The old Mill

Today, on top of the rampart, one can still see the remains of an old mill - Lille Mølle (Little Mill). When the trees are not completely covered with leaves, it is possible to see the mill from Ravelinen.

The mill was built c. 1800, but before then there was a post mill situated on top of the rampart. At that time the ramparts were surrounded by fresh air, as there were not yet built any tall buildings on Christianshavn. Nor did trees grow on the ramparts - as they do today. To build a mill on top of the rampart and to make use of the windpower therefore seemed obvious. In 1890, the mill was used for the last time, and in 1897, the wings of the mill were removed. Unfortunately, the top of the mill was lost as well and instead the mill got the flat roof that you see today. Here ends the story of the mill. Fortunately, the remains of the mill and the mill farm still exist.

Until 1918, the mill was used for some time by the military to store straw. In 1918 the active engineer from Southern Jutland, E.F. Bundgaard, took over and rearranged the house in order to use it as his private residence as well as a factory to manufacture his apparatuses and instruments. When the engineer and his wife passed away, the whole lot - including the complete interior of Bundgaard's residence - was left by will to the National Museum. The residence is still waiting to be opened as a small and intimate museum - just like the National Museum's Victorian apartment which is situated in the centre of the city. Today the mill and the mill farm are protected properties and owned by the National Museum. Actually, the mill farm is used as official residence of the Keeper of the National Antiquities, who is the chief executive of the National Museum. In 1889, the mill had a much more dominating neighbour - Christianshavn Gasworks - a beautiful gasometer in the stile of the one used as theatre on Østerbro today. The gasometer was designed by Ludvig Fenger and was pulled down in 1948. Too bad, one might say. In the same area there once used to be a potter's field. Peter Olesen, journalist and writer