Historieporten: 50 places in Hvidovre and Brøndby

Update, 19 Aug: 10 klistermærker, pavement stickers, now to be found, five in each kommune

Historieporten, a new exhibition koncept from Forstadsmuseet, finally opened on 27 June (article; FB & again) in one of the gatehouses at Avedøre Lejre. It’s Danish scale, consisting of a display of 50 postcards of points of interest (POIs) in Forstadtmuseet’s empire and not much else. The original plan was to open in February 2020 (FB); several postcards were presented via video or as FB posts during spring 2020 instead.

Concept: pick a postcard and take it with you to your chosen POI. Here you can read a short summary of what you are looking at and scan a QR code for more. This text can be found on Forstadmuseet’s website, accessible from thumbnails of all 50 postcards.

the Historieporten postcard display

Drawbacks:

• the postcards are quite big, not fitting in a standard pocket; worse: they are too big to be used as a bookmark
• the photos are of variable quality
• who scans QR codes anyway?
• the website thumbnails can be sorted alphabetically or by age, but not by area, eg Avedøre, Brøndby Strand, Hvidovre
• no keywording or owt
• a map would be nice, also on the postcards themselves, as not all spots are easy to find, or offer much even if located; see esp Paradislejren

I’m familiar with most of the spots, but some are new to me, and some obvious POIs are strangely missing.

Example: De gamle Stuer

• at Gammel Køge Landevej 599, opposite the airfield and just squeezing into Hvidovre, it seems; now a private house (ie there’s nothing to see)
• text on the postcard: “At the beginning of the 20th century several small restaurants (dansk: traktørsted) could be found on Gammel Køge Landevej. One of these became known for its decoration, omelettes and homely atmosphere. Guests ranged from ordinary soldiers to royalty.”
• text on the website: lengthy (not least because it is repeated) and not written in web style, ie poor readibility; surely too long to be mobile-friendly; no link back to Historieporten and hence does not appear to have been written specifically for this purpose
• of note:
  • De gamle Stuer (“The Old Parlours”) opened in 1915 as Strandholm Bad; a 1950 postcard shows the later name; closed in 1970
  • offered access to the sea via a 400m long wooden pier and a homespun museum, expanded to 10K objects by the new owners after 1950
  • the omelette recipe appeared in a German cookbook in ?, with a picture
• more: vid; more & again, latest; pics: 1949, 2018; 2023 story

Verdict: 3/5; acceptable rehash of existing material; several of the spots are rather underwhelming

De gamle Stuer

Note: Forstadmuseet, the museum of the suburbs, covers Hvidovre and Brøndby kommuner, two suburban districts to the southwest of Copenhagen