Copenhagen - Day 3

Sunday, 12th of June:

A good morning starts with a good breakfast... like the one at the hotel!

Afterwards we hurried to get out: it was yet another beautiful sunny day outside. Perfect to explore Copenhagen.

We started passing the Thorvaldsens Museum, located on the small island of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen. It's dedicated to the art the Danish neoclassic sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. The building is strongly inspired by antique Greek architecture and built around an inner courtyard where the artist is buried. It is particularly noteworthy for its unique use of colors both inside and outside.

 

 

Right next to the Thorvaldsens Museum lies Christiansborg Palace, the house of Denmark's three governmental branches: executive, legislative and judicial power as it is the seat of the Folketing (the Danish parliament), the Danish Prime Minister's Office  and the Danish Supreme Court. Also, several parts of the palace are used by the monarchy, including the Royal Reception Rooms, the palace chapel and the royal stables.

As the result of two serious fires (in 1794 and 1884), the present building is the last in a series of successive castles and palaces constructed on the same site since the erection of the first castle in 1167. Since the early fifteenth century, the various buildings have served as the base of the central administration; until 1794 as the principal residence of the Danish kings and after 1849 as the seat of parliament. As a consequence the palace today bears witness to three eras of Danish architecture: the main part of the current palace, finished in 1928, in neo-baroque style, the chapel from 1826 in neoclassical and the showgrounds from 1740s in baroque style.

So far we had seen Christiansborg Palace just by passing, so it was time to have a look at its inside. Of course, as usual, one is not allowed to take pictures... as you can see ;-)

The walls of the Great Hall are decorated with a set of woven tapstries from 2000. The tapestries are mady by the Danish artist Bjørn Nørgaard as a gift from the Danish business community on the occasion of Queen Margrethe II's 50th birthday. The 17 tapestries depict a thousand years of Danish history in pretty colourful images.

Noah's ark embodied in the tapestry.

And even Donald Duck finds a place on the wall of Christiansborg Slott... and thus in the Danish history!?

Beneath and under the present Christiansborg Palace one can explore the ruins of the two oldest buildings on that site: Absalon's Castle (1167-1369) and Copenhagen Castle (1369-1731), the predecessors of Christiansborg Palace I, II and today's III. Thy were excavated in 1917 and opened to the public some years later.

After this visit we walked over to the banks...

 

... with the "Black Diamond", the modern Royal Danish Library.

From here we walked over the bridge to the quarter of Christianshavn...

  ...and ended up at this "Lagkagehuset" whose windows attracked again our attention... and hunger. The choice is vast!!!

After our little lunch break we proceeded to the "Vor Fredsels Kirke". But before climbing up to the far top of the tower...

...we payed the church a visit from the inside.

Time to walk up the corksrew spire, the external winding staircase of the church's tower...

...offering from the outside a fantastic view over whole Copenhagen...

 

... and even the Øresundsbron, the longest (7,8km) road and rail bridge in Europe connection Denmark from Copenhagen to Malmö in Sweden. Thus on the left in the picture, across the Øresund strait, lies already Sweden.

The trapeziform building hosts the Bella Sky Comwell Hotel which just opened in May 2011.

 

It was still early afternoon. So we walked over to our next tourist stop: Rosenborg Castle.

Rosenborg Castle, a Dutch Renaissance Castle situated in the city centre of Copenhagen, was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606. The castle was used by Danish regents as a royal residence until around 1710. After it served only twice as a royal residence and rather for emergency, e.g. when Christiansborg Palace burnt down the first time. In 1838 the castle opened as museum of the history of the royal family from 1600-1863. Each room is furnished and decorated as it would have been during the reigns of the various kings with portraits, furniture, glass, porcelain and other ornamentation. The Skatkammeret (The Royal Treasury) houses the crown jewels and the Danish Corwn Regalia.

Next to the castle are barracks where the Royal Life Guard is garrisoned and it's the Life Guard that guards the castle.

The Rosenborg Castle Garden is the country's oldest royal garden, a popular retreat in the centre of Copenhagen.

 

It was about half past five that we started feeling our feet and also hunger coming up. So we left the Gardens and made our way back towards our hotel.

 

 Close to the central station...

 I quickly jumped into the Plaza Hotel for a brief look at the room as this hotel might be of professional interest.

Back in the hotel we laid down for a little rest, before it was time to freshen up to go out again. It's dinner time!

 

We followed the recommendation in a little leaflet which brought us to "Det Lille Apotek", the oldest Danish restaurant in Copenhagen since 1720.

We didn't get disappointed :-)

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice day! The great visits continue tomorrow.