the present and former harbour areas were gained from the sea, and on eastern Amager, a new beach park with an artificial island was opened in 2008.

Greater Copenhagen[link]

Greater Copenhagen in Denmark

The conurbation of Copenhagen consists of several municipalities. After Copenhagen Municipality, the second largest is Frederiksberg Municipality, an enclave inside Copenhagen Municipality. Both are contained in the larger Capital Region of Denmark, containing most of the urban area of Copenhagen. However Danish road authority (Vejdirektoratet) still uses the name Greater Copenhagen (Storkøbenhavn). This area had around 1.45 million inhabitants in the mid 1990's.

Previously, the areas of Frederiksberg, Gentofte and Copenhagen municipalities have been used to define the city of Copenhagen. This definition is now obsolete. To meet statistical needs upon the latest municipal reform, which took place in early 2007, a definitory concept of Danish lands (Danish: landsdele) was introduced. A land is basically a geographical and statistical definition, and the area is not considered to be an administrative unit. The land of Copenhagen City includes the municipalities of Copenhagen, Dragør, Frederiksberg and Tårnby, with a total population of 704,108 at the start of 2012.^[37][38]

Copenhagen and Frederiksberg were two of the three last Danish municipalities not belonging to a county. On 1 January 2007, the municipalities lost their county privileges and became part of the Copenhagen Capital Region.

Finger Plan[link]

Suburban Copenhagen (or the Copenhagen metropolitan area) is planned according to the Finger Plan (Danish: Fingerplanen), initiated in 1947, dividing the suburbs into five fingers.^[39] The S-train lines are built according to the Finger Plan, while green wedges and highways are built between the fingers.

Climate[link]

Copenhagen is in the oceanic climate zone, bordering on a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb). As the city is in the path of Atlantic low-pressure systems, Copenhagen experiences unstable and changing weather patterns in all four seasons, as well as temperatures about 5 degrees higher than average for its latitude (55 degrees North) worldwide. The main reason for this warmth is the Atlantic Gulf Stream, which moves warm water from around the Gulf Coast area toward Europe, and the low-pressure systems follow with the oceanic stream.

Precipitation is moderate throughout the year, with a small peak during June to August. Snowfall occurs mainly from late December until early March, but snow cover seldom lasts long. Rain during January and February is as common as snow, and the average temperatures for these two winter months is near the freezing point.

During winter, the weather is dependent on which latitude the Atlantic low pressure centre takes. With a stable high-pressure system around the Alps, the low pressure from the southwest moves toward southern Scandinavia and northern Germany, producing above-freezing temperatures day and night. When a stable high-pressure system sits over Denmark or the lands to the northeast (such as Finland or Russia), the mild Atlantic winds from the southwest are blocked, allowing polar winds to cover the area, and the temperature dips to below freezing (rarely below −5 °C (23 °F) during the day and −12 °C (10 °F) during the night). If the European continent experiences cold due to the eastern Russian winds, which rarely occurs, it can "freeze from the south".^{[citation needed]} This was a phenomenon that took several centuries to understand.

Spring is comparable to continental Europe, but delayed about a week because of the cold surrounding water. On the other hand, in late autumn Copenhagen is kept milder due to the same factor, but reversed. In late November and December the surrounding ocean water is generally warmer than the air. From mid-October to February, one or two storms occur. Storms in the summertime are rare.

Summer is a mixture of southwestern mild, windy and rainy low-pressure systems, and periods of stable high pressures. In summer, high-pressure systems usually bring sunny and fairly warm weather. But these warm periods, which can occur any time from late April until mid September, usually last no longer than ten days.^{[citation needed]}

Cityscape[link]

Metropolis building

The city's appearance today is shaped by the key role it has played as a regional centre for centuries. Copenhagen has a multitude of districts, each representing its time and with its own distinctive character, making up a dense urban fabric. Other distinctive features of Copenhagen include the abundance of water, the many parks, and the bicycle paths that line most streets.

Architecture[link]

Amalienborg Palace and the Marble Church seen with the Amalie Garden in the foreground.

The oldest section of Copenhagen's inner city is often referred to as "Middelalderbyen" (The Medieval City). However, the most distinctive district of Copenhagen is Frederiksstaden developed during the reign of Frederick V. It has Amalienborg Palace at its centre and is dominated by the dome of the Marble Church and several elegant 18th century mansions. The old inner city of Copenhagen includes the small island of Slotsholmen with Christiansborg Palace and Christianshavn. Around the historical city centre lies a band of congenial residential bouroughs (Vesterbro, Inner Nørrebro, Inner Østerbro) dating mainly from late 19th century. They were built outside the old ramparts of the city when the city was finally allowed to expand beyond this barrier.

Sometimes referred to as "the City of Spires", Copenhagen is known for its horizontal skyline, only broken by spires at churches and castles. Most characteristic is the baroque spire of Church of Our Saviour with its spiralling and narrowing external stairs that visitors can climb to the very top of the spire. Other important spires are those of Christiansborg Palace, the City Hall and the former Church of St. Nikolaj that now houses a modern art venue. A bit lower are the renaissance spires of Rosenborg Castle and the "dragon spire" of Christian IV's former stock exchange, so named because it resembles the tails of four dragons twined together.

Developing skyline of the district Ørestad, located in the outskirts of Copenhagen. 12 towers expected to form the final skyline.

Recent years have seen a boom in modern architecture in Copenhagen^[40] both when it comes to Danish architecture and works by international architects. For a few hundred years, virtually no foreign architects had worked in Copenhagen but since the turn of the millennium the city and its immediate sourroundings have seen buildings and projects from international star architects. In the same time, a number of Danish architects have achieved success in Copenhagen and abroad. Buildings in Copenhagen have won RIBA European Awards four years in a row ("Sampension" in 2005,^[41] "Kilen" in 2006,^[42] "Tietgenkollegiet" in 2007^[43] and the Royal Playhouse in 2008.^[44]) The last three mentioned projects are all by Lundgaard & Tranberg Architects.^[45] At the 2008 World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, Bjarke Ingels Group won an award for the World's Best Residential Building 2008 for a house in Ørestad.^[46] The Forum AID Award for Best building in Scandinavia went to Copenhagen buildings both in 2006^[47] and 2008.^[48] In 2008 British design magazine Monocle named Copenhagen the World's best design city 2008.^[49]

The boom in urban development and modern architecture has brought some changes to the city's skyline. A political majority has decided to keep the historical centre free of high-rise buildings, but several areas will see or have already seen massive urban development. Ørestad now has seen most of the recent development. Located near Copenhagen Airport, it currently boasts one of the largest malls in Scandinavia and a variety of office and residential buildings as well as IT University and a high school. The two largest hotels in Scandinavia are currently under construction (ultimo 2008).

The 2004 Copenhagen Opera House by Henning Larsen

An ambitious regeneration project will create a new Carlsberg District at the historical premises of the Carlsberg Breweries that has terminated the production of beer in Copenhagen and moved it to Fredericia. The district will have a total of nine high-rise buildings and seeks to mix the old industrial buildings with modern architecture to create a dense, maze-like quarter with a focus on sustainability and an active urban life. A third major area of urban development also with a focus on sustanibility is Nordhavn. The Copenhagen tradition with urban development on artificial islands that was initiated with Christian IV's construction of Christianshavn has recently been continued with the creation of Havneholmen as well as a canal district at Sluseholmen in the South Harbour. A district in Copenhagen with a different take on modern architecture is that of Christiania whose many creative and idiosyncratic buildings are exponents of an "architecture without architects".

Parks[link]

Ørstedsparken

Copenhagen is a green city with many big and small parks. King's Garden, the garden of Rosenborg Castle, is the oldest and most visited park in Copenhagen.^[50] Its landscaping was commenced by Christian IV in 1606. Every year it sees more than 2.5 million visitors^[51] and in the summer months it is packed with sunbathers, picnickers and ballplayers. It serves as a sculpture garden with a permanent display of sculptures as well as temporary exhibits during summer.^[50] Also located in the city centre are the Botanical Gardens particularly noted for their large complex of 19th century greenhouses donated by Carlsberg founder J. C. Jacobsen.^[52] Fælledparken is at 58 hectares the largest park in Copenhagen.^[53] It is popular for sports and hosts several annual events such as a free opera concert at the opening of the opera season, other open-air concerts, carnival, Labour Day celebrations and Copenhagen Historic Grand Prix, which is a race for antique cars. A historical green space in the northeastern part of the city is Kastellet, a well-preserved renaissance citadel that now serves mainly as a park. Another popular park is the Frederiksberg Garden, a 32-hectare romantic landscape park. It houses a colony of tame grey herons and other waterfowl. The park offers views of the elephants and the elephant house designed by world-famous British architect Norman Foster of the adjacent Copenhagen Zoo, the largest zoo in Denmark.

In Copenhagen, many cemeteries double as parks, though only for the more quiet activities such as sunbathing, reading and meditation.^[54] Assistens Cemetery, the burial place of Hans Christian Andersen, is an important green space for the district of Inner Nørrebro and a Copenhagen institution. The lesser known Vestre Kirkegaard is the largest (54 hectares) cemetery in Denmark^[55] and offers a maze of dense groves, open lawns, winding paths, hedges, overgrown tombs, monuments, tree-lined avenues, lakes and other garden features.

It is official municipal policy in Copenhagen that all citizens by 2015 must be able to reach a park or beach on foot in less than 15 minutes.^[56] In line with this policy, several new parks are under development in areas lacking green spaces.^[57][58]

Beaches[link]

Copenhagen and the surrounding areas have 3 beaches with a total of approx. 8 km of sandy beaches within 30 minutes cycling from the city centre. This includes Amager Strandpark, which opened in 2005 and includes a 2 km long artificial island and a total of 4.6 km of beaches,^[59] located just 15 minutes by bicycle or a few minutes by metro from the city centre.

The beaches are supplemented by a system of Harbour Baths along the Copenhagen waterfront. The first and most popular of these is located at Islands Brygge^[60] and has won international acclaim for its design.^[61]

Demographics[link]

As of 2010, 78.4% of Copenhagen's population is Danish, 7.0% are immigrants from western countries and 14.47% of a non-Western background.^[62]

The Sluseholmen Canal District

Depending on the boundaries used, the population of Copenhagen differs. Statistics Denmark uses a measure of the contiguously built-up urban area of Copenhagen, this means the number of communities included in this statistical abstract has changed several times, in the abstracts latest edition with about 1.2 million (1,199,224 (2011)) inhabitants. This number is not a strict result of the commonly used measuring methods of 200 meters of continuously build-up area, as there are exceptions to the general rule: The suburbs of Birkerød and Hørsholm are excluded, while all of Brøndby and parts of Ishøj and Greve are included.^{[citation needed]} Statistics Denmark has never stated the geographical area of urban Copenhagen. However, we know it consists of Copenhagen Municipality, Frederiksberg and 16 of the 20 municipalities in the old counties Copenhagen and Roskilde, though 5 of them only partially.^[63]

Statistics Denmark has worked out definitions of so-called lands (landsdele), a definition used to meet statistical needs on a lower level than regions. From this, the land of Copenhagen city (København by) is defined by the municipalities of Copenhagen, Dragør, Frederiksberg and Tårnby, with a total population of 704,108 as of 1 January 2012.^[37][38] The surroundings of Copenhagen is defined by another land, Copenhagen suburban (Københavns omegn), which includes the municipalities of Albertslund, Ballerup, Brøndby, Gentofte, Gladsaxe, Glostrup, Herlev, Hvidovre, Høje-Taastrup, Ishøj, Lyngby-Taarbæk, Rødovre and Vallensbæk, and with a total population of 520,784 (1 January 2012).^[37][38] This gives a total population of 1,224,892 for these two lands together. The lands of Copenhagen city and Copenhagen suburban can together be used as a definition of the metropolitan area, although an extremely narrow one not even containing all of the urban area.