page_title: Frederiksberg Allé
section_title: An entertainment area
hierarchical_section_title: Frederiksberg Allé / History / An entertainment area
caption_attribution_description: English: A painting from the entertainment establishment Sommerlyst at Frederiksberg Allé in 1869.
context_page_description: Frederiksberg Allé is a tree-lined avenue which runs through the southernmost part of the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It connects Vesterbrogade at Værnedamsvej to Frederiksberg Runddel in front of the main entrance to Federiksberg Gardens. It was originally constructed in 1704 as the king's private road leading to his new summer residence, Frederiksberg Palace. It developed into the backbone of an entertainment district in the mid 18th century, and has continued to be associated with theatres until the present day. The avenue is lined with two double rows of linden trees and bisects Sankt Thomas Plads, a small round plaza, shortly after its departure from Vesterbrogade.
context_section_description: The area outside Frederiksberg Palace gardens had thrived as a fashionable destination for excursions ever since the construction of the palace in the first decade of the 18th century. When Frederiksberg Allé, as well as the palace gardens were opened to the public, and Copenhagen's fortifications were decommissioned, allowing for more robust constructions outside the city, numerous pleasure gardens and entertainment establishments sprung up along the street. One of the most popular places was Sommerlyst, a large pleasure garden which opened in 1834 at the end of Frederiksberg Allé. It had pavilions, flower beds, a merry-go-round, ferris wheels and a bandstand.
  Further down the street. Georg Carstensen, after leaving Tivoli Gardens which he had founded in 1843, opened a large entertainment complex in Moorish style named Alhambra in 1857. It contained the largest concert hall in Copenhagen which seated 2,000. It was never a success and the buildings were torn down in 1870. Another concert hall, Odeon, which opened the same year as Alhambra, was converted into the Frederiksberg Entertainment Theatre in 1869. Sommerlyst's old main building was torn down in 1855 and replaced with a larger one which contained a theatre and concert space. It was designed by H. C. Stilling who had also worked for Tivoli and Alhambra.
  Other popular venues were Valhalla, Schweizer Pavillon, Sankt Thomas and Rosenfryd. They all combined dining with female singers and various other forms of entertainment. Located in one of the former country houses, Sankt Thomas had an anatomic museum and waxworks in a lateral wing, and in 1897 added sports to the palette of entertainment when Magnus Bech-Olsen became a world champion in wrestling by defeating the Turkish Sultan's court wrestler.
caption: The Sommerlyst establishment in 1869
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