NATIONAL MUSEUM OF DENMARK (NATIONALMUSEET)

This huge museum occupies an entire city block framed by Vester Voldgade, Frederiksholms Kanal, Stormgade and Ny Vestergade, where the main entrance is located. This opens onto a large atrium surrounded by two storeys of galleries. To the left of this first hall, the Egmont Hall is dedicated to temporary exhibitions. The other rooms are devoted to ethnographic collections. On the right, the palace gardens, crossed by a glass corridor, are surrounded by three levels of galleries. In short, you could spend a whole day exploring it in depth. Nevertheless, the richness and variety of the collections are so dense that it's best to visit in several visits, or to focus on specific areas of interest.

The first floor is dedicated to Danish archaeology and the Viking epic. Unique and exceptional pieces are on display, including the Trundholm solar chariot, a miniature bronze cult chariot discovered in 1902 by a farmer in the Trundholm swamp in North Zealand, and dated to the First Bronze Age, around 1400 BC; and the Gudenstrup cauldron dating from the ^1st century BC, found in 1891 in a peat bog in Jutland. It consists of 13 silver plates decorated with Celtic mythological scenes. Impressive in size, it measures 42 cm in height and 69 cm in diameter; the Kingigtorssuaq Rune Stone, found in 1824 in a cairn on Kingigtortagdlit Island in West Greenland. On this stone are Viking inscriptions probably dating from the ^13th century; or the tomb of the Daughter of Egtved (Egtvedpigen), a young woman who died around 1370 BC aged between 16 and 18, and whose mummified body was found in a burial mound with clothes and offerings.

Upstairs,the history of modern times and the colonial era. Knights' armor, jewelry, altarpieces. Reconstruction of Aalborg's 1602 grocery store, with its coffered ceilings and wood carvings. Meet walrus hunters and slave traders. Discover the lives of the Danes who left for the colonies: India, West Africa and Greenland! Another department just as full of sensational objects: the bedroom of King Frederik III. A cabinet of curiosities for this enthusiast of ingenious objects testifying to the know-how and knowledge of his time, as well as exotic objects from the four corners of the globe.