Strøget and Amagertorv

You have arrived along Strøget, the pedestrian spine of the centre, and you are standing in its most elegant square: Amagertorv. On 17 November 1962 Copenhagen closed this chain of streets to traffic. Many shopkeepers protested, convinced they would be ruined; the opposite happened, and the experiment inspired dozens of cities.

1A market square

Amagertorv takes its name from the island of Amager, across the harbour: farmers came from there to sell vegetables. It was one of the two great market squares of the medieval city, along with Gammeltorv. Notice the red-brick house with the stepped gable: it dates from 1616, one of the few buildings from Christian IV’s era still standing in the centre. Today it houses the Royal Copenhagen porcelain shop.

2The Stork Fountain

The Storkespringvandet was unveiled in 1894, the work of Edvard Petersen and Vilhelm Bissen, as a gift to Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Louise for their silver wedding anniversary.

For decades people argued over whether the birds were storks or herons. In 2008 the Danish Ornithological Society settled the matter: they are storks.

Since 1950 there has been a charming tradition: newly qualified midwives come to dance around the fountain. Storks, after all, bring the babies.

3What to look out for

• The birds on the fountain, wings spread wide.
• The house of 1616, with its Renaissance gable.
• The pattern of the paving, which turns the square into a giant carpet.