This Copenhagen icon may be torn down

The multi-coloured Palads movie theatre in central Copenhagen may be torn down to make way for new high-rise buildings.

Published: 31 January 2017 09:37 CET

The Palads building has housed a cineplex since 1918 and has had its pastel facade since 1989. Photo: Torben Christensen/Scanpix

Home to Denmark’s largest film complex since 1918, Palads is best known for its pastel facade painted by Danish artist Poul Gernes in 1989.

But the iconic building next to Vesterport Station would be torn down under a plan being considered by the City of Copenhagen. The city’s environmental and technical affairs committee will weigh in on the proposal on Monday.

The development is backed by rail operator DSB and an unknown investor. Under the plan, the subterranean train tracks at Vesterport would be covered and topped by 81,000 sqm of new development, including hotel and conference space, new homes, a new movie theatre and a supermarket.

The proposed development. Illustration: Werk Architects

Nordisk Film Biografer, which owns Palads, has backed the plan but many cultural experts have said that it would be a mistake to tear down the iconic theatre.

“It would be a complete tragedy to tear it down. It is a monument with huge cultural and artistic value and there is nothing else of the same format in our urban space,” Louisiana museum curator Anders Kold told Politiken.

A group of local residents calling themselves Tivolis Venner (Tivoli’s Friends, referring to the nearby historic amusement park) are also against the plan.

“I just get so sad. Why do we need to look like all other big cities? In just a few years Copenhagen has been characterized by a development toward even larger constructions. This plan is misplaced, too much and too stereotypical,” spokesman Peter Holst Eriksen told Politiken.

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Bonuses on the new “CopenPay” scheme include a kayak or boat tour, a vegetarian meal, a museum ticket, or an e-bicycle ride — free of charge.

Why does the city want to give away these freebies?

“It is a core task for us to make travelling sustainable. And we will only succeed if we bridge the large gap between the visitors’ desire to act sustainably and their actual behaviour”, tourism board CEO Mikkel Aaro-Hansen said.

The public’s reaction has been “overwhelmingly positive”, although some disappointed visitors “would have liked the scheme to be in place during their stay,” Copenhagen tourism office communications director Rikke Holm Petersen told news agency AFP.

Although the tourist board says it wants the scheme to change behaviour to a more eco-friendly approach, it admits the initiative alone cannot dent the environmental impact of tourism.

More than 100,000 passengers flew into Copenhagen in June, resulting in a much higher carbon footprint than bus or train travel, according to airport data.

“The environmental burden of transportation to and from Copenhagen is much more significant than that of local transportation,” said tourism website VisitCopenhagen.

“We have chosen to limit our advertising efforts to Copenhagen Airport, the central station, and within the city itself, rather than conducting marketing campaigns abroad,” Petersen said.

The tourism office will consider extending the scheme beyond the city — perhaps even abroad — if it proves successful.

“We hope to reintroduce CopenPay as a year-round, green payment experience within the economy and broaden the concept to other parts of Denmark and the rest of the world,” according to the VisitCopenhagen site.