Dragør
| Dragør | |||||
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| Basic data | |||||
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| State : |
 Denmark
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| Region : | Hovedstaden | ||||
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Municipality (since 2007) : |
Dragør | ||||
| Coordinates : | 55 ° 35 ′ N , 12 ° 40 ′ E | ||||
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Population : (2020) |
12,309 | ||||
| Postal code : | 2791 Dragør | ||||
| Website: | www.dragoer.dk | ||||
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Dragør is a small Danish town about twelve kilometers from Copenhagen on the southern tip of the island of Amager . The city with around 11,000 inhabitants is the main town of Dragør Municipality in the Hovedstaden region . Its location on the Öresund determined the history of the place, which over the centuries developed from a fishing village to a prosperous shipping town. Today, Dragør is a popular recreational destination for Copenhageners, mainly because of its well-preserved old town, where the highest prices for house land are paid in Denmark.
Surname
The name Dragør is derived from the Danish terms drage for "pull" and ør , where ør means a pebble or sandy bank. Dragør is therefore a place on the coast where ships can be pulled ashore.
history
The herring fishery formed the livelihood of a fishing village in the 12th century, which arose at the same time as Skanör on the opposite coast of Skåne . The place experienced a heyday in the 14th and 15th centuries, after Hanseatic cities were granted trade privileges as well as the right to preserve herrings in the city with salt in 1370. During the market from July 25th to October 9th, up to 20,000 merchants, fishermen and people from all over the Øresund region gathered to trade in herrings. Initially, the newcomers spent the market season in simple tents until construction of the first half-timbered houses began in the 1420s . At the same time, the area was transferred to immigrant Dutch people who settled in the neighboring Store Magleby .
When the village was burned down during the count's feud in 1536 , it marked a turning point in Dragør's history. With the decline in herring fishing in the 16th century, many fishermen began to guide ships through the Øresund . Around the year 1560 alone, around 2000 ships passed through the sound. In 1684 pilots from Dragør were the first in Denmark to receive royal authorization for their pilotage services from Christian V. In the 18th and 19th centuries, shipping became so important for Dragør that the city with up to 92 ships was temporarily the second largest port in the Danish kingdom after Copenhagen. The rapid population growth led to an enormous expansion of Dragør. Around 1600 the town still had 20 houses and almost the same number of fish stalls, but in 1699 there were already 133 households, which was due to an influx from Store Magleby and Skåne. Half a century later the number doubled and in 1758 the royal builder counted 270 "well-built" houses. In 1787 a census recorded 312 houses and in 1801 the place reached the substantial extent of today's old town with 342 houses. Besides seafaring and pilotage services, the main occupation was the recovery of ships. But with the advent of steamers in the 19th century, Dragør lost its role as a major port. Currently there are only a few professional fishermen left in the port, but there are a number of recreational fishermen and the marina is visited by sailors from all over the world.
During the German occupation of Denmark in World War II , many Danish Jews were saved by being brought to Sweden on ships from Dragør. After the war, the housing stock in the city multiplied, which can be explained, among other things, by the proximity to the nearby Copenhagen-Kastrup Airport in Kastrup . Today almost 20% of the Dragører work there, for whom the aircraft noise of around 700 take-offs and landings is a daily reality.
Between April 1960 and October 1999, eight months before the opening of the Øresund Bridge in July 2000, there was a ferry connection to Limhamn near Malmö in Sweden , from which business life in Dragør benefited.
In 1974, after long discussions, Dragør was merged with the former rival municipality of Store Magleby in the new Dragør municipality .
tourism
When the Amagerbanen connected the town to the railway network in 1907, many residents took advantage of this to commute to work in Copenhagen. In return, the capital city residents discovered Dragør as a summer excursion destination. Initially, the guests rented rooms with the Dragører families, who moved to the attic or the outbuilding during the time. The city became so popular with summer visitors that many decided to stay all year round. As a result, many summer houses were initially built in the north, which after the First World War expanded into a villa belt around the old town. House land prices are now among the most expensive in Denmark. The boatmen's houses in the old town are an exclusive address for wealthier people who often have well-paid jobs in Copenhagen.
City preservation
Dragør was able to retain its character, although it is located in a region that was heavily influenced by industrial development in the 20th century. As early as 1934, the "Dragører Committee for Monument Protection" (Dragør Bygningsfredningsnævn) was founded as the first of its kind in Denmark . In 1964, Dragør was the first town in Denmark to receive a building ordinance that served to preserve the cityscape. In 1968 a parking ban was introduced in the entire old town, which has been the country's first city-wide pedestrian area since 1978.
Cityscape, buildings and squares
Ocher-yellow, mostly one-story boatmen's houses with red tile roofs and dark green painted windows characterize the cityscape of Dragør's old town. Almost all streets there run in an east-west direction, while the narrow streets are laid out in a north-south direction. In principle, the streets are built on only on one side. The small houses, most of which date from the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries, face north, while the gardens adjacent to the next street are on the side facing the sun. The master carpenter and carpenter Johan Hendrich Jørgensen Blichmann was responsible as the architect and builder for many of the finer houses from 1773 to 1815. The Dragør Kro restaurant building is also one of his works, the oldest parts of which date from before 1793. The two-story east wing was built in 1805, while the south wing got its current appearance in 1842.
The Dragør Badehotel from 1907 is located in the south of the city close to the bathing establishment that was built at the end of the 19th century. The Dragør Strandhotel by the harbor dates from 1845. It got its current name at the beginning of the 20th century and was increased in the 1930s. In the Middle Ages, the herring market hostel was located there.
Coastal fortifications
South of the port facilities is Dragør Fort , which was abandoned by the military and is located on an artificial island around 400 meters from the coast and was built from 1910 to 1915 as part of the Copenhagen coastal fortifications to prevent enemy bombardment from the sea. The fort has been privately owned since 2002 and houses, among other things, a restaurant and a hotel.
The Kongelundsfortet, built between 1914 and 1916 in the southwest of Amager, was originally a coastal battery that was later converted into a fort . The area was used as a missile station by the Danish Air Force in the post-war years until 1982 . In 1996 the municipality took over the area in order to set up a nature and leisure center there.
Dragør Church
Until Dragør Kirke was inaugurated in 1885, the faithful had to go to the neighboring Store Magleby or more distant Tårnby for services . Because of the hostile relationship with the peasant people Store Maglebys, the Dragører Tårnby, who traditionally worked in the sea, preferred. Dragøer Church has been independent since 1954, before that it was a branch of the Store Maglebyer parish. The architect CE Wessel designed the red brick building , which was built in a contemporary neo-Gothic style based on the model of the church of Tårbæk in Lyngby-Taarbæk municipality .
Squares and parks
Smaller squares break through the street pattern that dates back to the early 18th century. The largest of these is Badstuevælen Square . It owes its irregular shape to its past as a mining site for clay, which the residents used as building material for their houses. Other idyllic places are the Jens Eyberts Plads and the Fogdens Plads .
The city has several green areas such as Anlægget and Lunden . Dragør protects its trees by allowing them to be felled only after a forestry assessment and then replanted.
Museums
The Dragør Museum on the beach lines near the harbor is housed in an old half-timbered house from 1682, which originally served as a warehouse and later as the town hall. The building has housed the museum since 1932 and is furnished in the style of a wealthy boatman's house. On display are 200-year-old Dutch tiles, medieval household appliances, traditional costumes, a weaving room, ship models and old nautical charts as well as curiosities brought by Dragør sailors.
The Mølsteds Museum on Blegerstræde is located in the former studio of the marine painter Christian Mølsted (1862 to 1930), who worked there for most of his life.
Personalities
Born in Dragør
- Arnold Peter Møller (1876–1965), shipowner
- Charlotte Fich (* 1961), actress
Associated with Dragør
- Viggo Johansen (1851–1935), Danish painter and draftsman
See also
literature
- Søren Olsen: Dragør . In: Danmarks Købstæder . Politics Forlag A / S, Copenhagen 2000, ISBN 87-567-6203-8 , p. 205 ff . (Danish).
- Søren Olsen: Dragør . In: Oplev København - og omegn . Forlaget Hovedland, Højbjerg 2005, ISBN 87-7739-765-7 , p. 89 ff . (Danish).
Web links
- Dragør Kommune (Danish)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Statistics banks -> Befolkning og valg -> BY1: Folketal January 1st efter byområde, alder og køn (Danish)
- ↑ a b Dragør kommune: Dragør - søfartsby og forstad ( Memento of the original from March 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on October 5, 2010 (Danish)
- ↑ Dragør Fort: History ( Memento of the original from September 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on October 5, 2010 (Danish)
- ↑ The Store Danske : Kongelundsfortet , accessed on October 5, 2010 (Danish)
