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 is outstanding in the respect that here you will find, under the same roof, Denmark's political centre of today and the remains of the country's principal castle of the Middle Ages. 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 Merchants' Habour. 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.

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.

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.

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! 

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. 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 things like 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 some religious and symbolic meaning now unclear to us, or were just a gift for visitors. 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 contain 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. The Museum reopened in the summer of 2015 with a completely new exibition format. 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.

Gl. Holtegaard is an art center with a programme of three to four ambitious exhibitions a year, both in the gallery of the main house and in the Baroque garden. The mission is to present contemporary and classical artworks that make history relevant and bring a fresh perspective to the age in which we live. The gallery’s unique location in the historical buildings and grounds of Lauritz de Thurah’s Baroque complex is an integrated part of the exhibition profile. It is precisely this context that makes it possible to bring contemporary art into close contact with the historical material Gammel Holtegaard is made of.The Baroque garden is thus seen as an extended gallery, and exhibitions there are as carefully curated and presented as the indoor ones in the annual programme. Gammel Holtegaard has a diverse year-round programme of events and activities relating to the exhibitions and to Gammel Holtegaard itself. These include artist talks, performances, talks, debates, garden tours, concerts, and much more. Exhibitions (glhotegaard.dk): 'Across the Strait', Iselin Forslund Toubro; 8.3.24-12.5.24 Iselin Forslund Toubro’s solo exhibition Across the Strait unfolds as an total installation, with a cinematic narrative progression, which in interaction withsculpturel elements points to conflicts in both the past and present. BIO:Iselin Forslund Toubro (b. 1990) is educated from The Royal Institute of Art, Stockholm, Sweden, Emily Carr University of Film, Art and Design, Vancouver, Canada and The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark (2019). Toubro work in the field between art cinematic, performance and installation – very often in huge productions, which involves both actors, musicians and other contributors. Transport Gl. Holtegaard is located north of Copenhagen, and both entrance and public transport is included in COPENHAGEN CARD - DISCOVER. We recommend using journeyplanner.dk to plan your trip.