Copenhagen

Denmark

Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark, on the island of Zealand beside the Øresund strait. Tradition dates its founding to the fortress built by Bishop Absalon in 1167, and by the early 15th century it had become the royal capital. The University of Copenhagen, inaugurated in 1479 under Catholic auspices, was reshaped after Denmark adopted the Lutheran Reformation in 1536. The city has been home to notable figures in science and thought: the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) spent almost his entire life there, and in 1921 Niels Bohr founded the university's Institute for Theoretical Physics, now the Niels Bohr Institute.