In case you have enough time to browse through Copenhagen museums, here are some choices:
Arken Museum of Modern Art
Itself a work of art, this new museum by the sea is built like a ship. Modern Danish and other Nordic works as well as art from the rest of the world.
Tuesday-Sunday 10 am-5 pm (Wednesday to 9 pm). 50 DKr adults, 20 DKr children. Ishoj Strandpark, Skovvej 100. (Take a train to Ishoj, then Bus 128; it's 30 minutes distant.) Phone 4354-0222.
Experimentarium
A hands-on science museum where you can try more than 300 experiments with sound, light, water currents and more. Short demonstrations and special exhibits. Many of the experiments are about the human body and senses.
Monday-Friday 9 am-5 pm (Tuesday to 9 pm), Saturday and Sunday 11 am-5 pm. 79 DKr adults, 57 DKr children. Tuborg Havnevej 7, Hellerpp. (Take Bus 6 or 650S; around 25 minutes from City Hall.) Phone 3927-3333.
Hirschsprungske Collection
An unusual museum/gallery with a dense display of paintings and sculpture, making it feel more like a tasteful salon than a museum. The art was gathered during the Danish Golden Age (1800-1850) by Hirschsprung, a tobacco manufacturer. It includes the most extensive collection of works by the Skagen painters in Copenhagen.
Wednesday 11 am-9 pm, Thursday-Monday 11 am-4 pm. 25 DKr adults, free for children. Free for everyone on Wednesday. Stockholmsgade 20, Osterbro. Phone 3542-0336.
Louisiana Modern Art Museum
This is one of the best modern art museums in northern Europe and an absolute must when visiting Copenhagen. First distinguished by its idyllic location on the northern coast near Elsinore (45 minutes by train from Copenhagen's Central Station), Louisiana hosts some of the biggest and best exhibitions in Scandinavia. The outdoor Sculpture Park is lovely, and the permanent collection includes pieces by Giacometti, Henry Moore and Carl-Henning Pedersen. (Central Railroad Station offers a discount ticket covering train fare and museum admission.)
Daily 10 am-5 pm (Wednesday to 10 pm, when they host classical music concerts). 60 DKr adults, 20 DKr children. Gammel Strandvej 13, Humlebaek. Phone 42 190719.
Nationalmuseet (National Museum)
Denmark's main museum of history and human cultures is the largest in Scandinavia. It displays a great many Danish artifacts from the Stone Age to the mid 19th century: Viking helmets, battle implements, artifacts from Greenland and extensive royal coin collections.
Tuesday-Sunday 10 am-5 pm (Wednesday to 9 pm). 40 DKr adults, free for children. Free admission on Wednesday. Frederiksholms Kanal 12 (across from Christiansborg Palace). Phone 3313-4411.
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
This museum is interesting as much for its architecture as for the art it displays. It houses both a stunning collection of scultpure and—in a new wing—an assemblage of French impressionist and postimpressionist art. The building itself is amazing: two completely different facades, an unexpected winter garden under a glass dome, a splendid concert hall surrounded by sculpture and a new inner gallery, where several works by Gauguin are displayed.
Tuesday-Sunday 10 am-4 pm. 30 DKr adults, free for children. Free admission on Wednesday and Sunday. Dantes Plads 7 (next to Tivoli Gardens). Phone 3391-1065.
Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery)
Recently refurbished and nearly doubled in size, this is a repository of Danish and European painting and sculpture, including a notable Matisse collection. Highlighted are Dutch 17th-century and Danish 19th-century works from the Golden Age. The modern section, in fusion with the old building, is one of the city's great architectural achievements of the late 1990s.
Tuesday-Sunday 10 am-5 pm (Wednesday to 8 pm). 30 DKr adults, free for children. Solvgade 48-50 (near Rosenborg Palace). Phone 3391-2126.
Thorvaldsen Museum
Denmark's great 19th-century sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen left his works to the city on condition that a museum be built to house them. The domed, neoclassical building has on its ocher exterior walls some arresting murals, one showing Thorvaldsen returning to Copenhagen. Inside, the statuary may pall after awhile, but the galleries housing them are charming, each with an innovatively patterned tile floor and colorfully embellished walls and ceiling.
Tuesday-Sunday 10 am-5 pm. Guided tours in English Sunday at 3 pm in July and August. 20 DKr adults, free for children. Porthusgade 2 (adjacent to Christiansborg Castle). Phone 3332-1532.
