A brief history of Freetown Christiania, the self-governing society in Denmark
3rd November 2016
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Since 1971 Copenhagen has played host to Freetown Christiania, a self-proclaimed autonomous neighbourhood where a culture of 'hippie' commune-living prevails and cannabis is bought and sold nearly uninterrupted by the Danish police, who are unwilling to enter the district.
Army barracks have stood on the land now occupied by the commune since 1617. After over three hundred years of service they fell out of use in the wake of the Second World War and were eventually abandoned in the late 1960s.
In 1971, with the free love movement in full swing a group led by journalist Jacob Ludvigsen became the first generation of Christianites, aiming to build a society from scratch while making use of pre-existing infrastructure.
Image by: Локомотив, check it out here.
Ludvigsen co-wrote the Christiania mission statement, which reads:
Image by Franklin Heijnen, check it out here.
In 1979 for 40 days and nights residents patrolled ´The Arc of Peace´, the dishevelled building where most of the hard drugs were sold and consumed, and gave an ultimatum to anyone they found doing just that – to give it up entirely or to leave Christiania for good. In the end they were successful in forcing the 'pushers' out of the district, and many users were successfully admitted to rehabilitation. From this time the community has, understandably, had an uneasy relationship with the Danish authorities. Police and government alike in Copenhagen have made multiple attempts to do away with the settlement, through drugs raids, “normalization” laws and political spin campaigns. In spite of it all, the commune lives on. It would seem that the spirit of Christiania is capable of withstanding anything that may come its way, and so even in light of a recent shooting, which highlighted the issues still facing the district, if one thing is certain it is that its days are not yet done.

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In 1979 for 40 days and nights residents patrolled ´The Arc of Peace´, the dishevelled building where most of the hard drugs were sold and consumed, and gave an ultimatum to anyone they found doing just that – to give it up entirely or to leave Christiania for good. In the end they were successful in forcing the 'pushers' out of the district, and many users were successfully admitted to rehabilitation. From this time the community has, understandably, had an uneasy relationship with the Danish authorities. Police and government alike in Copenhagen have made multiple attempts to do away with the settlement, through drugs raids, “normalization” laws and political spin campaigns. In spite of it all, the commune lives on. It would seem that the spirit of Christiania is capable of withstanding anything that may come its way, and so even in light of a recent shooting, which highlighted the issues still facing the district, if one thing is certain it is that its days are not yet done.
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