Copenhagen has not one zero point but four. Road distances to the capital were traditionally measured to its old city gates, and when the gates were gone, stone markers called nulpunktssten were set up where they had stood: at City Hall Square, at Østerport, at Nørreport and at the end of Torvegade in Christianshavn. They are easy to walk past, yet they quietly record the shape of the fortified city.
The zero stones at a glance
- Where: four sites in central Copenhagen; the best known are on City Hall Square (the old Vesterport) and on Oslo Plads opposite Østerport Station.
- Created: the Østerport stone was set up in 1925, after the city gates had been pulled down in the 1850s.
- By: architect P.V. Jensen-Klint, who also designed the kilometre stones on the main Danish roads.
- What it is today: a set of modest stone markers that remind passers-by where Copenhagen's gates once stood.
- Time needed: 5–10 minutes at each stone; longer if you combine them with the squares around them.
From city gates to zero points
Until the middle of the 19th century Copenhagen was a walled city, and anyone arriving by road came in through one of its gates. Each gate served a direction: Vesterport for traffic from the west and south, Østerport for the roads from the north, Nørreport for the road from Frederikssund, and Amagerport for the island of Amager. Distances on the roads were naturally counted to these gates, so a milestone saying how far it was to Copenhagen really meant how far it was to the gate you would enter by.
The ramparts and gates were demolished in the 1850s and the city spread out over the old defence zone, but the habit of measuring stayed. The zero points were fixed at the former gate sites, and in the 1920s they were marked with stones designed by P.V. Jensen-Klint, the architect best known for Grundtvig's Church. Today City Hall Square, built on the site of Vesterport, is the zero point for roads from the south and west, such as those from Korsør and Rødby, while the stone at Østerport serves the roads from Helsingør and Hillerød. Railway distances follow a different system and are generally measured from Copenhagen Central Station.
What to look for
- The zero stone on City Hall Square, a small marker that is easy to miss among the fountains, statues and bus stops of Copenhagen's main square.
- The stone on Oslo Plads, a simple stone pillar opposite Østerport Station, from which distances to towns in North Zealand are measured.
- The Dragon Fountain on City Hall Square, inaugurated in 1904, showing a bull fighting a dragon, by Thorvald Bindesbøll and Joakim Skovgaard.
- The Lur Blowers column, about 20 metres tall, with two bronze musicians blowing Bronze Age horns, made by Siegfried Wagner between 1911 and 1913.
- The gilded weather girls on the Richs building at the corner of the square: a girl on a bicycle comes out in fine weather, a girl with an umbrella and a dog when it rains.
A city that measures itself
Most capitals have a single kilometre zero, like the medallion in front of Notre-Dame in Paris. Copenhagen's four stones are a reminder that the city was once entered through four gates, each facing a different part of the country. Standing on City Hall Square, you are on the spot where travellers from the west once queued at Vesterport to be let in.
Tips for your visit
- Look for the City Hall Square stone in the morning, before the square fills with buses, buskers and tour groups.
- If you want to see two stones, walk from City Hall Square along Strøget and up to Nørreport, then continue to Østerport; the route traces the line of the old city walls.
- Look up at the weather girls before you leave City Hall Square: they tell you whether to expect sun or rain.
- The squares around the stones are busy traffic hubs, so stay on the pavement when you stop for a photo.
Nearby
- Copenhagen City Hall: Martin Nyrop's red-brick city hall, inaugurated in 1905 and inspired by the town hall in Siena, right on the square.
- Tivoli Gardens: the historic amusement park, just across H.C. Andersens Boulevard from the square.
- Strøget: the long pedestrian shopping street that starts at City Hall Square and runs to Kongens Nytorv.
- Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek: the art museum with a palm-filled winter garden, a few minutes south of the square.
See Copenhagen with World City Trail
Our Copenhagen scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops and takes around 3 hours, with about 48 minutes of walking. It includes City Hall, Copenhagen Cathedral and the Round Tower.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Copenhagen.
Play the Copenhagen scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Copenhagen →
Play the outdoor escape game in Copenhagen →
Facts checked in October 2026.