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 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.
Eat Nordic
With clear references to classic lunch and local dishes, restaurant Smör serves new interpretations of Danish food.
Amber Museum Copenhagen
Copenhagen Amber Museum is one of the most recognized amber museums in the world. The museum is located in Kanneworff’s House in Nyhavn, one of Copenhagen’s oldest buildings, which dates back to 1606.
The museum takes you on a fascinating journey through the natural and cultural history of amber and holds an impressive collection of raw amber stones, exclusive amber jewellery and unique amber artefacts. Some stones contain plants and insects that were trapped in the resin millions of years ago, and thus amber is also a unique window to a bygone world.
Learn how amber was formed 30-50 million years ago and how it ended up on the coasts of Denmark. Get a glimpse of life in the ancient Scandinavian forests by exploring the large collection of preserved plants and insects that were trapped in the resin millions of years ago. Dig into the fascinating story of how our Scandinavian ancestors distributed amber as a unique and beautiful natural material to the rest of Europe, and see the museum’s rare collection of amber antiques and artefacts.
Related Attractions
Step into the beautiful mineral halls, touch a huge meteorite from outer space and explore the natural world in the changing exhibitions.
An annual highlight at the museum is the famous exhibition Wildlife Photographer of the Year, featuring the 100 best nature and wildlife photos worldwide. Experience the beauty and fragility of nature in an exhibition that delights millions of people every year. See more about the exhibition at wpy.dk.
Recharge in the café with a view of the Botanical Garden, where you can explore the museum's collection of rare plants and see the iconic Palm House.
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.
A must-see museum for all who is curious about the human body, disease, and health.
Medical Museion is not for delicate souls – diseases and their treatment have always been dramatic. But if you dare to face how the human body has been understood and treated over time - from antiquity to the age of the gene - this is the place for you.
Explore the beautiful exhibitions in the historic Royal Academy for Surgeons from 1787.
Medical Museion has one of the biggest and richest historical collections of medical artefacts in Europe. The collections contain 150,000 — 250,000 artefacts, depending on what counts as a individual artefact. We also have a large image collection, a document archive, and a historical book collection.
Exhibithions:
Mind the gut:
Our brain and bowels are under examination in the exhibition Mind the Gut. Through a thought-provoking blend of science, art and history, the exhibition explores the complex connections between our mind and our guts. Brain, gut feelings, identity, bowels, bacteria, microbiomes – all interlinked.
Mind the Gut shows, how doctors researchers, patients and artists have tried to understand and treat the complex relation between mind and gut throughout time. An enigma, which have occupied us through millennia and still does through scientific experiments, trendy lifestyle tendencies and fierce debates about health.
The body collected:
The human body has been collected for medical research and teaching during the last few centuries, and body parts have been prepared, preserved and conserved.
The exhibition ‘The Body Collected’ presents for the first time a large selection of historical collections of human remains from the 18th century to now. The oldest specimens come from research collections of fetuses, skeletons, bones, organs, and histological samples. The latest arrival are biopsies, cells, and DNA, as preserved in biobank freezers. The collections have switched focus as our understanding of health and disease are improved, and as a consequence of technological advances.
Kunsthal Charlottenborg is one of the largest and most beautiful exhibition spaces for contemporary art in Northern Europe
The exhibition space presents an ambitious program with international outlook featuring talents as well as established stars from both Denmark and abroad. Kunsthal Charlottenborg presents uncompromising and agenda setting art still understandable for everyone. The trendsetting exhibition program is supplemented with a large number of activities like artist talks, performances, concerts and film screenings.
Ever since Kunsthal Charlottenborg opened in 1883, the venue has hosted exhibitions featuring many of the leading contemporary artists of the given times, accommodating many different types of shows and activities. Charlottenborg now celebrates its long history with a large-scale exhibition featuring all-new and older works alike. Together, they will evoke and add nuance to the history of Kunsthal Charlottenborg, a venue without a collection or a historical archive. Embracing chaos, affinities and time glitches, the exhibition Full of Days forges intuitive connections between historical moments and less-remembered shows, stories and events. Through a cacophony of voices, contemporary and historical artists are framed into a reflection on the elusiveness of time and the multiplicity of its representations, offering a non-linear account of one the Kunsthal’s possible histories.
Special Exhibithions (Kunsthalcharlottenborg.dk):
Thao Nguyen Phan, Reincarnations of Shadows: 13.3 – 11.8 2024
Visual artist Thao Nguyen Phan (b. 1987) intertwines mythology and folklore from her homeland’s turbulent past with current pressing issues of excessive consumption and the destruction of the earth’s resources. The intersection between the documentary and the supernatural take centre stage in this exhibition, which evokes ghostly presences, lush landscapes and unofficial narratives.
Charlottenborg Art Books The independent bookstore offers a distinctive selection of books and magazines, including publications in the fields of fine art, critical design, typography, literature, and theory.Apollo Bar & Canteen Apollo Bar & Canteen are Kunsthal Charlottenborg’s bar and dining place by chef and creator Frederik Bille Brahe. Every weekday from Tuesday to Friday, you can enjoy a healthy and delicious lunch at the canteen, and all week you can enjoy breakfast, lunch or an exciting dinner or just a cup of coffee, a glass of wine or a drink at the bar next to the courtyard.