Queer Places:
Garnisons Kirkegård, Dag Hammarskjölds Allé 10, 2100 København, Denmark

Agnes Flemmine Nyrop (November 21, 1841 - June 19, 1903) was born on November 21, 1841, in Aarhus, Denmark, and passed away on June 19, 1903, in Skodsborg. She was a prominent Danish actress at the Royal Theatre, born to theater director Hans Wilhelm Lange and actress Juliane Marie Michaelsen. Immersed in the theatrical world from her youth, Nyrop built a successful stage career, performing in various productions and establishing herself as a respected figure in Danish theater during the latter half of the 19th century. In her personal life, she married Jens Larsen Nyrop (1831–1904), a former opera singer at the Royal Theatre.

By the mid-1880s, the couple decided to dissolve their marriage, providing a detailed window into 19th-century Danish legal and administrative processes for divorce. Having prepared meticulously—likely with the assistance of a lawyer—Agnes and Jens coauthored a formal application dated January 14, 1885, stating that "little by little we have reached the persuasion that matrimonial cohabitation between us is an impossibility because of the incompatibility of our tempers and therefore apply for separation with regards to table and bed." Following the required legal steps for administrative separation, they completed mandatory clerical mediation with vicar Schepelern, who noted the futility of reconciliation in a brief statement added a week later. They also submitted a comprehensive plan regarding their shared property, debts, and the custody of their three children: their sixteen-year-old son, Michael, was to stay with Agnes, while their two daughters, fifteen-year-old Ida and eleven-year-old Margrethe, were to live with Jens. Following a brief and undramatic appearance at the office of public administration, their separation was granted immediately without any spousal support obligations assigned to either party.

Agnes Nyrop holds a notable place in literary history through her connection to author Vilhelmine Zahle. As a young person, Zahle harbored a deep, stormy infatuation and romantic devotion to the older Nyrop, who served as a formative inspiration for Zahle's life and creative work. Zahle later revealed that the main character, Martha Grüner, in her pioneering 1890 queer-themed novella collection Vildsomme Veje ("Also a Love Story"—widely recognized as the first explicit depiction of same-sex female desire in Danish literature) was partly autobiographical and directly mirrored her passionate feelings for Nyrop. Following Nyrop's death in June 1903, Zahle wrote an obituary-style tribute detailing her intense youthful infatuation, and years later, while walking with her own daughter, pointed out Nyrop in passing with the remark, "Look, Gertrud, there goes your mother's first love."

Agnes Nyrop was originally buried at Garnisons Kirkegård (Garrison Cemetery) in Copenhagen, though that grave site has since been decommissioned/dissolved (nedlagt).

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