The Carlsberg brewer Carl Jacobsen gave his collection to Copenhagen in 1888, and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek opened beside Tivoli in 1897. Today its palm-filled winter garden leads to Egyptian, Greek and Roman sculpture, Danish Golden Age painting, more than 40 Gauguins and every one of Degas's bronzes.
In this story · 5 sections
The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is an art museum in central Copenhagen, just south of Tivoli Gardens on the city's former Western Rampart. Founded by the brewer Carl Jacobsen, it holds more than 10,000 works of art – from ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Etruscan sculpture to Danish Golden Age painting and French art – around a domed winter garden. In 2019 it had 514,608 visitors.
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
Museum · Indre By
- Address
- Just south of Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen
- Opened
- 1 May 1897
- Works
- More than 10,000
- Egyptian
- 1,900 pieces or more
- Greek, Roman, Etruscan
- 950 sculptures
- French
- 40+ Gauguins, all Degas bronzes, Rodin
- Danish
- Eckersberg, Købke, Lundbye
Antiquities, Danish Golden Age, Gauguin, Degas and Rodin around a winter garden.
01Carl Jacobsen's gift to Copenhagen
Carl Jacobsen (1842–1914) was the son of the founder of the Carlsberg Breweries. On 8 March 1888 he donated his collection to the Danish state and the City of Copenhagen, and the museum opened on 1 May 1897 in a building by Vilhelm Dahlerup. Hack Kampmann built the Antique wing, and Dahlerup's winter garden, connecting the wings, was inaugurated in 1906. Henning Larsen added a new wing in 1996, and a major renovation followed in 2006.
02The winter garden
The heart of the museum is the winter garden, with mosaic floors, tall palms and a fountain under a dome of copper and wrought iron – the natural place to start and end a visit.
03From Egypt to the Etruscans
The Egyptian collection has more than 1,900 pieces, from 3000 BC to the first century AD. The Greek, Roman and Etruscan collection includes 950 sculptures and Etruscan antiquities acquired through the archaeologist Wolfgang Helbig.
04Gauguin, Degas, Rodin and the Danish Golden Age
The French collection holds more than 40 works by Paul Gauguin – more than by any other painter in the museum – all of Edgar Degas's bronze sculptures and one of the largest Rodin collections in the world. The Danish collection is rich in Golden Age painting, with works by C. W. Eckersberg, Christen Købke and Johan Thomas Lundbye.
05How to visit the Glyptotek
Begin in the winter garden, choose either the ancient collections or the French and Danish galleries for your first hour, and take the Henning Larsen wing up to the roof. Tivoli is across the road. Read Metro Mode's Copenhagen guide (in Swedish), browse Metro Mode Travel, and find more city guides among metromode.co's destinations.
