Freetown Christiania: Denmark’s Controversial Commune

The Christiania area within Denmark’s capital is a place both reviled and celebrated. It is a controversial community considered a successful social experiment by some, a lawless drug den by others. Christiania’s shift from military base to hedonistic commune can be seen as the ultimate flower power siege, but four decades on it’s certainly not all peace, and its future hangs in the balance.

Fashioned from city ramparts built by King Christian IV in 1617, and the military barracks of Bådsmandsstræde, Christiania (also called Freetown Christiania) is an autonomous 850-strong community. It began after the barracks were abandoned in 1971 and local residents broke-in to use the base as a playground for their children, complaining about the lack of affordable housing in Copenhagen. (The shed above was used for executions, with 46 civilians sentenced to death for crimes committed in Denmark during World War Two.)

On 26 September 1971, journalist Jacob Ludvigsen proclaimed Christiania “the land of the settlers”, adding: “The objective of Christiania is to create a self-governing society whereby each and every individual holds themselves responsible over the wellbeing of the entire community. Our society is to be economically self-sustaining and, as such, our aspiration is to be steadfast in our conviction that psychological and physical destitution can be averted.”

And thus a community was born, the spirit of which has become synonymous with the hippie movement, collectivism and anarchy – in contrast to its disciplined military past. The neighbourhood is governed by the Christiania Law of 1989, which transfers parts of its supervision from the municipality of Copenhagen to the state, which owns the former base.

Christiania’s relationship with the authorities is complicated and controversial. Residents govern themselves by concensus, but pay taxes for water, electricity and waste disposal. Acceptance of drug addicts and other social misfits has helped build Christiania’s identity, to the point where they are considered as important to the community as the “entrepreneurs” who run it.

Comments

Beelitz

The now-relinquished Beelitz Heilstatten clinic was the place Adolf Hitler was treated for his wounds amid WWI. Mind blowing Facts May 26, 2016 History, Places Beelitz-Heilstätten was a 60-building rambling sanatorium was worked in the late nineteenth century, to treat and restore the developing number of tuberculosis patients in the industrialized Berlin. The sanatorium was changed over into a military healing center for the Imperial German Army amid the World War I. Youthful Adolf Hitler, who might proceed to wind up the tyrant of Germany recovered in this healing facility in the wake of continuing an injury on his thigh at The Battle of Somme. The Soviets assumed control Beelitz Heilstätten in 1945 and transformed it into the Soviet military doctor's facility. Endeavors were made to privatize the healing center complex (after the Soviet withdrawal from Germany) yet it came to nothing. Today few areas from the complex are utilized as a neurological restoration focus and a...

Abandoned Hotel in Switzerland Hotel Belvédère, a hotel in the Furka Pass of the Swiss Alps, was once the perfect spot for travelers looking to explore the Rhône Glacier. But as the glacier receded, so did its number of visitors. Since the finish of the nineteenth century, when the Furka Pass street was fabricated, visitors have rushed to the inn for its all encompassing perspectives over the frigid scene. The ice sheet was once just a 600-foot stroll from the lodging and a 300-foot long cavern cut into the ice sheet enabled visitors to travel inside. Tragically, the Rhône Glacier has lost very nearly a full mile of inclusion over the most recent 100 years or something like that. The 11,000-year-old icy mass has been referred to retreat as much as 10 centimeters in multi day, and reliably loses around 130 feet every year. The cavern, which goes back to as right on time as 1894, can never again be safely cut into the diminishing ice.

Haunting Photos of Deserted Pianos in Abandoned Buildings In his ground-breaking arrangement, Requiem for Pianos, French craftsman Romain Thiery flawlessly investigates the forlorn existences of overlooked pianos. Matching two of Theiry's aesthetic interests—photography and piano-playing—this contacting venture introduces the instruments through an individual and strong focal point. Composition for Pianos is set in a few surrendered structures crosswise over Europe. When excellent manors and stately homes, these destinations have since been abandoned, deserting only disintegrating dividers, broke windows, and, as Thiery has found, crowds of disposed of pianos. "Once in a while with a portion of its keys missing, now and then totally disassembled yet continually sitting imposingly," every old piano rests unobtrusively among the remnants, holding up quietly to be found. Thiery was motivated to shoot this arrangement by his own encounters as a committed p...

Abandoned

Search This Blog