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Denmark
First off, Louisiana isn't located in Copenhagen, but it's a quick and easy train ride away.
Artists featured include Picasso, Lichtenstein, Calder, Moore, Warhol and Rauschenberg. The building itself will satisfy architect buffs and the grounds, with green, grassy hills sloping into the Orestund Strait are gorgeous. Sit outside and sip wine or coffee and Dane-watch (they're a good-looking bunch).
Museum website: www.louisiana.dk/dk/Service+Menu+Right/English
A wonderful building with a fabulous courtyard which has a history of the chair as a permanent exhibition (not as dull as it sounds) with a lot of Arne Jacobsen alongside Kaare Klint.
Oh, and it has the best museum cafe I have ever eaten in.
Bredgade 68
1260 København K
Phone 33 18 56 56
kunstindustrimuseet.dk
If you liked Rosenborg Palace in Copenhagen you'll like Frederiksborg even more because it's in the same Danish Renaissance style (toy soldier castle) but even bigger. Like most royal things in Denmark it was originally built for Christian IV (about the time of our Charles I) but suffered a disastrous fire in the 19th century. It was then restored to its original appearance by the brewing family of Jacobsen (of Carlsberg fame) and since then has been the Danish Museum of National History.
Its interiors are magnificent and show a range of works of art, including the national portrait collection. Beautiful gardens outside.
Hillerod, a short train and bus ride from Copenhagen. S-tog lines A or E. Buses nos 701 or 702 from Hillerod station. www.frederiksborgmuseet.dk
Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770 - 1844) was a neoclassical sculptor and gained a huge reputation during his lifetime. He is justly celebrated in Denmark and this museum is well worth a visit, especially if you like Wedgwood blue Jasper ware - his work is of that kind. Thorvaldsen, like some other Scandinavian sculptors, such as Gustav Vigeland at Frogner Park in Oslo, was never knowingly understated, and there are some huge and ungainly pieces here. But the best of his work is elegant, cool and fresh. At his own wish, Thorvaldsen himself is buried in the museum's rose garden but you may not want to know that.
Bertel Thorvaldsens Plads 2, Copenhagen. Closed Mondays.
www.thorvaldsensmuseum.dk Buses 1A, 2A, 15, 26, 29. S train or Metro to Norreport.
This is a small public gallery showing paintings and some sculpture in a former private house (often the best way to show art collections) and concentrates largely on Danish work of the 18th and 19th centuries.
If you like landscape, interiors and small genre painting, this is a good place to visit. The house is around the back of the main national gallery and across a small park.
Stockholmsgade 20. Metro stop Norreport. Buses 6A, 14, 40 and many others (check bus stop signs). www.hirschsprung.de
Interesting exhibits and videos, wonderful interior. Designed by Daniel Libeskind.
By the Royal Library
Copenhagen is a truly wonderful city, if a little windy in winter.
One of my visits was during a weekend in mid-December 2001. The streets were hectic with Christmas shoppers; my work colleagues went to Tivoli (which was just an entertainment park, where everything was overkill; the lights, the stands, the kitschy gifts).
In an anti-shopping mood, I seeked out a quiet spot, and visited The State Museum of Art, a memorable building with both historical and modern art exhibitions. I went in around 11.00 and was finished around 13.00 o'clock, just when the crowds started to arrive.
Then I sat down for lunch in a tastefully designed cafe, and enjoyed pale winter sun that came in through magnificent high windows...a quiet winter bliss in the midst of the shopping craze. Highly recommended.
Don’t go to Copenhagen without checking out Louisiana art museum. It’s a great building in a beautiful setting to the north of the city. It has a good permanent collection and usually interesting exhibitions too. Don’t miss it!
You can take the train very easily...it’s only about 20mins away. Can’t remember the name of the station but it’s easy to find out.
Easily the best museum in Copenhagen, bursting with history, the Royal Theatre Museum is located among the Parliament buildings behind Christian IV's Stock Exchange. Check out the opening days and hours, which are generally limited to Wednesday and Saturday afternoons because of fire risk. It also tends to be closed for periods of renovation. The last wooden theatre in Europe, the theatre (which is still in use) contains posters from Ibsen premieres as well as of more recent performances.
Here, as cool baroque music plays, you can imagine the last doomed waltz of Queen Caroline Mathilde, sister of George III of England, with her dashing lover, Count Struensee, the German-born Prime Minister and moderniser of the Danish government. They returned after their last tryst to their rooms by secret tunnels, only to be arrested in the middle of the night. Struensee was sentenced to death for lese-majeste. His right hand was chopped off before he was brutally executed. The barbarity of his death shocked the Europe of his time. Caroline, married to an elderly, mad King Frederik, bore Struensee's child. She was "deported" to North Germany, where she died of a broken heart at only 22.
Get there early to soak up the atmosphere and avoid the crowds, although only theatre aficionados seem to head for this unmissable jewel.
Tucked away in the Danish Parliament buildings.
Excellent art museum whose collection includes all the bronze sculptures of Degas, many paintings and sculptures by Gauguin, and the excellent Classical Roman Collection including the bust of Pompey the Great (55 BC). Well worth a visit.
Dantes Plads 7 1556 København V.
A fairytale castle from 1607 in the heart of town in the King's Gardens (Kongens Have). Houses the crown jewels and crown regalia in the basement and the rest is a museum telling the story of the Kings of Denmark over 300 years.
A great museum letting you get close to the exhibits.
Located in Kongens Have. 65 kroner for adults. 20 kroner for kids aged 5-14. www.rosenborgslot.dk
Hemingway, upon recieving his Nobel Prize, admitted that the lady should have won. Karen Blixen. Out of Africa.
Visit her home and grounds north of Copenhagen.
It's a lovely, personal museum in honour of a much-loved writer and personality.
Combine it with a trip to Louisiana and Kronborg (Hamlet's castle). They're all on the same rail line.
www.karen-blixen.dk/engelsk/default.html
You've read the play, now see the castle! This was Hamlet's gaff and even though it's not the same castle it's still cool to go home and say you saw Hamlet's castle, isn't it? 200,000 people a year think so. A lovely day trip with the train along the north coast. Combine it with a visit to the world-renowned art gallery Louisiana.
Elsinore is Helsingør in Danish and it's a good 45 min. north of Copenhagen on the train. But the views are great - from the train and the castle.
A few brave souls refused to accept Denmark's official cooperation with the Germans and this museum is about their struggle. While the rest of the country sighed and accepted it these men acted. A moving tribute.
Located in Churchillparken near the harbour and the Little Mermaid.
www.nationalmuseet.dk/sw10155.asp
The name says it all. The guardian of all things old in the name of the state. Great exhibitions, both permanent and temporary. The definitive museum for the discerning museum-goer.
Ny Vestergade 10 - A short walk from the Town Hall Square.
50 kroner for adults. Children under 16 free.
Open 10-17. Closed Mondays.
Tel: (+45) 33 13 44 11
www.nationalmuseet.dk/sw20374.asp
Copenhagen’s City Museum is a cosy place, much like the city it represents. It gives you a great impression of the city’s 1000 year evolution from fishing village to thriving European capital.
Kids love the huge model of the city in the old days and there is something for everyone inside. The building itself – former home of the Royal Shooting Club – is impressive. Check out the little Søren Kierkegaard exhibition.
20 kroner for adults, kids under 14 free.
Open 10-16. Closed Tuesdays.
Vesterbrogade 59 – five minutes from the Central Station.
www.bymuseum.dk/uk/default.asp
A stone's throw from the town hall square, the Danish Design Centre showcases all that is hot in Danish design. There's always an exhibition on and their shop is guaranteed to tickle your fancy with its wealth of cutting edge design wares.
Entree: 40 kroner (20 for students)
H.C. Andersens Boulevard 27. Just south of the Town Hall.
Tel +45 3369 3369
www.ddc.dk/
From outside it's a big, impressive old building. But it's what's inside that counts.
The Town Hall is beautiful and church-like inside. Check out the Wedding Rooms - the murals on the walls are worthy of a religious building. But this is where Copenhageners get hitched in secular fashion. Show up on Saturday and witness the atmosphere in the waiting area. It's magic. Hey, why not sneak in with a large wedding party? Nobody will notice. My wife and I are still wondering who those two ladies in all our wedding photos are.
The Town Hall is, not suprisingly, located on the Town Hall Square or Rådhuspladsen.
One of the best-kept secrets in town is the cafe atop the Post and Telegraf Museum. A stunning view of town and light, traditional Danish courses for lunch. Loads of blue-haired, sophisticated ladies, but that’s part of the charm.
Café Hovedtelegrafen
Købmagergade 37, 5th floor
Use the elevator at the back of the museum
Tel: (+45) 33 41 09 86
Many of the suggestions on this page are child-friendly. Nevertheless it’s worth mentioning that Copenhagen has more than 60 museums. Everything from the National Museum to smaller-scale ventures like the Danish School Museum and the Museum of Customs and Taxes.
If I mine the pits of my personal experience I’ll always recommend the Royal Danish Arsenal Museum. Soldiers and sailors, cannons and guns. They put a lot of effort into events that kids love. Demonstrating how cannons work or jousting knights or naval fighting techniques. Very child-friendly.
Called Tøjhusmuseet in Danish, the museum is located on Tøjhusgade, which is right next to Christiansborg castle, which houses the Danish parliament.
Tøjhusgade 3
Tel: (+45) 33 11 60 37
www.thm.dk/intro/eng_ny.htm
Price: Adults 40 kroner. Kids 0-15 get in free.
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