Amalienborg Palace

Amalienborg is four almost identical rococo palaces set around an octagonal courtyard, built in the 1750s for noble families and taken over by the royal household after Christiansborg burnt in 1794. It has been the royal winter residence ever since. The square is open to walk across at any hour, with a soldier in a bearskin outside each occupied palace, and the axis runs from the Marble Church on one side straight down to the opera house across the harbour. One palace holds the Amalienborg Museum, where the private studies and writing rooms of nineteenth and twentieth century monarchs are kept much as they were left.

History

The site first held Sophie Amalienborg, a palace for Queen Sophie Amalie, consort of Frederick III, on land her father-in-law Christian IV had acquired outside the old walled city; its garden was begun in 1664 and the palace built from 1669 to 1673, and she lived there until her death in 1685. On 19 April 1689, during a repeat of the German opera staged for Christian V's birthday, perhaps the first opera performance in Denmark, a stage decoration caught fire, and the theatre and palace burned to the ground with the loss of about 180 lives. Plans for rebuilding, including a model by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger completed in 1697, were judged too ambitious, and Frederick IV instead built a summerhouse with a pavilion, orangeries and a French-style garden. The present Amalienborg is the centrepiece of Frederiksstaden, the district Frederick V launched in 1748 to mark the tercentenary of the Oldenburg dynasty: four palaces with identical classical facades and Rococo interiors around an octagonal courtyard with an equestrian statue of Frederick V, built for four noble families. After Christiansborg Palace burned in 1794 the royal family bought the palaces and moved in, and it remains the official residence of the Danish monarch (Wikipedia, Amalienborg).

What to look for

• The octagonal square - the four rococo facades and the equestrian statue at the centre.
• The changing of the guard - the noon ceremony after the march across the city.
• The Amalienborg Museum - preserved royal studies and private rooms.
• The Frederiksstaden axis - the line from the Marble Church through to the opera house.

When to go

The guard changes at noon every day, and the full march with band happens when the monarch is in residence, which is not guaranteed on any given day. Arrive twenty minutes early for a place at the rope in summer. The museum is quieter in the afternoon, and winter leaves you the square almost to yourself.

Before you go

The palaces are private homes, so beyond one museum wing you see facades and a cobbled square, and that is a short visit. The noon crowd is dense and mostly filming rather than watching. The ceremony is brief and low key compared with London. The square is open, windy and has no shade or shelter at all.

Nearby

The Marble Church stands opposite, and Nyhavn and the harbour front are a short walk away.

Key facts