The first point of interest we visited in Copenhagen was the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. A "glyptotek" is a place for storing and exhibiting sculpture, and the museum does in fact have an emphasis on sculpture, but there are other things to see too.

If the name Carlsberg seems familiar to you in connection with things Danish, it might be because of a previous acquaintance with Carlsberg beer. As it turns out, there’s a very real connection between the beer and the museum, as the museum was founded in 1897 by the son of the founder of the brewery, and was built to house and display his personal collection of artworks. You’re no doubt thinking that this would be the younger Mr. Carlsberg, but this is not quite the case. The Carlsberg brewery was founded in 1844 by Jacob Christian Jacobsen (commonly known as J.C. Jacobsen), who made up the name Carlsberg to honor his son Carl, who was a young child at the time.

The word "Ny" in the museum’s name is a Danish word pronounced "new" which means... well, new. This might have you thinking the museum was preceded by an "old" (or ældre) glyptotek, but again this is not quite the case. As Carl grew up working for his father J.C., he learned a great deal about the brewing business – his Dad was an early "scientific" brewer who approached the business with academic rigor, to ensure high quality. As Carl became an adult, his father invited him to begin his own brewery in 1881. Carl accepted the offer and called his brewery Ny Carlsberg. Carl introduced some shortcuts in the brewing process which improved efficiency but earned the disapproval of his father, and something of a feud resulted. But there was a reconciliation between the Jacobsens a year before J.C.’s death in 1887, and eventually the two breweries were re-merged, in 1906. The point of all this is that the "Ny" in "Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek" is just part of the name of the company that founded it, and does not refer to the museum itself.

Before visiting the museum, we went looking for Copenhagen Cards for ourselves. A holder of a Copenhagen Card is entitled to admission to several of the city’s top attractions, and to unlimited use of the city’s public transportation system (mainly buses in central Copenhagen). Prior to leaving for Europe, we’d looked up admission fees and transit fees on the Internet, did the math and decided the Copenhagen Card would be a good deal for us. We found Copenhagen Cards for sale at a tourist information office at the corner of Vesterbrogade and Bernstorffsgade, though they are also supposed to be available at the airport and the train station.

We made our way over to the museum entrance, just past Tivoli Gardens on Hans Christian Andersen’s Boulevard, and flashed our Copenhagen Cards. We immediately found ourselves in a large atrium with a glass dome, called the Winter Garden.


The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is made up of two principal buildings. The older of the two surrounds the Winter Garden on three sides, and is the first building we explored. True to the name of the museum, we found it to hold a substantial amount of sculpture. The museum actually has the largest collection of Rodin bronzes outside of France.




Attention is also devoted in the Glyptotek to Danish art, both sculptures and paintings.



After perusing the Danish art, we proceeded to the second of the two buildings, whose entrance is found across the Winter Garden from the museum entrance. Located centrally is a Central Hall, which is used mostly for performances of classical music.

We found the second building to house a large collection of ancient statuary from the Mediterranean area. First we encountered pieces from ancient Rome and Greece. Apparently Carl had an agent in Rome for awhile who would buy and send him stuff as it became available.




There is also a collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts on display. Part of this collection is located in a dim, tomblike room that is reached by descending a long, dark ramp.




Carl also took an interest in collecting paintings. He acquired some paintings from old masters, but most of his acquisitions were works by French impressionists and post-impressionists.





Our exploration of the second building eventually took us to the roof, where there was a nice view of the immediate vicinity, including the Tivoli Gardens amusement park located across the street.



From the Glyptotek we caught a bus which took us to Amalienborg, a complex of palaces which are still in use.