Dragør

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A narrow street in Dragør

The Dragør Strand Hotel in Amager's historic old town of Dragør.

Location in Denmark

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Dragør

Dragør is a municipality (Danish, kommune) in Copenhagen County on the southern coast of island of Amager just east of Zealand (Sjælland) in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 18 km², and has a total population of 13,156 (2005). Its mayor is Allan Holst, a member of the Social Democrats (Denmark).

The main town and the site of its municipal council is the town of Dragør.

Its only neighboring municipality is Tårnby to the north. To the east and south is the Øresund, the strait that separates Zealand and Amager from Sweden. To the southwest is Køge Bay (Køge Bugt).

Dragør municipality will not be merged with other municipalities by January 1, 2007 as the result of nationwide Kommunalreformen ("The Municipality Reform" of 2007).

1 Town of Dragør
- 1.1 History
2 Attractions
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Town of Dragør

Dragør has many very well preserved historical buildings. The old part of the town of Dragør is a cozy, picturesque maze of alleys with yellow painted house, red roofs and cobblestone streets built in the traditional Danish style. Many of these buildings are hundreds of years old. It was a prosperous seafaring town in the later half of the 19th century, and its charming harbour front is still in use.

The Øresund Bridge is visible from the town.

[edit] History

Dragør was founded in the 12th century, and it grew quickly as a fishing port. In 1370 the Hanseatic league was granted some trade privileges in the town. It continued to grow as the home of one of the largest fishing fleets in the country, as well as salting and processing operations.

The area traces a Dutch ancestry which is still very much in evidence to this day. In the early 16th century, King Christian II invited a group of farmers from the Netherlands— at the time, a more agriculturally advanced nation than Denmark— to settle here and produce food for the royal household. Twenty-four families arrived. They and their descendants stayed for three centuries, continuing to live in the Dragør area and leaving only for their weekly trips to the Amagertorv market in downtown Copenhagen. Among their many other achievements they were responsible for introducing the carrot to Denmark.

[edit] Attractions

The Amager Museum, an open-air recreation of life in old rural Amager
Dragør Museum, a seafaring museum located at Dargør harbour
Mølsted Museum, in the heart of old Dragør in the artist's studio, an art museum dedicated to the works of seascape painter Christian Mølsted (1862 - 1930)
The Kastrupgaard Collection (Kastrupgårdsamlingen) in nearby Kastrup. An art museum on the premises of an estate from the 1700s.