The

National Museum of Denmark The National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet) in Copenhagen is Denmark, Denmark's largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main building is located a short distance from S ...

's new

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

, Brede Works, lies in the countryside just north of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

's largest, protected industrial plants. At the museum of Industrial culture, the visitors can be guided around by its own virtual person between old machines, hear how Denmark became an

industrial society In sociology, an industrial society is a society driven by the use of technology and machinery to enable mass production, supporting a large population with a high capacity for division of labour. Such a structure developed in the Western world ...

and even try to work at an

assembly line An assembly line, often called ''progressive assembly'', is a manufacturing process where the unfinished product moves in a direct line from workstation to workstation, with parts added in sequence until the final product is completed. By mechan ...

. The

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

s show the

industrial development Industrialisation ( UK) or industrialization ( US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive reorganisation of an economy for the ...

which has changed the everyday lives of the Danes over the past few centuries. Along the millstream

Mølleåen Mølleåen, also Mølleå, sometimes translated as the Millstream, is a small river in North Zealand, Denmark, which runs from the west of Bastrup Sø near Lynge to the Øresund between Taarbæk and Skodsborg. The valley contains several coun ...

there have been

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

s since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. Over time they have helped to process copper,

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

, gunpowder etc. From 1832 until it was closed down in 1956 textiles were produced at Brede Works. The historic industrial plant Brede Works gives an impression of a tightly knit factory community with production buildings, workers' and master-craftsmen's homes, the factory-owner's country home, an 'eating house', a day-nursery for the children, a plant nursery and park. Today the buildings house the museum and the National Museum of Denmark's

Conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manage ...

Department.

History

Early history

Brede Watermill is already mentioned as a grain mill in the 14th century. Ot was converted into a gunpowder mill in 1628,

The copper mill

Henrik Ehm Henrik Ehm (died December 1701) was a Danish coppersmith and alchemist. He owned and leased a number of copper mills in North Zealand, including Hammermøllen at Hellebæk and Brede Works, Fuglevad and Nymølle on Mølleåen. He also owned a n ...

, the owner of Hammermøllen at

Helsingør Helsingør ( , ; ), classically known in English as Elsinore ( ), is a coastal city in northeastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 63,953 on 1 January 2025, making it the 23rd most populated municipality in Denmark. Helsin ...

, acquired Brede Works from Henrik Rosenmeyer's heirs in 1668. He also acquired Fuglevad Watermill, Stenhuggergården. He converted it into a copper mill. Ludvig Manthey, who had until then owned The Lion Pharmacy in Copenhagen, served as manager of Brede Works and

Ørholm Ørholm is a neighbourhood and locality on the Mølleåen river in Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen9, Denmark. Ørholm Watermill has a history that dates back to at least the 15th century but the current industria ...

from 1805 to 1811.

Brede Textile Factory

Johan Carl Modeweg established a textile factory in Copenhagen in 1809, after he had accidentally become the owner of a couple of handlooms. The number of weaves had ten years later grown to 16. He had by 1832 run out of space at his old address and therefore decided to move his operations out to the hydropower at Brede Works. He bought the complex in a partnership with other investors but became its sole owner in 1835. Modeweg passed's son J.E. Modeweg (1813–1869) became a partner in the company in 1849 and became its sole owner following his father's death in 1849. His widow continued the operations for a few years after his death but sold it in 1872 to Carl Albeck (1830–1905) and William Salomonsen (1842–1900). Albeck sold his share of the company to Salomonsen in 1879. Edmund Daverkosen (1854–1918) became a partner in 1887 while Carl C. Jensen (1853–1922) became an ''associés''. 300 workers worked at the factory by 1888. The company was in 1895 converted into a limited company (''

aktieselskab (; abbr.: A/S or a/s, ; ) is the Danish name for a stock-based corporation. An ''aktieselskab'' may be either publicly traded or private. Liability The shareholders of an ''aktieselskab'' are not liable for the debts of the company. If an ...

'')) with Daverkosen and Jensen as managing directors. The factory closed in 1956.

Later history

The buildings were taken over by the

in the 1960s.

Museum exhibitions

The exhibition ''

Industrial Society In sociology, an industrial society is a society driven by the use of technology and machinery to enable mass production, supporting a large population with a high capacity for division of labour. Such a structure developed in the Western world ...

'' tells the daily history of the ordinary Dane towards the modern society and the importance of the industrial products for everyday life by using things from the time, sound, light and movie clips. At the ''Factory'' you can experience the greatest female job of the 1800s which was the cloth mill with big machines and

Dyeing Dyeing is the application of dyes or pigments on textile materials such as fibers, yarns, and fabrics with the goal of achieving color with desired color fastness. Dyeing is normally done in a special solution containing dyes and particular ...

. In the exhibition ''The Machinery'' the visitors can work together along two assembly lines, which can produce

ball bearing A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races. The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...

s to the world market. The exhibition ''Industrial beginnings'' show the story of the factories and the small communities along the millstream, Mølleåen. Brede Works produced

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

and textiles. Around 1900 the textile factory had grown to a small community with homes, a crèche, school, shop and dining house. The last exhibitions ''Dressed in Time'' show the history of fashion from top to toe. Almost 200 garments show how the Danes have looked on everyday and festive occasions from the 1700s to the present day. A Virtual Experience at the Museum Each visitor is given an ActiveTicket, which tell the story of

working life Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any other ...

at the cloth mill, the growth of industrial society and the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the State (polity), state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal oppor ...

through new technology. The visitor can choose a virtual guide who will appear among the machines and tell about the working day.

References

External links

Official website of Brede Works

Official website of the National Museum of Denmark
{{Coord, 55, 47, 41, N, 12, 29, 57, E, type:landmark_region:DK, display=title Danish companies established in 1810 History museums in Denmark Industrial buildings in Copenhagen Industry museums Listed industrial buildings in Copenhagen Museums in Copenhagen