Christiania

Christiania is an autonomous Freetown, self-proclaimed on 4th September 1971 by a neighbourhood wanting to use unused space as a playground for their children. During the following years a lot of people moved to Christiania to live because the houses in Copenhagen were too expensive. So it quickly developed into a hippie, collectivistic and anarchistic movement .



Entry

When entering Christiania, we first made contact with the inhabitants' 3 own rules:

1. Do not run, it causes panic

2. Do not take photographs, drugs are still illegal

3. Have fun

This shows us that those people have a different mentality than we do.
They want to prevent stress, by forbidding running and taking pictures.
We experienced the inhabitants from different points of views. Some think they look normal and sympathetic, others a bit strange and distrustful. So, we concluded that it isn't a good idea to stay in Christiania at night!

As expected by most of us, the buildings were old and most of them a little bit damaged and had not been renovated for ages, so everything looked a bit outdated and battered.

Christiania's flag

For sure, we also experienced what Christiania is most famous for; its drug tourism. We saw people selling drugs on the streets, selling smoking utensils and tourists smoking cannabis. This is the main revenue for Christiania and the reason why this area exists and is able to survive. This is only possible because of the people protesting and fighting against the government. So Copenhagen’s government declared Christiania as a Freetown, with a few laws like in Copenhagen and a few made by Christiania's governors.

 



We experienced something never seen before, which doesn't exist anywhere else, a different way of living. It was interesting to see how those people live, how they earn their money and the tourism on place.

Gilles: I think that it was a good idea to visit Christiania, it was interesting to see that a community can exist without being governed by a big government and how this community can stick together and keep their right to keep this area a Freetown. Furthermore, there is an apparently good restaurant called “Nemoland”, which unfortunately we weren't able to eat at.

Clémence: I found it very interesting to visit Christiania because it's very different from the places we use to visit. It's very weird to see people sell their drugs and lots of people smoking joints without being worried about being arrested. However, I didn't expect the people living there to be so unfriendly with tourists and so agressive-looking.

Noami: Personally, Christiania made me feel a little uncomfortable. People there looked strange and aggressive. At every shop they sold drugs and most of the people inside looked stoned. I felt as if I just didn't belong there, but nevertheless it was very interesting to see a community living in Denmark, that isn't governed by the Danish government. I really appreciate the fact that this community has fought to become independent, that they have achieved what they wanted.