Experience runestones, stand face to face with bog bodies, see The Golden Horns, be inspired by the suit worn by the first Dane in space and see an original hash stall from Freetown Christiania. The National Museum tells the history of Denmark from the earliest settlements to the life today.  Iconic treasures of Danish history Experience world-famous highlights with a starring role in Danish history. Runestones, The Golden Horns, the suit worn by the first Dane in space and the hash stall from Freetown Christiania that has become a symbol of Danish liberal-mindedness. 'THE VIKING SORCERESS' Meet the powerful sorceress of the Viking Age at the National Museum’s spectacular exhibition. Step inside the mystical universe of the Vikings and unravel their complex relationship to their own age and the future. The Children’s Museum Here you are invited to play and touch everything in sight! Join a raid in the Viking ship, discover a backyard of the 1930s or enter a classroom of the past and experience what school was like for the great-grandparents of Danes. Board the cargo ship and settle down in the berth in the cabin, or explore a Pakistani market and buy food in the bazaar. You can also cook in a Medieval kitchen, or prepare the knights’ castle for defense against enemy attacks. Special exhibition: The roots of Christmas, 15/11/24-5/1/25 (Ritzau.dk) The exhibition The Roots of Christmas is a total experience taking you into different Christmas universes. In the first you find yourself in a gigantic Advent calendar where the windows of the National Museum have been transformed into 24 calendar doors. Behind the doors are old Christmas decorations that reveal surprising stories about Christmas past. In the next universe you arrive at a dark Danish farmyard on the night of Christmas. You are actually not meant to be out here, because the dark forces of nature are even more powerful at Christmas. Next stop is a forest a thousand years ago, where Vikings have just killed a pig as an offering to the gods. As you go through the exhibition you discover that Christmas is an age-old ritual full of surprises. The traditional Danish tale Peter’s Christmas has been a source of Christmas nostalgia since the 1800s, but Christmas has much deeper roots in Christianity and the pagan winter celebration Jól. Christmas was once a seasonal ritual connecting people, nature and the gods. It marked the transition to a new year and brought prosperity and fertility. Eat Nordic With clear references to classic lunch and local dishes, restaurant Smör serves new interpretations of Danish food. NB: The Museum is closed on the 24th, 25th and 31st of December. However, you are more than welcome to visit between 10-17 on the 1st of January.

The Viking Ships in Roskilde The Viking Ship Museum exhibits the five 1000-year-old original ship finds from the Viking Age (the Skuldelev Ships) as well as a fleet of sailing reconstructions. Several of these reconstructions and other Nordic boats are also available to sail in. You can also meet the craftsmen who keep up the traditions of the old maritime trades, and you can try your hand with axes, ropes and many other activities. The permanent exhibitions are focused on the five Skuldelev Ships. The goal of these exhibits is to tell the story of these ships and of the many Nordic maritime adventures during the Viking Age. The five original Viking ships stand majestically with the Roskilde Fjord as a living backdrop. With this view, it becomes easy to imagine how the merchant set off for distant shores with his goods, the warriors waved goodbye to their families before the voyage and the fisherman embarked on the fjord with the hope of returning with a good catch. Sailing trips on Roskilde Fjord - Climb on board! Board a Viking ship and get up close!The Museum is the only place in the world where you can experience seeing 1000-year-old Viking ships, and then go directly out to the Museum harbor, where the full-scale reconstructed Viking ships lie moored at the quayside. The Viking Ship Museum invites its guests to take part in unique sailing trips with either Viking ships or traditional Nordic boats, which are the descendants of the Vikings' ships. Viking ships were originally used for war, trading, fishing and transport during short every day trips or on longer voyages to foreign shores. We go sailing on Roskilde Fjord every day during the summer season and timeslots are posted and updated daily on our website. You buy your sailing ticket as an addition to your Copenhagen Card.  

Experience an architectural masterpiece, where 1000 years of Danish history and 40 kings and queens lies buried under beautifully decorated vaults and in dark crypts. The Cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  NOTE: Opening hours can vary. We kindly ask you to check the website. Venture on a time travel from the Middle Ages up until today. The cathedral’s long history and numerous chapels take you through 1000 years of Danish history and 800 years of European architectural history. This magnificent red brick Cathedral is a truly unique structure, and considered to be one of Denmark’s most important buildings. Its history can be traced as far back as the Viking king Harald ‘Bluetooth’. He is believed to have been buried on this site around 987. Construction of the present church began around 1200. The church is the first Gothic church buildings in Scandinavia built in bricks, and with its soaring arches and huge windows, it provides you with a fantastic impression of the Gothic idea of creating churches filled with light. With its many royal chapels, all built in their own distinctive architectural style, a visit to Roskilde Cathedral is a fascinating architectural odyssey. The royal family’s burial church In Roskilde Cathedral, 40 kings and queens lie buried in beautiful sarcophagi and coffins, from the Middle Ages until the present day. Get close to the woman behind the union of Denmark, Sweden and Norway Margrete I or Europe’s parents-in-law King Christian IX and Queen Louise. The sepulchral monument of the current Queen Margrethe II his already in place. As something unique, you can sit on the bench covering the monument until the death of the regent.      

HOW TO BECOME A COPENHAGENER Copenhagen is one of the world’s most livable cities. But who are the Copenhageners and what kind of city is Copenhagen? Begin your visit in Copenhagen at the Museum of Copenhagen, located in a beautiful, historical building right behind City Hall. You’ll be introduced to all the most important places and events in the history of the Danish capital. From the city of the Viking Age, through the building boom and plague, fires and bombings, to the free city of Christiania today. A vast array of unique, original exhibits bring the city and its people to life. Our interactive model gives you an overview of the entire city – perhaps you will end up as a Copenhagener yourself! THREE HIGHLIGHTS See the 600 years old shipwreck of a keel Examine an early edition of today’s Copenhageners’ favourite means of transport – the bicycle! Get an overview of the city on the Copenhagen Panorama with our large scale, interactive model. In a hurry? Se the highlights of the museum in just 30 minutes. CAFÉ & SHOP Find an original gift in our museum shop, which offers everything from postcards to handcrafted design or relax in the café or in the ‘hyggelige’ courtyard. Special Exhibition: The Local Business – Photos from Wong’s Takeaway to RC Dry Cleaners, 01 May. - 20 Oct. 2024 Copenhagen’s small businesses are often declared in danger of extinction as they battle to survive competition from chain stores and shopping centres. Photographer Ulf Svane and historian Mathias Kobberrød Rasmussen take us to the Copenhagen dog salon, jewellers, dry cleaners and other enterprises in the Danish capital to give us a snapshot of the businesses and their proprietors. Join us on a tour of a colourful world of charismatic retailers and a hotchpotch of style and local spirit far removed from the city’s department stores. The exhibition opens to the public on 1 May at the Museum of Copenhagen just behind Copenhagen City Hall (cphmuseum.kk.dk)

Museum for pop, rock and youth culture! See, hear and feel your way through the history of rhythmic music from 1950s rock'n'roll, through1980s pop culture to today's wild rhythms - and get an idea of tomorrow's music scene. But RAGNAROCK is more than a roller coaster ride in the colorful history of music. First and foremost you get the story of roaring youth generations that through different times creates its own culture, communicating globally through music and have huge impact on society. RAGNAROCK is also an exciting Exploratorium. Dance our way through history and find your favorite song. The café serves lunch, brunch, snack, coffee teas and much more. The walk from Roskilde station takes 15 minutes. Alternatively, you can take bus 202A from the station.  

According to written sources from the middle ages, it was in the area surrounding Lejre Museum, that the birth of the Danish realm took place. It is here, you find the first line of Danish kings, Skjoldungerne, who, according to the legend, had their base during the Iron Age and the Viking Age in Denmark (500-1000 A.C.). Lejre Museum reopened with a brand new exhibition in March 2016. The exhibition combines digital installations and archaeological treasure findings, which gives unique historical experience. The legend tells, that just outside the doors of Lejre Museum, in the beautiful, scenic landscape, lay the great castle of Skjoldungerne, who descended from King Skjold. Skjoldungerne were mythical kings, but archaeological findings in the area suggest, that Gl. Lejre was one of the most important centers in the Viking ages. The exhibition is divided into three general themes. The first presents the original sources – the written myths and the archaeological evidence. Here you can experience the legendary myths through sound, light, and film, and it is here, that you get an introduction to the history of Lejre. The second main theme is shaped like a big digital wall map, where you actively can seek information about the monuments and the excavations in the area surrounding the museum. In the third theme, you find the museums archaeological treasures from the area – the world-renowned Odin-statue, the Gevninge-finding and Denmarks largest silver treasure, Mannerupskatten. Lejre Museum also has a cosy bookstore and shop, where you can immerse yourself in the ancient myths while you enjoy a delicious cup of organic coffee.

Take a trip to Køge Museum and enjoy an experience you'll never forget. Køge Museum is located centrally in the town of Køge - just a few minutes' walk from Køge Station and Køge Torv - in the old merchant's house from 1619. In the museum's exhibitions, you can look forward to a journey through Køge's history. From the mighty Viking Age to the hunter-gatherer people of the Stone Age. It will be macabre, bloody, and morbid in the museum's new exhibition 'The Grave of the Seeress.' Also experience the museum's two permanent exhibitions 'Seeresses, Gold and Gods' and 'Gifts from the Past. Although Køge Museum is housed in a listed building dating to the 1600s, the museum’s Viking archaeologist bids you welcome in a Viking Age home. Here you’ll see rare things like five pillars from a house that only survived because they were reused in a bridge over nearby Tryggevælde River. Objects from excavations of a chieftain’s estate at the Toftegård settlement, located about 10 km south of Køge at Stevns, are exhibited in a posthole arrangement – the excavation of postholes is one of our main sources of knowledge about life in ancient times. You’ll see mysterious gold figurines, which either had some religious and symbolic meaning now unclear to us, or were just a gift for visitors. An arrowhead, perhaps deliberately left in a posthole when the house was built as an amulet to protect the house and its occupants against harm. Dirt and rubbish swept up over hundreds of years contain small pieces of glass, beads, pottery and chewed bones from a hearty meal – much the same as we might find today when cleaning up. Overall, the finds give a fascinating insight into how people lived in the Viking Age. The Museum reopened in the summer of 2015 with a completely new exibition format. When you're done, you can take a break in the museum's cozy courtyard - shielded from the noise of the city. Here, you can enjoy a cup of well-brewed coffee from the museum cafe while the kids play on the ship-themed playground.

Frederikssund Museum is Roskilde fjord's cultural history museum. Frederikssund Museum's new permanent exhibition deals with the interaction between man, life around the fjords and Frederikssund's history. Frederikssund Museum is located just above the Crown Prince Frederiks Bro at Hornsherred in the historic red building from 1893. In the late 1900s, the old Færgegård (ferry house) was used as a guesthouse, where there were both guest rooms, kitchen and utility room that was often rented to families with children who would like to experience the fjord and the scenic surroundings around the area. It is said that Mr. Lorentzen who was hiring out of the farm at that time was a nice man towards the children and were allowed to pick wild raspberries in the woods behind the farm.

Visit Vedbækfundene Museum and meet the hunter-gatherers who lived a tough and dangerous life 7000 years ago! At the museum Vedbækfundene you can experience unique finds from Danish prehistory. In our main exhibition a reconstruction of the life in the Stone Age Denmark, containing both graves and lifelike dioramas, will bring you back in time. The Special Exhibitions gives you the opportunity of meeting Jacob – a bog skeleton from the Iron Age, admiring beautiful neckpieces from the Bronze Age and much more. A young woman from Vedbaek, Denmark, buried with her newborn child who had been placed on the wing of a swan, 4000 BC.Vedbaek 'The swan's wing burial' Tomb 8 is the most famous of the burials, containing a young woman, who may have died in childbirth, and a premature baby. The archaeological finds are of international importance because it has given great insight into human life and society in Stone Age Northern Europe. It is possible to book a guided tour. Transport The Vedbæk Finds is included in COPENHAGEN CARD - DISCOVER, which also includes public transport in zone 1-99. To get to The Vedbæk Finds, you can take bus 150S from Nørreport (approx 25 minutes) to the stop "Øverødvej" and walk about 10 minutes to the museum.