Day 12: Copenhagen, Part I!

Today had us seeing the history of the Danish Royals up close.

We visited the Rosenborg Castle, which was built in the early 1600s. We saw gilded walls, ornate ceilings, and watched the artistic and societal progression from one period to the next through portraits of the Royal Family.

Here is what the castle looked like from the outside:

And here was some of the amazing artwork from the first floor:

This was the bathroom, with each tile hand-painted:

Here is a close-up of the intricate detail on the ceilings:

This delicate filigree appeared to be a table decoration, covered with glass for protection:

And here were a few other rooms we saw:

We got to see many smaller pieces belonging to the Royal Family:

And many beautiful paintings. These were two of my favorites:

Then, of course, there was the gilded birdcage that also served to tell time:

Next was the throne room. Regrettably I only took a photo of the “informal” throne with my phone, but did get the formal one with my camera to share later.

Here were the Great Hall and informal throne, complete with gorgeous tapestries and a “secret” door in the antechamber:

As if that wasn’t enough, we then descended into the vault of the castle! There, we viewed all the truly valuable treasures on display – including the Crown Jewels of Denmark! We also saw ornate swords, bottles of wine from 1691 (would those actually taste good??), and enough objects made from gold and ivory to make your head spin.

Here are some of the weapons we saw:

Here were the nods to war strategy…perhaps the first set is an early form of the game “Risk”?

And here was some of the wine, vintage 1691:

And here were the Crown Jewels, along with the Ceremonial Sword:

After seeing the breathtaking splendor inside, we walked through the King’s Gardens to our next destination. The gardens were very pretty:

Next up was the Rundetaarn, or Round Tower! Also built in the 1600s, it was commissioned to be an astronomical observatory by Christian IV. They’ve tried creating a sort of choose-your-own-adventure story for the attraction, which didn’t really work, but they get kudos for the attempt.

Anyway, the tower was pretty interesting to visit, especially seeing the old library space turned into a modern art gallery. It was also something to read about the core of the tower being hollow all the way down, and about a Nielsen boy falling in while playing hide-and-seek…thankfully he was found the next day, relatively unscathed. They had to create an opening near the bottom of the tower to get him out!

Here was the Round Tower: