The New Student's Reference Work/Copenhagen

Co′penha′gen, the capital of Denmark, is on the island of Zealand, with outlying parts on the island of Amager and the mainland. The city is defended by fortifications recently built and by old forts, especially by the citadel of Frederikshavn. The square, Kongens Nytory, is the center of the town's life. Its cathedral has a baptismal font by Thorwaldsen, and the Thorwaldsen museum has many of that sculptor's works. The royal castle, called Christiansborg, has a fine art-gallery, some of the pictures in which were burned in 1884. The university, founded in 1479, has 85 professors, 400 students and a library of 250,000 volumes; while the royal library has over 500,000 volumes. Copenhagen in the middle of the 12th century was a mere fishing-village. It was made the capital in 1443. The town has had three fires, and has been besieged and bombarded many times. It was in its fine harbor that Nelson, in 1801, destroyed the Danish fleet. The annual trade of the port amounts to about $120,000,000. Its industries embrace ship-building, distilling and brewing, sugar-refining, the manufacture of porcelain, soda, machinery and textile fabrics. Population, 462,161; or with its suburbs, 559,398.