In the very center of Copenhagen, on the island Amager, in the district Christianshaven lives the last hippie community of Europe.
It all began in 1971 when a group of hippies occupied an abandoned military buildings green area of 35 hectares, later deciding to give birth to a new self-governing society operating under the “consensus democracy”, based on the principle of collective ownership and economically independent, with its own currency. A perfect place to live and raise their children in a spirit of peace, love, freedom, and respect for the environment.
Christiania was thus proclaimed “free city” and after several attempts by the government to remove the occupiers, at last, the community was declared a self-governing community. A small city within a city with its craft shops, post office, kindergarten, cinema, theater, typography, a free radio, a bicycle factory (the famous Pedersen), restaurants, bars, clubs where listening to concerts of all kinds, the ecological oven, the football team, the local flag, even the national anthem. It is a community far away from the world, governed by few rules: the rejection of the state and violence, absence of private property, the war against hard drugs.
Christiania was famous for putting the cars ban (only permitted movement means: foot and bike) and photographs (absolutely forbidden to take pictures), for the absence of the police (their presence over time, however, was increased), for the free circulation of soft drugs. In “Pusher Street”, the drug dealers’ street, until 2004 it was even possible to buy, in the sunlight, hashish, and grass at special kiosks. After that date, their stores returned underground.
The particular way of life of its 900 inhabitants (hippies, anarchists, independents, artists), the separation (as possible) from the outside world, the stories about Christiania, have helped to give the community of hippies a special charm, to wrap the small republic freak in a halo of legend (also thanks to the stays and the performances of some myths of music) so as to become, in a short time, one of the main tourist attractions of the capital.
Destination of alternative young people looking for some transgression, of tourists intrigued by a social reality far from the classical schemes, of those who still believe in the ideology of anarchist pacifism, Christiania is the last bastion of hippie culture free from prejudice and preconceptions. The dream of a free world, not conforming, to which business interests, real estate speculation and the market rules want to end.
USEFUL INFO
Opening hours: open air
Admission: free
How to reach: Metro Christianshavn (M1, M2)
Address: Prinsessegade 37, 1422 København K
