Christianshavn Ramparts

The earthen rampart and moat preserve the outline of the boundary with which Copenhagen once sealed off the approaches from Amager. The district arose on marshy shallows, and the first line of fortifications enclosed it with five bastions. Between Lion's Bastion and Elephant's Bastion, the road from the island narrowed to a single entrance: carts could get inside only after their loads had been inspected on the fortified island in front of the rampart. A slab on the slope marks the spot where defense and city trade converged in one passage.

In December seventeen twenty-seven, the gatekeeper Hans Nielsen moved in here with his wife and child. The small house by Torvegade was his official residence. Nielsen was responsible for Amager Gate and collected one skilling from each person passing through. The post gave the family a home, but they had to live right by the city's entry checkpoint.

The gate stood where Torvegade passes between Lion's Bastion and Elephant's Bastion. It was the only land route from Amager to Copenhagen. A farmer with a cart first declared his goods at the excise office, then crossed the moat and entered the ravelin—a fortified island in front of the rampart. There, soldiers inspected the load. Beyond the second drawbridge came the gate itself and Nielsen's collection point. Only then could vegetables and other produce be taken on to the city markets.

This arrangement appeared together with Christianshavn. Christian IV founded the new district on marshy shallows, and by sixteen twenty-three builders had already completed the first line of fortifications, with five bastions. The houses still had to be settled. The earthen embankment, projecting bastions, and broad moat were meant to hold up the enemy, while the single entrance allowed the military and collectors to control every cart.

After the excise duty was abolished and Copenhagen lost its status as a fortified city, this arrangement disappeared. In eighteen fifty-seven, Amager Gate was dismantled. The gatekeeper's house remained. It was often mistaken for the former excise office, although the real office stood farther along Amagerbrogade and was demolished in nineteen thirteen.

In nineteen thirty-six, the widening of Torvegade reached Nielsen's house as well. Municipal engineers decided to preserve it: six people put the building on rails and moved it fourteen meters northeast over two days. It now houses a local historical archive, while a slab on the rampart slope marks the gate's former position. The house and the slab are fourteen meters apart; between them runs the road where people once paid for the right to enter Copenhagen.