Copenhagen’s Assistant Cemetery is steeped in history and celebrity. If you have enough time you should visit it. It also represents a real green oasis in the city center. This cemetery, accordingly, has a dual purpose and serves as a park…
It was founded in 1760. as an auxiliary cemetery due to the overcrowding of the others, which were located closer to the center. Capacity was exceeded due to the plague epidemic, which roared here in 1711. At that time, this cemetery was located outside the city.
In the 19th century, it became completely surrounded by the Nørrebro district and completely merged with the city.
How to get to Assistant Cemetery
Today, this cemetery is located in the center of the Nørrebro district and is accessible whether you come on foot, by bike or by public transport.
If you choose the latter, Copenhagen’s excellent metro will drop you very close to the main entrance. A green promenade starts from there, which simply draws you into its interior. People in wheelchairs can easily navigate this main road.
You have the impression that you are entering a large, well-maintained park.
What you need to know
Although the cemetery is very large, navigation through it is very simple. There are signs everywhere about where you should go and where the graves of important people are. You won’t need maps or guides for these most important ones, they are very easy to find and most importantly, they are on the main road so that even wheelchairs can easily approache.
Visiting the cemetery is completely free.
The cemetery is open every day from morning to evening, with slightly shorter opening hours in the winter months.
There are also some unwritten rules about behavior when you’re here. Eating or drinking in the cemetery is not allowed. It is also understood that any noise is completely banned. Although the cemetery is a public park, picnics, parties or barbecues are not allowed here. If you bring a dog with you, it must be on a leash.
There are several cemeteries around Denmark with the same name. In the beginning, this cemetery was intended for the burial of the poor, but over time it began to be preferred by more prominent people, especially artists.
Today, this cemetery covers 25 hectares and is the final resting place for several celebrities, which makes it worth visiting. All paths are well marked.
One of them is the famous Hans Christian Andersen, creator of unforgettable fairy tales for children such as The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid and many others.
This strange man, who suffered from numerous phobias, managed to create some of the best fairy tales for children, which have a lot of hidden universal messages.
He wanted to be taken seriously and therefore never allowed sculptures to represent him surrounded by children. His monument is like that, completely reduced and simple.
Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard is also buried in this cemetery.
And to create a balance, Niels Bohr, winner of the Nobel Prize for nuclear physics, who was part of the Manhattan Project, is also buried here. This is the team that developed the atomic bomb in Los Alamos.
We all know that they successfully brought the project to an end. Some other members of his family are buried here, such as his father Christian and brother Harald.
How much time do you need for this cemetery
To see the most important places, you don’t need more than 30 minutes because they are easy to find and are on the main route. If you have some of your own favorites then it will take a little more time.
In this cemetery you will find a section for the burial of Catholics as well as a section for the burial of the homeless. There is also a part where members of the LGBT community are buried according to their wishes.
I couldn’t help but notice that the Old Russian Cemetery is also located here. It is one of the parts intended for the burial of members of minority communities.
There are two of them in this town. You will easily recognize them by the Russian crosses with diagonal brackets. The inscriptions are in Danish and Russian. The Russian cemetery is managed by the Russian Orthodox Church in Denmark.
Otherwise, you do not have to be a priori buried in these sections even though you are a member of a minority. But if you are not a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, which is dominant in Denmark, you will pay a little more for burial if you want to be buried in a place other than the one that belongs to your religious community.
Conclusion
After visiting the cemetery, you can take a walk around the neighborhood, which is considered the bohemian part of the city. There are many ethnic restaurants such as Mexican, Lebanese, Asian and various others, as well as galleries, shops, etc.
Or you can combine this visit with a visit to the free and wheelchair accessible Maersk tarnet observation deck, which I wrote about here. It’s right there, just around the corner.
This, like all other cemeteries in the world, is a kind of historical monument.
Celebrities, who were important to humanity, lead to many thoughts. Here at the Auxiliary Cemetery in Denmark lie side by side the man who wrote fairy tales and the man who participated in the making of the atomic bomb.
Everyone has contributed in their own way to human civilization. It’s up to you to decide who your idols are and bow down to them if you get the chance.
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Have you visited Copenhagen Cemetery?
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Traveled and enjoyed,
Marko Veličković
