The Architecture of the Glyptotek

When the Glyptotek was built in 1897, it was on a swampy plot on the outskirts of Copenhagen. Today the museum and its landmark glass dome stand as a monument to art in the heart of the city. The Glyptotek is Scandinavia’s leading antiquities museum and has one of Europe’s finest collections of French art from the period 1800–1930.

The Glyptotek was founded by Carl Jacobsen, one of Denmark’s greatest industrial magnates and art collectors.He and his wife, Ottilia Jacobsen, donated their entire art collection to the people of Denmark. Carl Jacobsen wanted to build “a temple to beauty” where art could speak to everyone in a magnificent architectural setting for outstanding collections of antiquities and 19th-century French and Danish sculpture.

The first building of the Glyptotek was designed by architect Vilhelm Dahlerup, and the museum has since been extended with buildings designed by architect Hack Kampmann in 1906 and Henning Larsen Architects in 1996. The architecture is the museum’s largest work of art. ‘The Architecture of the Glyptotek‘ tells the fascinating story of the history of the museum’s architecture in all its diversity and detail, exploring the aesthetic experience created by the interplay between the buildings and the exceptional art they house. The book is richly illustrated with historical photographs, archival architectural drawings and stunning new work by architecture photographer Anders Sune Berg.

With contributions by Gertrud Hvidberg-Hansen, Claus Grønne, Jesper Christiansen, Kasper Lægring, Eva Tind, Martin Søberg, Jakob Ingemann Parby, Sophia Kalkau, Peter Thule Kristensen, Sif Itona Westerberg, Birgitte Kleis, Anne Jonstrup Simonsen, Kristina Lindholdt, Mogens A. Morgen, Ida Carnera and Vibeke Cristofoli.

Edited by Jannie Rosenberg Bendsen and Anna Manly.