ABOUT DRAGØR
Dragør was a prosperous maritime town in the latter half of the 18th century, and its charming waterfront is still in use. Today, Dragør is known as the place where the “happiest Danes” live.
Dragør, on the southeast coast of the island of Amager, is only 12 km from central Copenhagen. Together with the neighboring village of Store Magleby, it forms a separate urban area with a population of 12,309 (1 January 2020).
Dragør has many well-preserved historic buildings. The old part of the city is a compact, picturesque labyrinth of alleys with yellow-painted houses, red roofs and cobbled streets built in traditional Danish style. Many of these buildings are hundreds of years old.
Dragør's location has favored fishing and shipping, which until this century has been the city's livelihood, and which is the reason why a city has arisen in this place at all.
Dragørlejets was from approx. 1350 trading place for herring where the king granted the first privileges of trade on the spot. The herring fishery in particular, which every autumn attracted up to 30,000 foreign merchants, fishermen and many from the surrounding area, was of great importance for the further development of Dragørlejet. When the herring trade ceased about years 1500, the first houses were built near the coast. It was especially fishermen who settled on the site. At the same time, the area was formally handed over to immigrant Dutch who had settled in Store Magleby.
