The Tower of the Copenhagen Zoo (or Zootårnet in Danish) is a notable wooden tower situated in the Municipality of Frederiksberg, Greater Copenhagen Area. It is a highlight in Copenhagen as it firmly stands out from its surroundings.
From the top of the tower in clear weather it is possible to see all the way to the Øresund Bridge. This is because the nearly 50 meters tall Tower is standing on the top of the Frederiksberg Hill, just next to the Frederiksberg Palace, and all in all it is 70 meters over the level of the neighbouring Frederiksberg Park.
Architecture
The architect of the constructions was the Danish Theodor Adreas Hirth, who built the tower entirely out of wood. The shape of it resembles the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Behind the City Hall of Copenhagen you can find another red-brick building that reusables to a fortress. This is the Central Fire Station in Copenhagen (Københavns Hovedbrandstation).
The building was built in 1889 in historicist style after the plans of the architect Fenger. Fenger was also appointed as the City Architect in Copenhagen in the second half of the 19th century. The historicist style makes the building to resemble to a medievel Italian castle. After 3 years of contraction the new fire station was inaugurated on the 30th April in 1892. Emblematic part of the building is the tower. Today the building hosts the alarm central for the Greater Copenhagen area; furthermore it is responsible for the emergency services in some central parts of the capital city.
The Marble Church (Marmorkirken or Frederiks Kirke) is easy to be spotted because of its outstanding green copper dome. It lies near the Amalienborg castle, which is the official residence of the Danish queen and her family. Nowadays the church is serving as a popular wedding site and touristic attraction, and belongs to the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Entrance fee: DKK 35 (Adults), DKK 20 (Students and youth under 18)
Marble?
Most of the church is constructed of Norwegian marble, however, the upper parts are built from different materials (For example Danish faxe marble). This is because the original plan turned out to be too expensive to carry out, hence they had to cut the amount of costly Norwegian marble.
Architecture
According to the original plans the Marble church was erected to honour the anniversary of the Danish royal family's (the Oldenburg dynasty) 300 years reign. Initially Nicolai Eigtved made the plans (see on the upper picture) in 1740 in rococo style. Nine years after King Frederik himself laid the foundation stone. When Eigtved died in 1754 the plans for the church were modified by Nicolas Henri Jardin, a French architect. The constructions was stopped because of budgetary reasons, and only finished in 1894.
The dome has a majestic 46 metres high. There are 12 pillars that carry the dome. The diameter of the dome is 31 metres, which makes this dome one of the largest domes in Europe, and the larges church in Denmark.
Interesting
The construction was stopped for years because of lack of funding. Finally, it was a rich financier C.F. Tietgen (founder of the Tuborg brewery) who donated money to complete the construction.
