Stork Fountain (Storkespringvandet), Amagertorv

A royal gift in the heart of old Copenhagen

The Stork Fountain stands at the center of Amagertorv, one of Copenhagen’s oldest squares and the natural crossroads of the Strøget pedestrian shopping streets. Unveiled in 1894, the bronze fountain was commissioned as a silver‑wedding anniversary present for Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Louise, underlining the square’s status as a prestigious civic space. Its sculptors, Edvard Petersen and Vilhelm Bissen, created a piece that was both decorative and symbolic, linked to ideas of renewal, family and good fortune. The square around the fountain has served as a marketplace since the Middle Ages, once filled with farmers from nearby Amager selling produce to city dwellers. Today, instead of carts and stalls, you are ringed by ornate gabled houses, polished shopfronts and flagships of Danish design, yet the fountain still acts as the square’s focal point, much as a well or market cross might have done centuries ago.

Graceful storks and playful details

Look closely at the fountain and you notice how light and movement are built into the sculpture. Three long‑legged storks appear to pause on the rim of the upper basin, wings slightly raised as if about to lift into the air. Below them, frogs spit arcs of water into a lower pool, softening the bronze with ripples and reflections. Depending on the wind, you may feel a faint scatter of spray drift across the cobblestones. The choice of storks was not accidental. In Nordic tradition the bird is associated with happiness, fidelity and the arrival of new life. Water trickling over feathered bodies and webbed feet adds another layer of symbolism, tying the sculpture to ideas of fertility and flowing abundance. Around the basin, the stepped stone plinth doubles as an informal perch, where shoppers and sightseers pause with ice creams, coffees or shopping bags to watch the life of the square.

From marketplace to pedestrian showpiece

Amagertorv’s surroundings help explain why the Stork Fountain feels so central to Copenhagen’s identity. The square sits roughly midway along Strøget, which links the Town Hall Square with Kongens Nytorv and is often described as one of Europe’s longest pedestrian shopping streets. Historic townhouses and later 19th‑century façades have been carefully restored, giving the scene a layered, almost theatrical backdrop. Within a few steps of the fountain you find some of the city’s best‑known retail names, including the Royal Copenhagen porcelain flagship store and the Georg Jensen design house. Their elegant window displays, together with neighbouring cafés and department stores, mean the fountain is rarely isolated; it is framed by window‑shoppers, street musicians, tour groups and commuters cutting through the square on their daily routines.

Traditions, protests and midwives’ dances

Over more than a century the fountain has played many roles beyond decoration. In the early 20th century it became an occasional focus for demonstrations and youthful pranks, with the basins at times dyed bright colours or filled with unexpected contents. For Copenhageners, these episodes added an element of urban folklore and humour to an otherwise formal monument. Since 1950, the sculpture has been connected to a more joyful custom: newly graduated midwives gather here to dance around the fountain in celebration. The tradition ties the stork motif back to its association with childbirth, transforming the bronze birds from decorative figures into heralds of professional pride and new beginnings. Encountering such a celebration, you may find the usually composed square filled with laughter, flowers and the rustle of white uniforms.

Experiencing the fountain through the day

Your experience of the Stork Fountain shifts with the rhythm of the city. On bright mornings, the bronze catches the light and the water sparkles against the pale stone of surrounding buildings. By midday, the square is at its liveliest, a swirl of shoppers, buskers and bicycles threading the nearby streets. Later, as evening sets in, shop lights and nearby cafés lend the fountain a softer glow, making it a photogenic spot for twilight shots of the historic skyline. Because the fountain stands in an open public square, there are no barriers or tickets and you can approach from any direction. Benches and steps nearby invite you to linger, tracing the details of wings and beaks or simply watching how locals use the space: arranging meetings, crossing the square with grocery bags, or pausing to check their phones beside this enduring piece of civic sculpture.