Christiania & Carlsberg Brewery

Today I went on a field study to Christiania for my Danish class and stopped at the Carlsberg brewery afterwards. (I swear I'm not planning the alliterations, its purely coincidental!) Anyways, our tour was led by a Christiania resident who has lived there for over 20 years. He told us that Christiania started in the 1970s when a bunch of hippies took over abandoned military barracks, and developed it into a free society with an independent governing system. He cited Christiania as the longest running anarchist experiment in history. They do have some rules though. No violence, hard drugs, stealing, cars, or guns.

It was really interesting to see the place in the daylight. Many people build their houses themselves, which is pretty impressive. Graffiti was everywhere. Christiania owns the right to three dots-which I thought was pretty funny at first. Why would you want to own three dots? Our tour guide said that someone got the idea from the three i's in Christiania-thus three dots. It became so popular that its now Christiania's flag. You can find the three yellow dots on anything from garbage cans to t-shirts and ballpoint pens.

Shot of our tour guide + mannequins in the window?

Three dots on garbage cans

More graffiti

Inside a shop

Community house-the most prized house in Christiania

The health center

Around 900 people live in Christiania, with about 70% adults and 30% children. I'm amazed that Christiania has been around for so long, but wonder how much longer it will last. They often have problems with regulations that the Danish government tries to impose on the community. The open trade of hash on Pusher street is highly controversial. Also, if the majority of the residents are adults and their children chose not to live there, how will the community survive?

On the back of the Christiania entrance sign

Next we headed over to the Carlsberg Brewery in Enghave. It's huge.We spent so much time walking around the outside just trying to find the visitors entrance that I felt like I was at the Willy Wonka Chocolate factory. The tour was self guided and included two free beers at the end. It was cool to see all the old machinery in comparison to the automated machines used today. Unfortunately I couldn't get any good shots because the lighting was so dim and melodramatic. 

Enghave

Massive beer collection

Courtyard with female statues?

The stables

Realistic right?

Another side of the courtyard

Glimpse of the actual equipment

All in all it was a fun day! I really like how we don't have class on Wednesday and can go on field studies or explore on our own. Tomorrow I'm headed to western Denmark for my Medical Practice & Policy short study tour. It should be fun! Cross your fingers that we don't get stuck with rain and snow :)