Israels Plads (literally ''Israel's Square'') is a large

public square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...

in central

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 ...

, located in the area between

Nørreport station The fortifications of Copenhagen underwent a comprehensive modernization and expansion in the 17th century. The project was commenced and was largely the masterplan of Christian IV in the early 17th century but was continued and completed by his s ...

and The Lakes. Its northern part hosts a market (with two

market hall A market hall is a covered space or a building where food and other articles are sold from stalls by independent vendors. A market hall is a type of indoor market and can be found in many European countries. The most common variation of a mar ...

s since 2011). Its southern part was extensively redesigned in 2014, with transition into the adjacent Ørsted Park.

History

Background

The square is located in the area which was released after Copenhagen's Bastioned Fortifications were decommissioned in the second half of the 19th century. Until then the area had remained largely undeveloped due to the enforcement of a no-built zone outside the city walls.

The Greengroceer's Market

A vegetable market, ''Grønttorvet'', opened at Vendersgade on 26 April 1889 after the market activities had been discontinued at

Christianshavns Torv Christianshavns Torv is the central town square, public square of the Christianshavn neighborhood in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is situated at the intersection of Torvegade and Christianshavns Kanal, Christianshavn Canal, roughly at the center of the ...

Expansion and move

The northern part of today's Israels Plads, between Vendersgade and Frederiksborggade, was originally not part of Grønttorvet. It had a fountain and was known as ''Hundetorvet'' (literally ''Dog Square''), presumably because it was popular with people walking their dog. In 1913, the space was incorporated into the market area. The market at Grønttorvet closed when the new vegetable market in

Valby Valby () is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen Municipality, Denmark. It is in the southwestern corner of Copenhagen Municipality, and has a mixture of different types of housing. This includes apartment blocks, terraced housing, area ...

was inaugurated on 1 October 1958. Grønttorvet was renamed Israels Plads on 11 October 1968, the 25th anniversary of Nazi persecution of Jews in Denmark.

Buildings

The most distinctive building which faces the square is the mission house ''Bethesda'', at 17 Rømersgade, which was completed by the architect

Ludvig Knudsen Ludvig Harald Knudsen (18 August 1843 – 16 March 1924) was a Historicist Danish architect. He mainly designed churches. Biography Ludvig Knudsen was born in Copenhagen. He was the son of Jens Christian Knudsen (1801-1856) and Johanne F. J ...

for the Inner Mission in 1882. Most of the other buildings facing the square are apartment buildings built for the upper middle class in the 1870s and 1880s. An example is 1–5 Rømersgade which was designed by Julius Bagger for Hans Hansen, better known as ''Hellig-Hansen'', a prominent developer of the time who later built the entertainment venues ''National'' and ''Dagmar Theatre'' before he went bankrupt in 1884. The buildings have rich

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

decorations.

Torvehallerne

The two market halls are each 50 meters (165 feet) long and 24.2 meters (80 feet) wide. They stand parallel at a distance of 23 meters (75 feet), so that there is still an open-air vegetable and flower market in between. The simple and transparent halls were designed by Hans Peter Hagens. The company, which was founded specifically to build and operate the halls, filed for bankruptcy during the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

. The market halls were opened in September 2011 after the project was taken over by the private property development company Jeudan. The following groceries are available at the market: open faced

sandwiches A sandwich is a dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a ''container'' or ...

;

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

products, including

rack of lamb A rack of lamb, also known as carré d'agneau (though this term may also refer to other cuts), is a Lamb and mutton, lamb cut that is perpendicular to the spine and includes 16 ribs or Lamb chop (meat), chops. In retail, it is commonly sold as a ...

“Lammekrone”;

seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...

, including

fish products Fish and fish products are consumed as food all over the world. With other seafoods, they provides the world's prime source of high-quality protein; 14–16 percent of the animal protein consumed worldwide. Over one billion people rely on fish a ...

prawns Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (members of the order of decapods), some of which are edible. The term ''prawn''Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature's most ...

and

lobsters Lobsters are malacostracans decapod crustaceans of the family Nephropidae or its synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, in ...

;

mozzarella Mozzarella is a Types of cheese#Semi-soft cheese, semi-soft non-aged cheese prepared using the ('stretched-curd') method with origins from southern Italy. It is prepared with cow's milk or buffalo milk, taking the following names: * or mozz ...

;

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

dragée A dragée ( , , ; ) is a bite-sized confectionery with a hard outer shell, which can be made of sugar, chocolate, or other substances. Dragées come in various shapes and sizes and are often used for decorative purposes, particularly in pastri ...

and

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

. There are free public toilets beside the food market.

Redesign of the southern part 2014

Until 2014, the southern portion was a desolate asphalt expanse used for parking, with the occasional flea market. In 2008 there was a design competition for the refurbishment of this part, which was won by the architectural firm Cobe. The project team included Sweco architects, Birk Nielsens landscape architects, sculptor Morten Stræde and engineering firm Niras. The design idea is that of a flying carpet. The light granite surface rises above street level towards the street (and falls again), offers tribune-like seating in these areas and conceals the underground car park built below. There are public

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport that involves riding and Skateboarding trick, performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a method of tr ...

areas and a

streetball Streetball (or street basketball) is a variation of basketball, typically played on outdoor courts and featuring significantly less formal structure and enforcement of the game's rules. As such, its format is more conducive to allowing players ...

cage on the square, but

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

can also be played, which are used by three adjacent schools as break and open spaces. Trees and an artificial watercourse create a creative connection to the adjacent park. The cost was estimated in 2008 at at least 60 million Danish kroners. They were funded by the city and the

Oticon Oticon is a hearing aid manufacturer based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Oticon is a subsidiary of Demant, Demant A/S. Oticon was founded in 1904 by Hans Demant, whose wife was hearing impairment, hearing impaired. The company claims to be the world's ...

Fund. The implementation of the project was delayed due to a dispute with the owner of an underground car park, but construction finally started in 2012. The newly designed square was completed in 2014.

Award

Israels Plads was nominated as an "Archdaily 2018 Building of the Year Award Finalist" in the "Public Architecture" category.

References

External links

Israels Plads Syd
at Danish Architecture Centre's website {{coord, 55.6830, 12.5684, type:landmark_region:DK, display=title Squares in Copenhagen Streets in Copenhagen Retail markets in Copenhagen