Frue Plads: urban space, university, grammar school (Metropolitanskolen), cathedral and library

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Square of Our Lady

By Keld Grinder-Hansen, Cand.mag., Ph.D. (18 stories)

As a demonstration of power, Frue Plads, Square of Our Lady" separating the streets of Nørregade and Fiolstræde in the heart of Copenhagen, is like a centre for spiritual and scholarly wisdom. The appearance of the square was changed forever by the British bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807 which destroyed the Church of Our Lady, Vor Frue Kirke, and much of the old university. The foremost architect of the era, C.F. Hansen (1756-1845), built the new church (later Copenhagen's cathedral) in 1811-29 and Metropolitanskolen (formerly Vor Frue school) on the east side of the square of Vor Frue Plads in 1816. Construction of the University's new Classicist main building, inaugurated in 1836, was assigned to the architect Peter Malling (1761-1865). "

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Story written by Keld Grinder-Hansen

Time / Periode 1836

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The architect selected to design the University of Copenhagen's main building, was C.F. Hansen's pupil Peter Malling (1761-1865), who was responsible for notable buildings such as the new Sorø Akademi in 1822-27. But this was a tall order: on the north side of the new Square of Our Lady, he was to erect a building that would fittingly offset C.F. Hansen's monumental church architecture. The main university building was designed in a personalised Gothic style, with a central banqueting hall. The facade, with its seven gables, resolved the fact that the church prevented adequate spacing for the university building. The Malling building is designed to be viewed from an oblique angle, and is best observed from the corner of Nørregade and Studiestræde.