Yuri Gagarin i Danmark ENG

Follow the route of the great Soviet cosmonaut using an interactive map prepared on the basis of the program of Yuri Gagarin's visit to Denmark

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prepared by the Russian Embassy in Denmark

Yuri GAGARIN'S VISIT TO DENMARK

September 5-11, 1962

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Copenhagen

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September 5, 1962 / Lufthavnsboulevarden 6, 2770 KastrupAt noon on September 5, 1962, the plane with Yuri Gagarin on board landed at the Kastrup airport. In the Danish capital, he was met by the USSR Ambassador to Denmark K. Levychkin, members of various Danish-Soviet associations, official representatives of the Eastern Bloc countries, as well as ordinary Danes who welcomed the cosmonaut to their homeland

September 5,1962 / Kristianiagade 5, 2100 KøbenhavnAfter a solemn meeting at the airport, Yuri Gagarin went to the USSR Embassy, where the first conference of the Soviet hero took place. This is how the correspondent of the Politiken newspaper described his impression of the meeting with Yuri Gagarin: “A light and friendly, trustworthy person with impressive abilities. Possessing a quick and sharp mind, he laughs easily and rejoices at every opportunity to develop the situation in a humorous way." The Danish journalists also noted the famous "childish" smile of the Soviet cosmonaut.

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September 6, 1962 / RefshaleøenThe cosmonaut visited the Burmeister & Wein shipbuilding company, where he met with the director N. Munk: in "fluent Russian" he greeted Yuri Gagarin and said that at that moment the company was working on three ships for the USSR.The cosmonaut played football with the employees of the company.

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September 6, 1962 / Amalienborg Slotsplads 5, 1257 København KYuri and Valentina Gagarins visited the Amalienborg Palace, where they met with the royal couple and heir to the throne, now the reigning queen Margrethe II

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September 6, 1962 / Rådhuspladsen 1, 1550 KøbenhavnThe next place visited by the cosmonaut was the Copenhagen City Hall, where the chairman of the municipal board H. Stjernkvist greeted Yuri Gagarin with the following words: “This is an outstanding example of humanity's aspiration - with tremendous personal courage - to challenge what has not yet been experienced. Mr. Gagarin, I greet you as one of the greatest heroes of all mankind! "

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September 6, 1962 / H. C. Andersens Blvd. 35, 1553 KøbenhavnIn the evening Yuri Gagarin attended a Russian festival organized by the Copenhagen Student Community. The cosmonaut's speec about, inter alia, the achievements of Soviet science in the field of space exploration, was highly appreciated: "An excellent and lively report on the history of space research and the possibilities that they give," Danish jornalists wrote. The audience appreciated Yuri Gagarin's speech as well. According to the journalists present at the meeting, "he was awarded with deafening applause that no one else could have received."

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September 7, 1962 / Gladsaxevej 200, 2860 SøborgYuri Gagarin visited the Gladsaxe stadium, where he attended the sports congress of Danish schoolchildren.One of the participants in the event, Birta Laursen, presented him with flowers, and in return received an astronaut's badge.

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September 7, 1962 / Gamle Carlsberg Vej 11, 1799 KøbenhavnThe Soviet cosmonaut was welcomed everywhere with cordiality: the Carlsberg Brewery was no exception. According to the testimony of correspondents, as in many other places, visiting Carlsberg Yury Gagarin shook hundreds of hands and signed many autographs: one of them is still kept in the company's museum.

September 7, 1962 / Prins Jørgens Gård 5, 1218 KøbenhavnIn the evening, Yuri Gagarin was invited to dinner with the Prime Minister of Denmark Jens Otto Krag at Christiansborg Castle.In the photo, Yuri Gagarin's wife Valentina and Jens Otto Krag

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September 8-9, 1962 / Vesterbrogade 3, 1630 København VIt was not only business meetings that Yuri Gagarin attended in Copenhagen: an extensive cultural program was also prepared for the cosmonaut. Among other things, he visited the oldest operating amusement park in Europe Tivoli, the museum of the outstanding Danish sculptor Thorvaldsen, as well as the Freedom Museum dedicated to the Danish resistance movement.

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September 8-9, 1962 / Langelinie, 2100 København Ø The Soviet cosmonaut also visited, perhaps, the most famous Copenhagen's landmark - the statue of the Little Mermaid. The character of the fairy tale written by Hans Chrictian Andersen, as the correspondent of the Politiken newspaper ironically remarked, became the only woman in Copenhagen who did not give flowers to Yuri Gagarin.

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September 10, 1962 / OdenseAfter Copenhagen, Yuri Gagarin accompanied by his wife, employees of the Soviet Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, went to the city where H.C. Andersen was born. There, the cosmonaut was asked if he believed in UFOs and was invited to attend a local theater production based on the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky. Yuri Gagarin was touched by the warm welcome he received in Odense.

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September 10, 1962 / SlagelseThe astronaut was also moved by one of the many gifts he received in Slagelse while he was on the way back from Odense to Copenhagen. A.P. Botved, the head of the largest European boat manufacturing company of that time, presented Yuri Gagarin with a high-speed boat. The cosmonaut said that he would call it "Friendship" and would definitely ride it along the Volga.

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Looking at remaining newspaper materials, eyewitness accounts as well as at photographs depicting Yuri Gagarin in the company of the Danes who greeted him, one can feel the solemnity, admiration and warmth with which the inhabitants of the Kingdom greeted the Soviet cosmonaut.