What TorvehallerneKBH is known for

Copenhagen's produce market since the 19th century, the site became a car park in 1958 before architect Hans Peter Hagens revived it as two glass-roofed halls in 2011. More than 100,000 locals shop its 100-plus stalls each week.

The site Torvehallerne occupies has been a food market for longer than the current glass-hall buildings suggest. By the late 19th century it had formalized into Grønttorv, Copenhagen's central wholesale produce market, supplying the city's kitchens well into the 20th century — until the market declined after the Second World War and the site was paved over as a car park in 1958, sitting empty of any culinary use for four decades.

Architect Hans Peter Hagens first proposed reviving it as a market in 1997, drawing partial inspiration from Moorish market architecture, and after years of planning and negotiation with the city, the current Torvehallerne opened at Israels Plads, next to Nørreport Station, in September 2011. Hagens designed two adjoining glass-roofed halls — glass chosen specifically to pull daylight in through the dark Danish winter — with raw concrete walls referencing the old market sheds and warm oak counters softening the industrial materials.

More than 100,000 Copenhagen residents now pass through its stalls each week, buying from more than 100 vendors selling smørrebrød, fresh seafood, artisan cheese, Nordic chocolate, coffee and wine. It's Copenhagen's first purpose-built central food hall — not a renovated market, but one designed from scratch to replace the wholesale trade it stands on.