Amalienborg

Why it is renowned

Amalienborg is the official residence of the Danish monarch and the home of King Frederik X and Queen Mary.¹ Every day at noon the Royal Life Guard, in bearskins and blue trousers, marches from Rosenborg to change the guard on the palace square.¹ The restoration of Christian VII's Palace, finished in 1996, received a Europa Nostra medal in 1999.¹ The museum in Christian VIII's Palace shows Fabergé pieces sent to the Danish royal family by their Russian relatives.² Lonely Planet counts it among the nine best things to do in Copenhagen, for the royal home, the guard on watch day and night and the Fabergé jewels in the treasury.³

The story

Frederick V laid out the Frederiksstaden district to mark 300 years of the Oldenburg dynasty on the throne, and the architect Nicolai Eigtved drew four identical mansions for noble families around an octagonal square.¹² They were built from 1750 to 1760 to Eigtved's designs; he died in 1754, before they were finished.¹ When Christiansborg burned in 1794 the royal family bought the palaces and moved in, and it has lived there since.¹ The equestrian statue of Frederick V was raised on the square in 1768.² Since 1983 the Amalie Garden has joined the palaces to the harbour.²

What to know it by

• Changing of the guard¹The Royal Life Guard, daily at noon
• Equestrian statue of Frederick V²1768At the centre of the square
• Great Hall of Moltke's Palace¹1754Nicolai EigtvedRococo hall with woodcarving and paintings by François Boucher
• The Fabergé Chamber²FabergéRussian imperial gifts in the Amalienborg Museum