A Unique Glimpse of Everyday Life in Copenhagen (1910–1920) | Colorized & Restored

Step into the streets of early 20th-century Copenhagen — a city alive with energy, tradition, and transformation. This restored and colorized film offers a rare, intimate look at everyday life between 1910 and 1920, where children play in sailor suits, street vendors sell meat from open stalls, and elegant pedestrians tip their hats to the camera.

We see Copenhageners going about their day: waiting at tram crossings on Rådhuspladsen, crowding around street performers, or heading to Østerbro Stadion during the annual city festival. But beneath the surface of ordinary life, the city is changing. A massive steam excavator bites into the remnants of Øster Vold to make way for the new Boulevard Line, while Politiken’s Anker Kirkeby stands at the edge of the future, tossing a newspaper into the construction pit.

We witness moments of drama — like the 1915 fire at Hotel d’Angleterre on Kongens Nytorv, where citizens gather to watch as firefighters try to tame the flames — and moments of leisure, as people board the brig Tjalfe for a sail on Øresund, waving from the deck as the ship glides past Trekroner Fort.

Shoppers pass by the now-demolished butcher stalls near Nikolaj Kirke, once the city’s primary meat market. Around them, bicycles, carts, and early automobiles share the cobblestone streets, painting a vivid picture of a city both familiar and distant.

🖌️ All footage has been digitally restored, colorized using AI, and interpolated to 60 fps — not to modernize the past, but to help us feel closer to it.

📽️ Original video source: Danish Film Institute / Dansk Filminstitut