A Trick of the Eye

This piece of furniture from Frederiksborg Castle contains quite a surprise; a room that is painted to seem like a large hall.

The Age of Enlightenment

The renaissance was an age of enlightenment and the renaissance castle of Frederiksborg Castle reflects this in some of the exhibited objects. Here an astrolabe is on display.

A Knight in Armor

A true castle needs knights, and as I've told you in a previous post, Frederiksborg Castle got their shields in great numbers, but got a few of these; a knights armor.

A Royal Bed

Some of the rooms at Frederiksborg Castle still has the old furniture from the time when the castle was used by the King of Denmark. This bed has the right royal feeling to it.

Glass

As Frederiksborg Castle is a museum it's also teeming with objects of all kinds, so that the Castle in places seems to be frozen in the renaissance.

A Passage

At Frederiksborg Castle this passage stands out in its colours and details. It's the passage to the audience room, and it was built in 1665 in the baroque style. Don't come here at winter though as it's not heated!

Agnus Dei

Frederiksborg Castle is a true renaissance castle; there's details everywhere. Just look up and you can see, that every ceiling is covered with stucco, wood carvings or paintings. Here it's the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God, the heraldic symbol for Gotland, which between 1361 and 1645 was Danish.

Dusty

A museum is supposed to be a bit dusty, and Frederiksborg Castle is no exception. This angel in the castle church certainly haven't seen a dust cloth for a long time.

A Knight's Shield

The walls and stairwells of the church at Frederiksborg Castle are covered with shields with colourful and fanciful emblems. These are the shields of all the recipients of the two Danish orders; the Order of the Elephant and the Order of Dannebrog (the name for the Danish flag), and the church is actually a Knight's Chapel for these two orders. When looking at the names you get a very good picture of who's who in 400 years of Danish history, and even tourists will recognize names like Eisenhower, Churchill, Montgomery, De Gaulle, Mandela and numerous other heads of state and international figures, who have been given the Order of the Elephant. Nicolae Ceauşescu's is not there any more though.

Stained Windows

The stained windows in the church at Frederiksborg Castle shows the emblems of the areas of the Kingdom of Denmark, when it was at the peak of its power. Many of the areas are now under other rule.

Banquet Hall

Frederiksborg Castle is a renaissance castle, and that shows in the details and decorations of the rooms. Here it's the banquet hall in all its glory.

A Steady Hand

Many of the old paintings at Frederiksborg Castle need the occasional brush-up, and even though the restorers try to stay behind covers, it's possibly to watch them in action. This is a job that needs a steady hand and lot of patience.

Historic Paintings

When I'm reading books on Danish history, they are often illustrated with a lot of paintings with historic motifs, like this one "The conspirators riding from Finderup barn following the murder of Eric V Klipping in 1286" by Otto Bache. Many of them were painted for the museum at Frederiksborg Castle in the late 19th hundreds, so when visiting here, the paintings are like old friends.

A Nice Castle

In a previous post I told you a little about Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød north of Copenhagen. This has got to be the place where all the stuff that is missing at Kronborg has been stored, as this one is full of items. I'll show you some of the things that can be found inside in the next few days.

Chairs and Windows

With empty rooms at Kronborg, the hopeful photographer's got to find other motives, like this simple one of a couple of chairs and some windows.

Salut

In past times these guns controlled the entrance to Øresund, the waterway separating the Danish island of Zealand from Sweden. Nowadays they are only used to give a salute to the Royal ship Dannebrog or on special days.

Don't go there

On Kronborg certain areas are off limits for the public, but here they don't use signs here. Often they just place some kind of obstruction, and then they count on people being able to figure it out for themselves. Good thing that most people are well behaved, otherwise they might be tempted to go where no tourist has gone before.

Holger the Dane

In the cellars beneath Hamlet's Kronborg another legend resides; Holger Danske or Holger the Dane. The legend goes that in times of peril for Denmark, he will awaken to fight off the enemy. As he hasn't awoken yet during historic times, I take it that Denmark hasn't seen real danger yet.

An Empty Museum

One of the Danish places on the UNESCO list of World Heritage is Kronborg, the castle of Hamlet fame. When visiting this castle you might be a bit disappointed as it excels in big and often empty or half-empty rooms. Quite a shame as this castle is the perfect backdrop for great exhibitions on Danish history. I'll show you some more from here the next few days.

Black Diamond and Mermaid

A forth mermaid can be found outside the Black Diamond, the new building for the Royal Library. It's a bronze copy of Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen's 1921 sculpture Mermaid and it was placed here last year as a gift from the National Museum of Art, where the original is.

A not-so-little Mermaid

Between the real Little Mermaid and the genemodified one is this one, which is not exactly little (or subtle). As it's standing right where all the cruise ships dock, this mermaid is the first one that a lot of tourists see when they visit Copenhagen.

A Gene-modified Mermaid

A short distance from where the Little Mermaid were before her trip to China, is another mermaid. This one is of another kind entirely. She is part of group of sculptures called The Genetically Modified Paradise by the Danish Professor Bjørn Nørgaard. I guess it's a matter of taste if you like this one or not:-) I did the rest of the sculptures in a previous post in Danish.

Where's the Little Mermaid?

"Where's the Little Mermaid" is a question much asked by tourists in Copenhagen at any time and answered by some quick directions, but at this time the directions will not be easy; she has been moved to Shanghai as part of the Danish pavilion at the World Fair there. Now all that is left is a very small version of her at her usual place and a video installation showing her in Shanghai. A copy can be seen in Tivoli though.

Changing of the Guards

Something you have to see when in Copenhagen as a tourist is the changing of the guards at the Royal Palace of Amalienborg. It takes place daily at noon, but will vary in form depending on if the Queen, the Queen Consort or the princes are in residence.

Peace and Quiet

A nice place to get some peace and quiet in any town is a church. Unless there's a service or a large group of tourists, you can just sit there and contemplate on life. This one is from the Marble Church which I told about in a previous post.

More Shadows

Photographing shadows is something I often do, as I think they add some mystery to the motive. Here it's Hercules from Thorvaldsen's Museum in Copenhagen.

Look Up

When visiting Thorvaldsen's Museum in Copenhagen, you have to look up and take notice of the beautiful ceilings.

Lines In

Thorvaldsen's Museum in Copenhagen has got some really nice rooms to exhibit the works of Bertel Thorvaldsen. And they are very tolerant regarding the use of flash too:-)

Mystery

I often use silhouettes like this when possibly at museums as these add a bit of mystery to the photos.

Look Down

Details like this little Amor from a sculpture at Thorvaldsen's Museum in Copenhagen are all too easy to miss, because the eye will travel to the faces of the girls, so remember to look down as well.

More Details

You might have noticed; I do like to take photos of details as well as of the whole setting. When looking at these details, you might get a new perspective on sculptures. This one is from Thorvaldsen's Museum in Copenhagen, a museum dedicated to one of the finest artists in Danish history.