Copenhagen has been rated as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world since 2015, with bicycles outnumbering its inhabitants, so the next day we decided to view some sites Danish style:
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| The back of The Little Mermaid |
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| Amalienborg Slot with Marmorkirken in the background |
We then spent a bit of time exploring Slotsholmen, the spire-spiked island, home to Christiansborg Slot, centre of both government and royalty.
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| Government use the right hand side of the building, including the Prime Minister's office and the Supreme Court, while the left hand side is the historical and official royal residence and meeting place |
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| The 106m high palace tower was sadly closed so we missed the sweeping views it offers of the city |
The grandest part of Christiansborg is the Royal Palace, a series of 18 elegant rooms and halls used by the queen to hold royal banquets and to entertain heads of state.
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| The throne room |
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| The Queen's Library |
A walk through the crypt-like bowels of Slotsholmen, known as the Fortress Ruins, offers a view of the original fortress built by Bishop Absalon in 1167, and it's successor, Copenhagen Castle. Among the remnants are each building's ring walls, a well, a baking oven, sewerage drains and stonework from the Castle's Blue Tower.
Christiansborg Slot is an architectural phoenix. The current palace is the latest in a series of buildings to have graced the site, the first of which was a medieval castle, followed by an elegant baroque beauty.
Bishop Absalon of Roskilde built a castle on a small islet in the waters off the small town of Havn. The islet would become Slotsholmen. Erected in 1167, the castle was encircled by a limestone curtain wall. Absalon's creation stood for two centuries until a conflict tore it down. By the end of the 14th century, Copenhagen Castle had a moat and a solid, towered entrance. In 1417 it was turned into a royal palace and compeletely rebuilt by Frederik IV. It began to crack under its own weight which lead to a hasty demolition in the 1730s. This lead to the first Christiansborg Slot in 1745, which went up in flames in 1794, its only surviving remnant the Royal Stables. Rebuilt in the early 19th century it became the seat of parliament in 1849 before once more succumbing to fire in 1884. In 1907 the cornerstone of the third Christiansborg Slot was raised by Frederik VIII and it was completed in 1928.
The wings of the original baroque palace still house the Royal Stables and its museum of antique coaches, uniforms and riding paraphernalia, some of which are still used for royal receptions.
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| The 19th century gold Gold Coach, adorned with 24 karat gold leaf, used once annually, to take the Danish Queen from her residence at Amalienborg to Christiansborg Castle at New Year |
After lunch it was time to get back on those bikes and cycle up a storm.
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| The Lego-esque BLOX (the black building that looks like Lego bricks) is the Danish Architecture Centre |
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| The classic 17th century harbour of Nyhavn - the canal was built to connect main square Kongens Nytorv to the harbour and was long a haunt for sailors and writers |
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| It really is as pictureque as you'd imagine! Even in a cold and grey October. |
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| Hans Christian Andersen lived here 1871-75. He also lived at numbers 18 and 20, where he wrote The Princess and the Pea |
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| The Marble Church, consecrated in 1894. The done was inspired by St Peter's in Rome and despite it's name, it's not actually marble, but limestone (due to spiralling costs) |
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| Amalienborg Slot is the current home of the queen Margrethe II and her descendants. Amalienborg Slot consists of four 18th century palaces around a large cobbled square. |
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| The palace to the right is the home of the queen, who is not currently in residence as there is no flag flying |
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| The palace to the left is the home of the crown prince and his family, who is currently in residence. |
We also stopped at the Frihedsmuseet, a contemporary space created to evoke the Danish resistance against their Nazi occupiers from 1940-1945. Obviously the museum was our WWII loving Toots's choice, but it was really, really interesting to see the way from the perspective of a different occupied country.
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| The Little Mermaid by Edvard Eriksen |
Unveiled on 23 August 1913, 'The Little Mermaid' was a gift from Danish brewer Carl Jacobsen to the City of Copenhagen. Carl Jacobsen fell in love with the character after watching a ballet performance based on the fairy tale at the Royal Danish Theatre. The brewer was so captivated by both the fairy tale and the ballet that he commissioned the sculptor Edvard Eriksen to create a sculpture of the mermaid. Apparently the prima ballerina refused to model for the mermaid so Eriksen's own wife, Eline, posed for the statue.
Interestingly, the factors in the background of the photo above is a green recycling plant with Denmark's largest climbing wall in the side, as well as hiking paths round the outside to the top and a dry ski slope on the roof to get back to the bottom.
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| Rosenborg Slot was closed by the time we made it to Norreport but it was impressive from the outside. Built between 1606 and 1633 by Christian IV to serve as his summer home, the Danish royals opened the castle as a museum in the 1830s, while still using it as their own giant jewellery box. It services both functions to this day. |
The final stop on our cycling tour was in the gorgeous medieval Latin Quarter. The area gets its nickname from the presence of the old campus of Copenhagen University, where Latin was once widely spoken.
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| The 34.8 high Round Tower has an unusual spiralling slope (rather than steps) to reach the top. King Christian IV built it in 1642 as an observatory (still in use and Europe's oldest) as well as a tower for the new university church Trinitatis. |
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