Alhambra was a large entertainment-complex, built in 1857 in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the region of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of less tha ...

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. It was designed by the army-officer

Georg Carstensen Johan Bernhard Georg Carstensen (31 August 1812 – 4 January 1857) was a Danish army officer and one of the developers of Tivoli Gardens. He spent most of his childhood in the Near East. He travelled widely and had a career in the military Roya ...

(1812–1857), who also was one of the developers of the

Tivoli Gardens Tivoli Gardens, also known simply as Tivoli (), is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Kla ...

. Following a disagreement with others in the Tivoli Gardens management, Carstensen travelled to the

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies () or Danish Virgin Islands () or Danish Antilles were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with , Saint John () with , Saint Croix with , and Water Island. The islands of St ...

and joined the army there. After returning to Denmark in 1855, he attempted to construct an establishment to rival Tivoli Gardens; the Alhambra in

. It was built in a "moorish style" and boasted 2,000 seats with balconies in the big concert hall. The Alhambra was very popular the first years, but during the winter-times there were almost no activities, since it was impossible to keep this huge hall heated. Also, the lack of proper lighting in the huge surrounding park-area brought along several night-time accidents in the unfinished park. In the end, the venue didn't stand the competition against the established Tivoli Gardens. and had to close down. The buildings were torn down in 1870. The only reminiscent left of this failed project is a street named ''Alhambravej''.

Gallery

File:Det mauriske Slot i forlystelsesparken Alhambra.jpg, The concert hall in c. 1865. File:Koncertsalen i Det mauriske Slot i forlystelsesparken Alhambra.png, Interior of the concert hall.

References

External links

The Society for the History of Copenhagen: Alhambra
{{Commons category History of Copenhagen