One in a series of parks which were laid out on the grounds of the old fortification ring after it was decommissioned in the 1870s, the park still retains elements from the old fortifications in its topography—a section of the moat now serve as an elongated lake and former bastions appear in the landscape as small hills.

The City Council adopted a plan for the redevelopment of the area in 1872 which resulted in three new parks—Ørstedsparken, the no longer existing Aborreparken and Østre Anlæg—as well as the relocation of University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden a few years later.

Gardener and landscape architect Henrik August Flindt was charged with the design and construction began in 1876.

The wrought iron bridge which today crosses the lake, originally spanned the gap created with the demolition of the Northern City Gate in 1857.

It was designed by Jens Adolf Jerichau and erected in 1876, when work on the park just started.

At the foot of the statue sit the three Norns or goddesses of destiny in Norse mythology, Urðr (the past) who is noting the past, and Ørsted's name, on a tablet, Verðandi (the present), who with her distaff is spinning the thread of fate, and Skuld (the future), who is silently awaiting the fullness of time with a rune stick in her hand.