Museum sights in Denmark
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Museumsø
On Museumsø, adjacent to the Viking Ship Hall and also part of the Viking Ship Museum, craftspeople use Viking-era techniques and tools to build replicas of Viking ships. Ottar, Roar Ege, Helge Ask and Kraka Fyr (reconstructions of Skuldelev 1, 3, 5 and 6 respectively) are moored in the harbour, where you can really appreciate their light, flexible designs.
In mid-2007 the largest Viking ship reconstruction ever sailed from Roskilde to Dublin. An incredible 340 trees went into the creation of Havhingsten fra Glendalough (based on the 60-oared warship Skuldelev 2), and the total labour totted up to 44,000 man hours. In mid-2008 it made its successful return to Roskilde: r…
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Ribe VikingeCenter
Embrace your inner Viking (well, leave aside the raping and pillaging part) at the Ribe VikingeCenter, a much more hands-on experience than the museum. It attempts to re-create a slice of life in Viking era Ribe using various reconstructions, including a 34m Fyrkat-style longhouse. The staff, dressed in period clothing, bake bread over open fires, demonstrate archery and Viking era crafts such as pottery and leatherwork, and offer falconry shows (at 1pm and 3pm in July and August, 12.30pm in May, June and September). All of which you can actively partake in (and you’ll no doubt learn more about Viking life than you could from a textbook). The centre is about 3km south of …
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Esbjerg Kunstmuseum
The Utzon-designed Musikhuset Esbjerg is home to the small but eye-opening modern art collection of Esbjerg Kunstmuseum, which has notable works by Richard Mortensen, Robert Jacobsen and Per Kirkeby – also look out for work from Svend Wiig Hansen (he of Mennesket ved Havet). In quite a magnificent display of openness (and a nod to restricted space), the Åbne Magasiner (Open Stores) downstairs allows you to look up and admire undisplayed works from the museum’s collection. The other benefit to a visit is that from the museum it’s easy to admire the angles and details (especially the mushroomlike columns) of the Utzons’ architectural prowess.
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Davids Samling
This jewel of a museum houses Scandinavia’s largest collection of Islamic art, including jewellery, ceramics and silk, and exquisite works such as an Egyptian rock crystal jug from AD 1000 and a 500-year-old Indian dagger inlaid with rubies. That’s all up on the 4th floor. On your way up, you can also spend a fruitful couple of hours taking in the museum’s fine Danish, English and French furniture and art from the 18th and 19th centuries. All of this was bequeathed to the museum by the barrister Christian Ludvig David, who died in 1960, and is maintained by his foundation. The museum is housed in his former home, a neoclassical mansion dating from 1806.
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Longboat Trips
If you've always had an urge to leap aboard a longboat for a spot of light pillaging, join one of the Viking Ship Museum's hour-long longboat trips. Traditional Nordic boats are propelled across the water by you and the rest of your shipmates.
In July and August, trips run up to five times daily (definitely at 14:00, usually at noon, 11:00, 15:00 and 16:00); in May, June and September, there are up to four sailings (definitely at noon and 13:00, usually at 15:00 and 16:00) at weekends only. Sailing tickets are additional to the main museum entry ticket.
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Experimentarium
This frenetic, dizzying museum is dedicated to inspiring children’s interest in nature, technology, the environment and health. This is a genuinely exciting, hands-on experience and kids adore it. As well as all the permanent experiments there is a changing program of temporary themed exhibitions – previous ones have included dinosaurs, robots and Sports & Spinach. This 4100 sq m museum opened in 1991 and is located a little north of the city centre, along the coast, in the old brewery harbour beside the poshest suburb in the city. There is a cafe and shop on-site.
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Bangsbo Museum
The Bangsbo Museum is an old country estate with an interesting mix of exhibits. The manor house displays antique furnishings and collectibles, while the old farm buildings house military paraphernalia and exhibits on WWII Danish Resistance. The most intriguing exhibit is the Ellingå ship, reconstructed remains of a 12th-century Viking-style merchant ship that was dug up from a nearby stream bed. Bus 3 from central Frederikshavn stops near the entrance to the estate, from where it's an enjoyable 500m walk through the woods to the museum.
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Frilandsmuseet
The main sight of interest in the Lyngby area is Frilandsmuseet, a sprawling open-air museum of old countryside dwellings that have been gathered from sites around Denmark. Its 100-plus historic buildings are arranged in groupings that provide a sense of Danish rural life as it was in various regions and across different social strata. Frilandsmuseet is a 10-minute signposted walk from Sorgenfri station, 25 minutes from Central Station on S-train line B. You can also take bus 184 or 194, both of which stop at the entrance.
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Danmarks Jernbanemuseum
Clamber aboard a diverting collection of 19th-century locomotives at Danmarks Jernbanemuseum, just behind the train station. The museum has about two dozen engines and wagons, including double-decker carriages and the Royal Saloon Car belonging to Christian IX, fully kitted out with everything a king might need – even a writing desk. There’s also a huge collection of Märklin model trains, and a separate exhibition about Denmark’s ferries. Audiovisual explanations are in English, German and Danish.
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Den Hirschsprungske Samling
Giving Davids Samling a run for its money as the city’s most underrated museum is tobacco magnate Heinrich Hirschsprung’s collection of Danish art, most of it from the first half of the 19th century, and featuring some of the nation’s most treasured paintings from its so-called Golden Age. The museum displays moving and powerful works by the widely celebrated Funen and Skågen schools, famous for their haunting landscapes and depictions of ‘ordinary’ Danes and including artists such as Christen Købke, CW Eckersberg and PS Krøyer.
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Fyns Kunstmuseum
In a stately neoclassical building, the Fyns Kunstmuseum has a serene atmosphere and contains a quality collection of Danish art from the 18th century to the present, chronologically arranged. Highlights include Gustava Emilie Grüner’s cheerful Portraegruppe Familien Leunbach and HA Brendekilde’s harrowing, powerful Udslidt, (‘Worn Out’), depicting a dead farm worker and distressed woman in a vast, flat field. Changing exhibitions are also staged.
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Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
This exceptional collection of paintings and sculptures, founded by beer baron Carl Jacobsen in 1888, has recently been extensively renovated. The Winter Garden (with a lovely, homely cafe) that lies at the heart of this vaguely Venetian-looking building has now been returned to its former glory and from here you can meander through a magnificent post-impressionist collection, including a large number of works by Gauguin and pieces by Cézanne, Van Gogh, Monet and Degas, as well as viewing 5000 years’ worth of sculpture.
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Skagens Museum
This wonderful museum showcases the outstanding art that was produced here between 1830 and 1930, much of it kitchen-sink portraits of the lives and deaths of those in the fishing community. PS Krøyer’s work is quite incredible, particularly his efforts to ‘paint the light’. He was particularly transfixed by the ‘blue hour’, the transition between day and night, when the sky and the sea seem to merge into each other in the same shade of blue.
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Kronborg Slot
The monstrous military bulk of Kronborg Slot is a Unesco World Heritage Site, and top of the town’s sightseeing list. Despite the attention it has received as the setting of Hamlet, the castle’s real function was far less romantic – it acted as a formidable tollhouse. Imagine sitting in the Øresund with the cannons of Kronborg aimed squarely at your creaking ship, and you can understand how wonderfully effective the castle was in its tax-gathering purpose.
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Skagen By- og Egnsmuseum
Evocatively presented, the open-air Skagen By- og Egnsmuseum, 200m southwest of the harbour, depicts Skagen’s maritime history and gives you an insight into the traditional fishing community that so transfixed the Skagen artists (but without the romanticism!). There are interesting displays on Skagen’s lifeboat rescue service, including dramatic photos of ships in distress, as well as the preserved homes of fisherfolk with their original furnishings.
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Orlogsmuseet
This museum, occupying a former naval hospital on Christianshavn Kanal, has more than 300 model ships, many dating from the 16th to the 19th century – meaning that if you are, or someone you know is, the type to get high from tooling around with hobby glue, then you have stumbled upon the mother lode. The museum also displays figureheads, navigational instruments, ship lanterns and the propeller from the German U-boat that sank the Lusitania.
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Lille Molle
The17th-century Lille Molle is a windmill that was turned over to the National Museum in the 1970s and has been preserved as its last owners left it – and they left it in a very interesting state. It’s situated on the ramparts that are southwest of Christiana, and if you time your visit just right, it’s perfect for a guided tour preceded or followed by an excellent meal at Bastionen & Løven, the attached restaurant/café.
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Danmarks Tekniske Museum
Southwest of the centre on an industrial estate, Danmarks Tekniske Museum displays innovative technological inventions from the late 19th and early 20th centuries: early gramophones, radios, motor vehicles and aeroplanes. The latter includes a 1906 Danish-built aeroplane that, it’s claimed, was the first plane flown in Europe (it stayed airborne for 11 seconds!). The museum is a 15-minute ride away on bus 805, in the direction of Espergærde.
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Helsingør Bymuseum
One block north of Sankt Olai Kirke is Helsingør Bymuseum, built by the monks of the adjacent monastery in 1516 to serve as a sailors’ hospital. There’s a detailed model of 19th-century Helsingør, with an interesting 15-minute recording about the town’s history in Danish, Swedish, German and English; and a hotchpotch of exhibits (old chemists’ bottles, medieval pottery finds, 200 dolls) labelled mainly in Danish.
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Skagen Odde Naturcenter
In a beautiful building designed by the prolific architect Jørn Utzon, this nature centre on the outskirts of town gives an insight into the natural elements that surround Skagen and make it unique (the shifting sands, the luminous light, the raging winds, the clashing waters). It’s a little pricey but well done, and there’s plenty of interactive kid-friendly fun (particularly the remote-controlled model boats).
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Viking Ship Museum
Viking fans will be wowed by the superb Viking Ship Museum, which displays five Viking ships discovered at the bottom of Roskilde Fjord. The museum is made up of two main sections – the Viking Ship Hall, where the boats themselves are kept; and Museumsø, where archaeological work takes place. There are free guided tours in English daily at noon and 3pm in July and August; and at noon on weekends in May, June and September.
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Kunstindustrimuseet
The Danish Museum of Art and Design is one of the city’s most stimulating cultural offerings, boasting an impressive collection of decorative arts, including extensive displays of European and oriental furniture, silverware and porcelain, with an emphasis on 20th-century Danish design. It’s housed in a former hospital built around a courtyard in 1752. It’s a wonderful spot to spend a rainy afternoon, and there is an inviting cafe to boot.
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Handels- og Søfartsmuseet
Tracing Denmark’s maritime past and overseas colonies, Handels- og Søfartsmuseet, running round three whole sides of the courtyard, is worth a visit. This collection of model ships, paintings, nautical instruments and sea charts helps one to appreciate the impact of the sea on Danish culture and history. It also contains the world’s oldest ship biscuit, c 1852 – which looks peculiarly edible.
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Bymuseet Møntergården
Odense’s city museum, Bymuseet Møntergården, is in a courtyard of half-timbered Renaissance houses. The ‘Creative Man’ exhibition on the ground floor focuses on Funen’s very early cultural history, while upstairs there are nice Stone, Bronze, Iron and Viking Age finds, including a lur (a snaking bronze instrument sounding like a trombone).
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Fyrtøjet – Et Kulturhus For Børn
In the charming Fyrtøjet – Et Kulturhus For Børn, youngsters explore the world of Hans Christian Andersen through storytelling and music (in English as well as Danish from June to August). They can dress up as Andersen characters, have their faces painted, act out stories and draw fairy-tale pictures in the art room. All materials are included in the admission price.
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