Thorvaldsens Museum stands on the small island of Slotsholmen next to Christiansborg Palace in the very centre of Copenhagen. It is a single-artist museum dedicated to Danish–Icelandic neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, who spent most of his career in Rome. Opened in 1848, the building was designed as a total work of art, with colourful façades, a courtyard decorated with Egyptian-style motifs and an exterior frieze depicting the sculptor’s triumphant return to Copenhagen.
Inside, visitors encounter an extensive collection of marble and plaster sculptures, including original models for many of Thorvaldsen’s most famous works installed in churches and museums across Europe. The galleries also present his personal collection of Greek, Roman and Egyptian antiquities, as well as paintings, drawings and prints he gathered throughout his life. Personal belongings, tools and studio objects add a human dimension and give insight into his working process.
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