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Christiania, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Section: Hippie Havens | Category: Place | Area: Denmark | Topic: Hippiedom
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"Christiania is a free-city and the ultimate hippie haven in Europe, after Amsterdam, of course. In Kristiania you can smoke dope as much as you please and the city is very beautiful with many attractions and a lot of young people... among the hippies most popular rock band Gasolin. For more info, check out www.christiania.org"
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Visitor Comments about Christiania, Copenhagen, Denmark
Posted by WAK on 2007-08-27 22:16:41
My Score:
Comment: Hello fellow hippies.
I visited christania today along with a few friends, we all live in copenhagen. The wheather was great and there where lots of people, the past 6 month the police have been laying low and alot of turist and old users of the freetown have been comming by to take a look. This means more color,more life and more fun.
Also they have learned to thing out of the box. New galleries, A official Art museum,alot of events also linked to the 69 thing, youthouse, And last but not least alot of publicity in the copenhagen and denmark by tv and flyvers and demonstrations, big musical events as well. So even if pusher street is changed,everything else is boomed, the hippie culture survies without the massive hashsale.
That said there is still being sold kiloes of hash every day in pusherstreet. mid-day to sundown everyday u will always find 6-8 pushers(crews),most with a wood table in front of them with there products and a few chairs. So u can still walk up to a table and find 4-5 diffrent hash and feel em smell and bargin. No max amount. The quality is still very good, as good as amsterdam and always avaliable. exept the top 10 % quality hash is rare,only a few times a week, things like caramello eggs, afghan,nepal etc. But with 6-8 diffrent sellers there is always something intresting and new every day. The skunk sale have gone down. before 2004 there was always 10-15 diffrent strains avaliable, but now there is only one stable seller with skunk, normally standard quality not compareable to amsterdam. But still good enough to buy.
Right now its quiet and there are no strange feelings in the air out there, families come there,tours etc and you can smoke relaxed everywhere. The past 6 month the police have visited 4 times. That is less than when the street was running in 2003.Half almost. And the police is tired of the operations as well, i understand them, nothing happens. The policeman in charge said just last week that he personally have given up and found the task to be imposible. So minimum police effort, and only on the pushers, especially foreigners are not to be worries, they won`t charge u a fine if you live out side scandinavia. too much trouble.
WAK
copenhagen 27.aug.2007
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Posted by Gro on 2007-08-19 19:15:58
My Score:  
Comment: o o o BEVAR CHRISTIANIA ! o o o
My name is Gro, Im from Copenhagen - Denmark, I Just want to clarify a few things here: Ive worked there (christiania) for some years and been there regularly throughout my youth,for those of us not fortunate enough to actually live in the free space, it was,and is, still a FREE SPACE, where everyone is welcome.Freed of control of the Hells Angels many years ago, christiania IS a selfexisting,DEMOCRATIC community where every vote counts for the same.There exist only one rule: NO HARD DRUGS! ( some years ago, before they teard down the many a headshops in pusherstreet, there where also psilocybin mushrooms available,and sometimes even mescalin, this, unfortunatly is not found in that area of copenhagen anymore ) (Hard drugs meaning chemicals,like heroin and cocaine, not natural psychedelics ). U can still buy hashish and weed there,although its a very quick proces, cause the police still check in to take e sneakpeak,even though always in uniform so very easy to spot,a matter of fact, youll know theyre there even before they enter the main entrance.(OOOOST)Now they only drop in a couple of times a week,not really doing anything but patrolling around the place.And also, it should be pointed out that it is THE DANISH GOVERMENT that want to NORMALIZE (u do as we say or we kick u out policy) christiania,NOT the danish citicens(!),actually, even the "normal" citizens,are very supportive,joined us at our many big demos and sit-downs and birthdaycelebrations and open houses.Yes,there is a little hippie inside all of us after all, curious to see whats going on with the free spirits. The fight for christiania continues,but we will never give in,i advise you all to come and see it if youve never been there.It truly is a one-of-a-kind place of existence.
VI KA IKKE SLÄS IHJEL -
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Posted by finland on 2006-10-28 23:38:38
My Score: 
Comment: jah!
christiania is still there ,just peopel is chance,they still have hash,
still have partys, still have hippeys walking the round but they
get old and make they thing more wider..forsvar..! you can´t kill us...
fuck the politi
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Posted by Mike on 2005-12-14 22:49:02
My Score:
Comment: I was one of the lucky ones I guess - I visited Christiania in 1975 and stayed a while. Staying there was a life changing experience for me. Then I was returning from South Vietnam. I had been a journalist then set up a little ''agency'' to help street kids. raised some money then let the agency grow and grow until we were the main support group for street kids in South Vietnam. In 1975, after the fall of Saigon I was under house arrest in Saigon for a time then, was kicked out to Thailand, then home to England. I made my way to Christiania in search of peace and found much more - too much to write here. I stayed for a year then went to work with refugees in Bangladesh for a couple of years then, in India for a few more years. It was a fantastic time for me encouraging and motivating the birth of the great ''peace agencies'' such as War on Want and GreenPeace. Now, a bit older, I have my memories. There should be more, very many more Christianias in this world.
Mike
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Posted by Sunshine on 2005-11-06 00:38:51
My Score:
Comment: Hey there everyone! Well I lived in Denmark for almost a year, between August 2004 and May 2005, as a foreign student. Christiania was like no place on Earth and I spent almost every day there, hanging out with the people, talking and smoking with them, shopping and cooking with them-everything. They were the nicest, most open people I have ever met, and it finally felt like I had found home. But unfortunately, Christiana has been officially shut down now by the Danish government. This has been a long, drawn out battle between the Christiania people and the Danish citizens who have always been jealous of the tax-free, hippie lifestyle of the Christianians (Danes pay almost 25% in various forms of real estate and sales taxes). The community was scheduled for demolition in the Spring, and I am not sure when exactly it took place, but the free society of Christiana is no more. I know that everyone is as heart-broken as I am, but maybe there will be another Christiania that will emerge from this struggle? Perhaps a bigger and better utopian society? Hopefully someone can make it happen!
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Posted by J.H. on 2005-08-10 05:29:30
My Score:
Comment: I have just got back from a pilgrimage to visit Christiania which I had been planning for a year.
During my stay I took a collection of photos in the "free city" and they can be seen at my webpage:
http://www.community.webshots.com/user/joannahruby
It was a moving experience walking around Christiania at last, although I have to sadly update this webpage with the most recent news; two weeks before I arrived, at the beginning of June, the Danish government finally ordered the closure of all hash stalls in Pusher Street and hordes of police moved in to remove them. The age of carefree toking in sunny Christiania seems to be over.
Since then, the police have been assigned to ''parade'' uncomfortably through the main areas on a daily basis to make sure no stalls reappear and to eradicate hash use (they''re either being unsuccessful in the latter or just very slack). Subsequently the inhabitants of Christiania have imposed a very strict ban on photography in the area of Pusher Street - on previous occasions tourists'' cameras have been confiscated and photos examined to try and identify people still selling drugs and prosecute them.
Many people say that the atmosphere in Christiania has actually improved since the police invasion, people are visiting to appreciate more than just the dope, and there was a buzz of creativity in the streets and a determination to overcome the current political opression. The amount of concerts, performances and festivals taking place and advertised for this coming summer was astounding, so there has never been a better time to join the plethora of very passionate people in Copenhagen and Denmark who are determined to fight for the preservation of Christiania. I''m sure the story is far from over.
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Posted by Airyn on 2005-07-11 00:36:40
My Score:
Comment: My first time in Christiania was 5 years ago. I though it was great! It had a very relaxed laid back atmosphere. I found it to be rather reserved in comparison to Amsterdam in which pushers wander the streets and nearly harass you to buy their hard drugs - of which the Christiania ''council'' is against - but not against herb. Christiania was always hopping and there was a great diverse crowd of people there. It was very chilled out and the closest to a modern day Utopia that you can get.
I returned last year and found that the Christiania was dead. The streets were nearly empty. Shop owners weren''t as busy. And this all lead to a dodgey feeling to the place. It was rather depressing to find out that the government wants to expell this area of freedom loving and peaceful inhabitants. I left the place so disheartened and I only hope that the powers that be realize what a disaster they have done. :-(
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Posted by ZIlozybin on 2005-06-26 01:02:30
My Score:
Comment: Do they no longer sell hash and weed in christiania?
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Posted by Sheila on 2005-05-23 20:06:58
My Score:
Comment: I was lucky enough to spend time in Copenhagen back in ''94. I met a man - Rene Pedersen - on the street in town who essentially became a guide for me, through the microcosmic Christiania. The experience was life-changing. It''s true that I fell in love that summer with Rene - but part of that was falling in love, also, with the lifestyle I got to peek into: Christiania. I found this site while trying to research the Freetown, having recently chatted with a friend of a friend who spent time in Scandinavia a few months ago. Although he was mainly in Sweden, he did visit Christiania: he said that everything there has changed. Now, I don''t think he was ever there before, but he did say that a traveling partner who had been in Copenhagen in ''95 or so also thought Christiania was completely different now. No vending areas with blocks of various colors, no little skunk baggies spread out and no stray dog problem. Did he go where I went, years ago? What''s the deal? I don''t understand politics much and so I had no response when this dude explained to me how something occurred after a big change in power, with governmental power taken away from the liberals in Parliament - as though this one-time commune has suddenly turned all kinds of commercial corporate conservative or something. I loved my Christiania experience, the "town" seemed like an idyllic place to live, for certain people of Denmark, and possibly, for certain others who could bring skills to the community. I wonder how the community is faring, despite that I am not part of it and probably don''t deserve to know what''s going on, anyway.
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Posted by Colonel Forbin on 2005-04-03 18:50:56
My Score:
Comment: I visited Christiania in 1998. Wonderful, but ripe for attack by greed obsessed "conservatives" who wish to develop the land for profit and greed. After all, the people in Christiania are not nearly as "productive" as people who use nuclear weapons to terrorize the world. America started out much like Christiania, but now it wants to export greed and hatred throughout the world. Beware of conservatives. They propose that they only want "progress" but instead they only want to loot other people''s lands for profit. That''s their definition of "progress." Fight them at every turn.
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Posted by Nader on 2004-12-30 06:06:56
My Score:
Comment: i went to denmark from the US just for a 9 days visit but when i went to christiania it''s like i found heaven so i rented a place next to the christiania and i spent 6 wonderfull months over there so plz do whatever it takes to keep this place and god bless us all thank you
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Posted by Sabrina on 2004-12-23 22:56:52
My Score:
Comment: I haven''t been to Christiania but have followed english news for a few years now. My interest in the city is to visit and work with/help create an english media awareness of what is going on, as well as document the historical importance of the free town. Can anyone point me to a contact who would facilitate these goals?
--Sabrina Gogol
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Posted by Dr.Ras Hafeez on 2004-11-10 16:51:49
My Score:
Comment: Culture requires preservation. Without it, we lose our identities and our values. Its a shame that some individuals believe this can be bought and replaced as wished. However, I strongly believe that with undefiable strength and determination , the people of Christiania will prevail.
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Posted by Sharon on 2004-10-07 15:48:05
My Score:
Comment: In my opinion, there should be more places like Christiania, not fewer. It is a haven for people of all cultures, all socio-economic levels, all religions... all human beings, not to mention the many dogs, to commune together in a non-judgmental and peaceful way. Can there be anything more needed in the world today?! Who are those people hurting besides the wallets of the greedy developers who want to profit from it? I will say a prayer for Christiania every day, that it may not only continue to exist, but spread throughout the world.
Sharon (US citizen)
Visitor to Copenhagen twice
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Posted by on 2003-08-23 01:24:03
My Score:
Comment: If Christiania no longer exhists (intact), I have no reason to visit Denmark. If something isn''t broken, don''t fix it!
The world needs small scale social experiments; how else can we otherwise hope to understand what is optimal,or even possible,.. God knows we haven''t found it with conventional methods.
Dr. Marc A. Deckard
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Posted by Nubia on 2002-02-10 07:44:37
My Score:
Comment: I actually live in Denmark and just wanted to say that Christiania is really such a paradise anymore. They sold out of their belivies and what they wanted to do with the world. The are almost as bourgeuis as the rest of Denmark. :(
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