In Copenhagen, Christiania—a commune born from rebellion—now faces mounting pressures that could force it to choose between its radical ideals and survival.
This is 99% invisible.
I'm Roman Mars.
In the year 1623, Christian IV, King of Denmark and Norway, built a long series of moats and ramparts just across from central Copenhagen on the eastern edge of the city's harbor.
For much of the 17th century, the fortification protected the city from Swedish invasion.
In the early 19th century, the Danish government added artillery barracks.
And in the 20th century, they filled in the surrounding swamps to make room for a modern military base, even as the rest of Copenhagen grew around it.
That is, until 1971, when the sprawling fortress in the center of the city transformed into something else entirely.
And it started off with the kids who had of course, been wondering what goes on in there.
They saw the soldiers coming in and out, they heard the military music, but they were never allowed to go in there.
John Bang Carlsson was in his early 20s when he moved to Copenhagen from his conservative home in the Danish countryside.
And he says the symbolism of a military base in the heart of the country's capital was not lost on him and his friends.
That's reporter Scott Gurion.
The base's walls represented authority, repression, pretty much everything.
Denmark's younger generation had come to Copenhagen to escape.
But in 1971, the Danish defense Ministry decided they no longer needed the base and they closed it for good.
So suddenly, when one morning we see all the soldiers marching out of there, you know, see all the vehicles leave, the military vehicles leave and they don't close the door.
John speaking figuratively, technically, the doors were locked.
But people living nearby realized they could break in and no one would stop them.
Somehow the army, the big, big father figure, had kind of died in our middle, in the middle of the city, right?
And we could just crawl over the walls and like two weeks before, we would have been shot if we did the same thing.