Yesterday, I made it to Rosenborg Palace, the old Danish summer-palace of Christian IV (1600s). This particular king pretty much created the city: it was his vision that it could be more than a little parish, and started expanding it as a trade center on the Baltic. He built a combination observatory / church / library to combine the religion, arts and sciences, he built the city outward on landfill, and he built a fair number of palaces.
He apparently fathered 24 children, some in wedlock. And died broke, having apparently near-bankrupted the Danish treasury and fought in several unsuccessful wars. Fortunately, his investments paid off -- see that last post about Elsinore.
Walking from the Danish Design Center to the Copenhagen "Church of Our Lady" to the Rosenborg palace made for a fascinating day. The DDC (and read the part about the flow exhibit) is stark in its Scandanavian simplicity: plain lines, polished wood, square buildings. The central church was remodelled in 1977, and as such looks like the Ikea take on a church: plain white walls, white statues spaced evenly throughout, minimalist-but-colorful art high up on the sides.
But just in case you think that stark minimalism is the only way to go, you get to Rosenborg. Apparently, the Danes once liked shiny things: the upper floors are coated in Roccoco ornaments: porcelin and gold, coral and wool, paintings everywhere. The basement holds the royal jewels: the crown, the various beglittered cups and boxes and treasure pieces that remind us the eternal lesson: It's good to be the king.
September 24, 2004 02:34 AM | TrackBack | in Travelogue