Thorvaldsens Museum

Description:

• One of Copenhagen's oldest museums, Thorvaldsens Museum first opened in 1848 and houses the extensive collection of models, drawings and sketches created by sculptor Bertil Thorvaldsen (1770-1844), who despite his Danish parentage spent much of his adult life in Southern Europe, particularly Italy. The museum is worth a visit both for its extraordinary building, with its painted walls and tiling both inside and out, as well as for the collection, a rather dramatic display of neo-classical busts and immense statues that line the long, terracotta corridors. This unusual building was designed by the 19th-century Danish architect Michael Bindesbøll, who, like Thorvaldsen, was inspired by his long stays in Rome. As well as Thorvaldsen's own works, visitors ought to check out the artist's personal collection of objects from Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquity, as well as the famous Sonne Frieze, that was created to commemorate the museum opening and depicts the glorious homecoming of Thorvaldsen to Denmark in 1838.
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