Jacob Fortling

Jacob Fortling (23 December 1711 – 16 July 1761) was a German-Danish sculptor, architect and industrialist, described as one of the most industrious people in the Denmark of his day.

Just outside Copenhagen, on Amager's east coast, he founded Kastrup Værk, a large industrial facility combining a lime plant, a brickyard and a pottery.

He trained as a mason and stone carver and came to Denmark to work on the many large Royal building projects under King Christian VI, collaborating with sculptors such as Jacques Saly and Simon Carl Stanley.

In search of good quality stone, he made two journeys to Norway which was ruled by the Danish King and supplied many of the minerals used in the building industry in Denmark at that time.

In Denmark, Fortling established a limestone quarry on Saltholm, an island in Øresund off the coast of Amager, and opened a lime plant at Kastrup Værk, with its own harbour on an artificial peninsula in 1749.