Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Thursday
Culture ministry wants more statues of women, film about Kærshovedgård expulsion centre set for premiere, Copenhagen apartment sales still slow and more news from Denmark on Thursday.
Culture ministry wants more statues of women
The Ministry of Culture is to appoint a committee to produce an outline of significant female figures in Danish history and make recommendations for statues of them.
The ministry said in a statement that only one in ten statues in Denmark currently depicts women, and it wants to redress this.
“The numbers almost speak for themselves,” Minister of Culture Jakob Engel-Schmidt said in the statement.
“Only 31 out of 321 busts and statues in city spaces are of women and in Copenhagen there are more statues of mythical beasts than women,” he continued.
“As minister, I want to use my voice to recognise and pay tribute to the many women in Danish history,” he said.
READ ALSO: The people and stories behind some of Denmark's common street names
Vocabulary: fabeldyr – mythical creature
Copenhagen real estate agents have slow start to 2024
New data from real estate media Boligsiden show the slowdown in house sales in Copenhagen has continued into the third month of the year.
The introduction of a new property tax, effective from January 1st, acted as an incentive to many buyers to complete their purchases before the end of last year.
At the start of March, the number of apartments for sale had fallen by 2.5 percent over a month, to 3,601.
“We have seen a general decline in the apartment market in 2024, which was also expected due to the property tax changes,” Boligsiden’s economist Birgit Daetz told news wire Ritzau.
“The changes have meant higher property tax for owner-occupied flats, especially in the capital area, which has led to a drop in prices, fewer transactions and fewer flats for sale,” she said.
Vocabulary: mindre travlt – less busy
Documentary on Kærshovedgård departure centre set for premiere
Documentary film The Painter’s Room, which follows rejected asylum seekers at Denmark’s Kærshovedgård ‘expulsion centre’, is set to premiere today at the Malaga film festival.
The 23-minute documentary short film is the first time a film crew has been given access to the facility, and is the first film about the controversial centre.
READ ALSO: The middle of nowhere: Inside Denmark’s Kærshovedgård deportation camp (2018)
The film’s Spanish director, Maria Colomer, told The Local the film is “about showing the face and the name of who is there, so when the Danish audience hears about Kærshovedgård, they can imagine who lives there when we talk about this place”.
She also told us authorities at the centre became increasingly unhappy with the film crew’s presence.
Look out for our interview with Colomer in a separate article on our website today.
Vocabulary: udrejsecenter – departure / expulsion centre
Copenhagen-Hamburg trains affected by German rail strike
Travellers planning a trip from Denmark to Germany this weekend could find their journeys disrupted with German rail workers now on strike.
A strike on the German rail system began at 2am on Thursday and will continue until 1pm on Friday.
The strike will mean that international connections between Copenhagen and Hamburg will be cancelled during the period, Danish rail operator DSB states on its website.
While services in Germany are expected to resume at 1pm on Friday, it is currently unclear whether connections to Denmark will return to normal immediately.
DSB has given passengers the option of exchanging their tickets or getting a refund.
Vocabulary: passagerer – passengers
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Culture ministry wants more statues of women
The Ministry of Culture is to appoint a committee to produce an outline of significant female figures in Danish history and make recommendations for statues of them.
The ministry said in a statement that only one in ten statues in Denmark currently depicts women, and it wants to redress this.
“The numbers almost speak for themselves,” Minister of Culture Jakob Engel-Schmidt said in the statement.
“Only 31 out of 321 busts and statues in city spaces are of women and in Copenhagen there are more statues of mythical beasts than women,” he continued.
“As minister, I want to use my voice to recognise and pay tribute to the many women in Danish history,” he said.
READ ALSO: The people and stories behind some of Denmark's common street names
Vocabulary: fabeldyr – mythical creature
Copenhagen real estate agents have slow start to 2024
New data from real estate media Boligsiden show the slowdown in house sales in Copenhagen has continued into the third month of the year.
The introduction of a new property tax, effective from January 1st, acted as an incentive to many buyers to complete their purchases before the end of last year.
At the start of March, the number of apartments for sale had fallen by 2.5 percent over a month, to 3,601.
“We have seen a general decline in the apartment market in 2024, which was also expected due to the property tax changes,” Boligsiden’s economist Birgit Daetz told news wire Ritzau.
“The changes have meant higher property tax for owner-occupied flats, especially in the capital area, which has led to a drop in prices, fewer transactions and fewer flats for sale,” she said.
Vocabulary: mindre travlt – less busy
Documentary on Kærshovedgård departure centre set for premiere
Documentary film The Painter’s Room, which follows rejected asylum seekers at Denmark’s Kærshovedgård ‘expulsion centre’, is set to premiere today at the Malaga film festival.
The 23-minute documentary short film is the first time a film crew has been given access to the facility, and is the first film about the controversial centre.
READ ALSO: The middle of nowhere: Inside Denmark’s Kærshovedgård deportation camp (2018)
The film’s Spanish director, Maria Colomer, told The Local the film is “about showing the face and the name of who is there, so when the Danish audience hears about Kærshovedgård, they can imagine who lives there when we talk about this place”.
She also told us authorities at the centre became increasingly unhappy with the film crew’s presence.
Look out for our interview with Colomer in a separate article on our website today.
Vocabulary: udrejsecenter – departure / expulsion centre
Copenhagen-Hamburg trains affected by German rail strike
Travellers planning a trip from Denmark to Germany this weekend could find their journeys disrupted with German rail workers now on strike.
A strike on the German rail system began at 2am on Thursday and will continue until 1pm on Friday.
The strike will mean that international connections between Copenhagen and Hamburg will be cancelled during the period, Danish rail operator DSB states on its website.
While services in Germany are expected to resume at 1pm on Friday, it is currently unclear whether connections to Denmark will return to normal immediately.
DSB has given passengers the option of exchanging their tickets or getting a refund.
Vocabulary: passagerer – passengers
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