Freetown Christiania is no longer entirely free. Each resident pays 1300 DKK a month (almost US$300 with the weak dollar) to the common fund. Half of that money goes outside the community for property taxes, utilities, etc. The other half is used internally. New residents (and we were told that is unusual as people rarely leave) have their homes selected for them. Neighbors can apparently veto an undesired new neighbor. There is some sort of wait list to get in.

The above building, Den Gra Hal, holds over a thousand people and is used when the whole community needs to get together. They also have concerts in the building on occasion. Notable acts here have included Bob Dylan, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Metallica (Lars Ulrich is from Denmark), and Portishead.

This building also hosts the annual Christmas Market.

Christiania Bikes were previously made in the building, Cykelvaerkstedet, below this ivy covered, wooden bridge. Now they are just sold out of the building. The bikes, which can be seen all over Copenhagen, became too popular, and the building of the bikes had to be me moved to a larger location on Jutland. The bikes feature a large compartment for holding things sort of like a pickup truck. We have seen Christiania Bikes holding big people, kids, babies, groceries, other bikes, and just about anything else you can imagine.

The symbol of Christiania is the three circles or dots. They come from the three dottings of the letter “i” in the name Christiania. Others have ascribed various meanings to the three circles. The three dots can be seen everywhere in Christiania on much more than just flags like this graffiti shows. You can also see them on bumper stickers throughout Denmark and even in the three giant disco balls in the Copenhagen Opera House.

I’ll finish this entry with what Christiania is probably most famous for–marijuana, hash, ganja, weed, pot, you get the picture. If you don’t want to buy it on Pusher Street, you can get it for free in other parts of town. I filled my pockets and split town. Just kidding.

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Posted on August 2nd, 2008 under Denmark • Tags: christiania, copenhagen, graffiti, living in copenhagen, pictures. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback