Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek

Why it is renowned

The Glyptotek's Rodin collection is counted the most important outside France.¹ It is one of the few museums with a complete set of the 72 bronzes cast from Degas's wax figures, the dancers among them.² Its antique sculpture from Egypt, Greece and Rome sits beside French paintings by David, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, van Gogh and Gauguin.¹ It has more than 10,000 works and had over 500,000 visitors in 2019.¹ Lonely Planet counts it among the best museums in Copenhagen, for its antique sculpture in rooms of columns and painted ceilings, its Danish Golden Age and French Impressionist painting, and the palm-filled Winter Garden under a glass dome at its centre.³

The story

Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of the Carlsberg breweries, opened his private collection to the public in the winter garden of his villa in 1882.¹ In 1888 he gave it to the Danish state and the city of Copenhagen on condition that they built a home for it, and the museum opened next to Tivoli on 1 May 1897 in a building by Vilhelm Dahlerup.¹ Jacobsen gave his antique collection in 1899; Hack Kampmann designed a wing for it, and Dahlerup a winter garden joining it to the first building, both opened in 1906.¹ Henning Larsen built a new gallery in a courtyard in 1996.¹ Jacobsen named it after Ludwig I's Glyptothek in Munich.¹

What to know it by

• The Winter Garden¹1906Vilhelm DahlerupPalms, a fountain and mosaic floors between the two wings
• Rodin collection¹Auguste RodinCounted the most important outside France
• Degas bronzes²Edgar DegasA complete set of his bronzes, the dancers among them
• Greek and Roman Sculpture¹The antique collection given by Jacobsen in 1899