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 – a wooden 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.

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is located in the center of Copenhagen and the museum collection consists primarily of Danish and French art work of the 19th century and archaeological artefacts from ancient Egypt, the Greek and Roman impires, and from the Middle Eastern cultures. Art and beer Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek was founded by the brewer, Carl Jacobsen (the founder of Carlsberg breweries), who was one of the great industrial magnates of the 19th century and the greatest art patron Denmark has seen. In 1888 Carl Jacobsen gave his art collection to the public and began the building of the Glyptoteket. Glyptoteket has been open to the public since 1897 and holds over 10,000 works, primarily divided between ancient antiquities and Danish and French sculpture and paintings from the 19th century. The collection The collection of ancient sculptures includes an extensive collection of Ancient Greek and Roman portrait heads as well as a large collection of Palmyrene portraits. The modern part of the collection includes French sculptures from the 19th century – featuring a significant selection of works by Auguste Rodin – and French paintings from 1800 to 1950, with Impressionism and Paul Gauguin as the absolute stars, plus a collection of Danish Golden Age Art. The main proportion of the collection is part of the museum’s permanent exhibitions, though there are, also, temporary special exhibitions which help to develop a perspective on the museum’s collection with the aid of works on loan. The Winter Garden, café and roof terraceUnwind from the daily grind at the café overlooking the beautiful and spacious Winter Garden. Picnic is open on the same days as the museum itself. They serve tasty light lunches, desserts, coffee and other beverages. Visit the roof terrace of the Glyptotek and experience a beautiful view of Copenhagen and the city towers. Every summer, the museum café serves cold drinks, snacks, coffee and cake for you to enjoy in open air.  

When the present Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen was constructed, the National Museum took care to excavate and protect the ruins of the Palace's oldest predecessors, Bishop Absalon's Castle of 1167 and Copenhagen Castle that replaced it. Christiansborg stands out as it houses both Denmark's current political center and the remnants of the country's main medieval castle, all under one roof. Revealed by accident When casting the foundations of the present Christiansborg Palace, workers struck upon the ruins of older buildings and the remnants of a curtain wall. Experts were called in from the National Museum, and a close inspection revealed that the ruins dated back as far as 1167.What they had come upon was Bishop Absalon's Castle, once situated on a tiny island off the what is now known as Copenhagen. Walking around this underground site, you will get an idea of how the castle was continually renewed and developed. The later castle and the infamous Blue Tower The Copenhagen Castle, built on the same site, was surrounded by a moat and had a large tower as an entrance gate. The castle was rebuilt several times. King Christian IV added a spire to the tower, the infamous Blue Tower, where only prominent prisoners of state were kept.In the 1720s, King Frederik IV entirely rebuilt the castle, but as a result of this total reconstruction, the walls had become so heavy they started to give way and to crack. King Christian VI, Frederik IV's successor, soon realised the necessity of demolishing the old castle and erecting a new one on the site. This new castle was to be the first Christiansborg Palace.

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 legend, had their base during the Iron Age and the Viking Age in Denmark (500-1000 AD). Lejre Museum reopened with a brand new exhibition in March 2016. The exhibition combines digital installations and archaeological treasure findings, which gives a unique historical experience. The legend has it 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 can actively seek information about the monuments and the excavations in the area surrounding the museum. In the third theme, you find the museum's archaeological treasures from the area – the world-renowned Odin-statue, the Gevninge find and Denmark's largest silver treasure, Mannerupskatten. Lejre Museum also has a cosy bookstore and gift shop, where you can immerse yourself in the ancient myths while you enjoy a delicious cup of organic coffee.

The Workers Museum in Copenhagen invites you to step into everyday life of Copenhageners in the 1950's. HOME TO YOUR HISTORY The Workers Museums is located at the Workers Assembly Hall, built in 1879. The building includes the impressive Banquet Hall and the former Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning's office. Experience everyday life of the 1950s and taste chocolate biscuit cake and chicory coffee. Visit the Sørensens family who moved to Copenhagen in 1885 and explore the development of industrial work. Step into everyday life of working class children in "The Workers Museums for Children".  Enjoy a lunch in the Café & Øl-Halle "1892", the only listed basement restaurant in Copenhagen.  The Banquet Hall The Banquet Hall is the heart of the old Workers’ Assembly Building, which dates from 1879. It features an abundance of decorations and artistic details – testament to the pride of the countless different trades and craftsmen who used the building on Rømersgade. The Banquet Hall formed the setting for innumerable meetings, political discussions, congresses and parties, and here thousands of workers became accustomed to participating in democracy and civic life. In 2021, the Banquet Hall underwent major refurbishment.Come and enjoy this beautiful hall, filled from floor to balcony with a myriad of stories. Explore the life that went on in the hall across the years, visit the museum’s exhibitions and experience the unique sound and light installation. The 1950's The decade when Denmark bid farewell to war and deprivation and when working-class families joined the ranks of consumers. After the 2. World War there was still lack of many goods and they were still rationed by the use of coupons which characterized life for the working class. However, during the decade the families slowly earned more and consumerism emerged heavily influenced by the United States. The exhibition takes you to the worker family’s apartment where the growing wealth is shown, as well as taking you down the street where lack of goods from the war and post-war is slowly replaced with a larger supply. The Children’s Workers Museum Through games and using their senses children can experience how it was to be a working-class child generations ago. Playing at the Kids’ Workers Museum, our youngest visitors can experience and imagine the life of working-class children around 1930. Both children and adults can listen to the story of the working-class boy Thorvald, who went on to become Denmark’s longest serving prime minister. Kids visiting the museum can try working as a delivery boy or girl in the grocer’s shop, sort bottles at the brewery, or use a typewriter in the union office. They can also dress up in a sailor’s suit, dance at the dance school, play in a 1930s flat, or visit the pawnbroker and see if they can get a few pennies for an old coat.  

Go underground and experience the Danish World War II resistance fight up close. In the dark, shadowy streets of the occupation period, you'll meet five historical figures. Each has chosen a side, and now everyone must face the consequences. Dive into acts of sabotage, produce illegal newspapers, crack codes and intercept telephone calls.  See how Danes had to choose between whether they wanted to join the resistance, collaborate with the Germans - or try to continue with their everyday lives. The Museum of Danish Resistance is about the men and women who chose to resist the occupation and shows why that decision wasn’t always black and white. The museum is located at the Citadel and is within walking distance from The Little Mermaid, Amalienborg Palace and Frederik’s Church (Marmorkirken). Go underground in the German-occupied Denmark of the 1940s and experience the Danish resistance fight. In the shadowy streets of the occupation, you will meet five historical people, who each in their own way chose a side during the harsh resistance fight during World War II. You will gain a unique insight into their difficult choices and dilemmas. You can have a go at printing illegal magazines, intercept phone calls and break the Germans’ Enigma code. It is possible to buy a guide book, which goes even deeper down into history about the resistance fight and the occupation during World War II.

Take a walk through Danish war history from the 1500s until today, and explore the treasure trove of artefacts from samurai swords and suits of armour to ship models and modern drones. The Danish War Museum offers a powerful look into Denmark’s military history and the wars it has fought and, mostly, lost. The museum focuses on how these conflicts have shaped the past and the present of Denmark – both geographically and culturally. From multiple wars with neighbouring Sweden and Germany, clashes with the might of the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, to modern days deployments to the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, the history of Denmark is in large part shaped by these conflicts. Visiting the museum, you’ll get a look at not only the weapons of war but also the reasons behind their use and the effects of the centuries of violence. The Danish War Museum is located in King Christian IVs historic arsenal on Slotsholmen in the heart of Copenhagen.

On the edge of Copenhagen Harbour sits The Black Diamond as a beacon of culture. The Black Diamond is Royal Danish Library's cultural centre in Copenhagen with lots of exhibitions all year round. Storytelling, sensuous experiences and unique objects set the mind in motion when visiting exhibitions in The Black Diamond. With cultural heritage as an inexhaustible reservoir, everything from Søren Kierkegaard to contemporary art is staged, with particular emphasis on literature and photography. Exhibitions 2025:Between Heaven and Earth – Magic books, alchemy and occult photographyFor as long as humans have existed, we have had a desire to understand the incomprehensible – from ancient alchemists and ritual phenomena to today's spiritualists and scientists. This year's major exhibition invites you into the most magical and mythical parts of our cultural history. Discover disease-curing spell books, occult photographs, alchemical experiments, love-inducing divinations, tales of fantastic beings, mystical manifestations and many other magical artefacts. Opens 19.06.2. The World around UsIn The Black Diamond's new collection exhibition, we turn our gaze towards the landscape and everything that surrounds us. The exhibition takes us on a journey through the last 200 years of photographic history and focuses on how we have depicted and understood land and city through photography – from the romantic landscape photography of the 19th century to the Industrialisation's enthusiasm for cities and buildings to the climate challenges of today. Opens 19.11.25. Treasures in the Royal Danish Library An exhibition with library's most precious, beautiful, significant, and valuable treasures. From the oldest of manuscripts to the Internet's ever increasing digital cultural heritage. Explore gems from the collections of science, philosophy, cartography, music, and much more – or take a peek into the lives of a number of prominent Danes by reading Søren Kierkegaard's letter to his fiancé, Karen Blixen's own manuscript, or Hans Christian Andersen's diary. Permanent exhibition.On the 12/12 the opening hours are from 10:00 - 14:00. Special feature on Sundays and public holidays Visit The Old Reading Room The atmospheric reading room in the original part of Royal Danish Library on Slotsholmen in Copenhagen is called The Old Reading Room. The reading room has remained virtually original since its inauguration in 1906 and is a true architectural gem. On Sundays, anyone interested can visit the reading room and experience its very special atmosphere. Visit to The Old Reading Room is included in the exhibition ticket and with a Copenhagen Card. Please note that only students and researchers have access to the library Monday to Saturday.  

Experience the history of Roskilde, once one of the most powerful cities in northern Europe and a religious epicentre in the medieval ages. Follow the traces of the past and meet the people who once lived here. It is the story of an unusual city that has put its clear marks on Denmark as we know it today.  At Roskilde Museum in the heart of one of Denmark’s most historical and culturally rich cities you can get a closer look on the pre-Christian times in Denmark, you can get to know the mysterious double Viking grave from Gerdrup, the story of the rise of a powerful catholic church in the Middle ages – and you can grasp the modern Roskilde. Join us on a journey, which takes its start before the foundation of the city in approximately 980 before Christ, experience the unique Ely book where ‘Roskilde’ was mentioned for the first time in history a 1000 years ago, and go through our special exhibition about trash and recycling in the contemporary city. AMAZING ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDINGS The exhibitions in Roskilde Museum contain many amazing objects found in excavations in and around the city of Roskilde. Ranging from the full skeleton of a prehistoric auroch and the mysterious tomb of Gerdrup to medieval silvercoins, chesspieces and weapons, and so much more! 

The exhibition at the Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen is a broad presentation of Jewish life in Denmark through the past 400 years, and is a selection from the museum's own collection. The world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind's characteristic architecture will, in an almost labyrinthine manner, lead you into the enthralling universe of Danish Jewish culture. The exhibition interior was put together in close dialogue with Daniel Libeskind's architecture, which is reminiscent of the famous Jewish Museum in Berlin. Mitzvah - A good deed The focal point of Daniel Libeskind's architecture, as he has based his design of the museum on, is the unique circumstance of Danish-Jewish history that the majority of Danish Jews were saved from Nazi persecution by their Danish compatriots during the Second World War. The emblem and concept of the museum interior is the Hebrew word 'Mitzvah', which can be translated as an obligation or a good deed. The word 'Mitzvah' represents the generally positive Jewish experience in Denmark and the special experience of being saved. The Hebrew letters spelling Mitzvah is also the museum's logo. At the museum you get to experience different events, films and guided tours. All exhibitions include texts in both Danish and English..

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. 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 artefacts such as 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 a religious or symbolic meaning—now unclear to us—or were simply gifts for visitors. You will also see 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 contains 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. 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.

Peder Skram was in service of the Royal Danish Navy from 1966-1988. Peder Skram was the first large warship in the world to use a combination of gas turbines and diesel engines for propulsion. It could reach a speed of approximately 30 knots (55 km or 34 mph) using gas turbines. In case of war, the frigate was a heavily armed flagship in the defense of the Baltic coast of Germany and the Danish islands against a naval invasion from the Warsaw Pact. The coordination of Operation Hurricane, large-scale air raids, and missile attacks on hostile landing forces, was to be coordinated from the combat information center of Peder Skram. Onboard the frigate you can experience the life of Danish naval personnel during the Cold War. You can witness how the 200 crew members of a navy flagship lived and worked every day. You can visit different stations: the combat information center, engine room, galley, bridge and even the gun turret.