Tivoli Gardens

Tivoli Gardens is a famous amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on August 15, 1843 and is the second oldest amusement park in the world. With 3.963 million visitors in 2011, Tivoli is the second most popular seasonal theme park in the world, the most visited theme park in Scandinavia and the third most visited in Europe, only behind Disneyland Paris and Europa-Park Rust.

The amusement park was first called "Tivoli & Vauxhall"; "Tivoli" alluding to the Jardin de Tivoli in Paris and "Vauxhall" alluding to the Vauxhall Gardens in London. Tivoli's founder, Georg Carstensen, obtained a five-year charter to create Tivoli by telling King Christian VIII that "when the people are amusing themselves, they do not think about politics". The monarch granted Carstensen use of roughly 61,000 m² of the fortified glacis outside Vesterport for an annual rent. Therefore, until the 1850s, Tivoli was outside the city, accessible through Vesterport.

From the very start, Tivoli included a variety of attractions: buildings in the exotic style of an imaginary Orient: a theatre, band stands, restaurants and cafés, flower gardens, and mechanical amusement rides such as a merry-go-round and a primitive scenic railway. After dark, coloured lamps illuminated the gardens. On certain evenings, specially designed fireworks could be seen reflected in Tivoli's lake.

Composer Hans Christian Lumbye was Tivoli's musical director from 1843 to 1872. The Tivoli Symphony Orchestra still performs many of his works. In 1874, Chinese style Pantomime Theatre took the place of an older smaller theatre. The audience stands in the open, the stage being inside the building. The theatre's "curtain" is a mechanical peacock's tail. The absence of spoken dialogue is an advantage, as Tivoli is now an international tourist attraction. 

The park is best known for its wooden roller coaster, Rutschebanen, or as some people call it, Bjergbanen (the Mountain Coaster). It is one of world's oldest wooden roller coasters that is still operating today. An operator controls the ride by braking down the hills so it won't gain too much speed. Another roller coaster, Dæmonen (The Demon), features an Immelmann loop, a loop, and a Zero-G roll all during the ride time of just one minute and forty six seconds. Dæmonen is situated next to the concert hall. The world's tallest carousel, The Star Flyer, opened in Tivoli in 2006. Eighty meters high and built by the Austrian company Funtime, it offers panoramic views of the city. On 1 May 2009 Tivoli opened the new ride Vertigo, a looping plane ride where the rider pilots the ride, able to control the plane.

Besides the rides, Tivoli Gardens also serve as a venue for various performing arts and as an active part of the cultural scene in Copenhagen. Tivoli Concert Hall is a classical concert hall featuring concerts with some of the largest names in international classical music. In 2005 the concert hall saw a major renovation and extension where the main auditorium was restored, while visitor facilities were upgraded and expanded. These include a new gardenside foyer with a two-story bar and lounge and Europe's longest saltwater aquarium in the basement.

During the warmer summer months, Tivoli also features a live music series dubbed Fredagsrock ( Friday Rock ), which in the past has featured Roxette, the Smashing Pumpkins, Sting, the Beach Boys, Pet Shop Boys, Kanye West and popular Danish groups such as TV-2, Nephew, Hanne Boel, Raveonettes and Thomas Helmig. During Copenhagen Jazz Festival Tivoli Gardens is one of the many Copenhagen localities that serves as a venue for concerts.

Source of description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tivoli_Gardens wikipedia

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Price definition of price normal : 95.00 child : 0.00 (age <7) youth : 95.00 (age 7<) student : 95.00 (age <26)
Geographical coordinates 55.6736110, 12.5683330
Address 1630 Copenhagen, Vesterbrogade 3
More information official website

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