Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
has become the third-most-visited sight among tourists in Copenhagen. Move
over,
Little Mermaid.
“PusherStreet”(namedforthesaleofsoftdrugshere)isChristiania'smain
drag.GetbeyondthistouristysideofChristiania,andyou'llfindafascinating,
ramshackleworldofmoatsandearthenramparts,alternative housing,cozytea
houses, carpenter shops, hippie villas, children's playgrounds, peaceful lanes,
and people who believe that “to be normal is to be in a straitjacket.” (A local
slogan claims,
“Kun døde fisk flyder med strømmen”
—“Only dead fish swim
with the current.”) Be careful to distinguish between real Christianians and
Christiania's motley guests—drunks (mostly from other countries) who hang
out here in the summer for the freedom. Part of the original charter guaranteed
that the community would stay open to the public.
Hours and Tours:
Christiania is open all the time (main entrance is
down Prinsessegade behind the Our Savior's Church spiral tower in Christi-
anshavn). You're welcome to snap photos, but ask residents before you photo-
graph them. Guided tours leave from the front entrance of Christiania at 15:00
(just show up, 30 kr, 1.5 hours, daily late June-Aug, only Sat-Sun rest of year,
in English and Danish, tel. 32 57 96 70).
The Community:
Christiania is broken into 14 administrative neighbor-
hoods on a former military base. The land is still owned by Denmark's Min-
istry of Defense. Locals build their homes but don't own the land; there's no
buying or selling of property. When someone moves out, the community de-
cides who will be invited in to replace that person. A third of the adult pop-
ulation works on the outside, a third works on the inside, and a third doesn't
work much at all.
There are nine rules: no cars, no hard drugs, no guns, no explosives, and so
on. The Christiania flag is red and yellow because when the original hippies
took over, they found a lot of red and yellow paint onsite. The three yellow
dots in the flag are from the three “i”s in Christiania (or, some claim, the “o”s
in “Love, Love, Love”).
