Royal Library Garden, Copenhagen

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The Library Garden with the Royal Library as the backdrop 410 den0044.JPG
The Library Garden with the Royal Library as the backdrop

The Royal Library Garden (Danish: Det Kongelige Biblioteks Have), often referred to simply as the Library Garden, is a small, somewhat hidden garden between the Royal Library, the Tøjhus Museum, ChristianIV's Supply Depot and Christiansborg Palace on Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. [1] It has a reputation for being one of the most tranquil spots in the city centre.

Danish language North Germanic language spoken in Denmark

Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in Denmark and in the region of Southern Schleswig in northern Germany, where it has minority language status. Also, minor Danish-speaking communities are found in Norway, Sweden, Spain, the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina. Due to immigration and language shift in urban areas, around 15–20% of the population of Greenland speak Danish as their first language.

Royal Danish Library is a merger of the two previous national libraries in Denmark: the State and University Library in Aarhus and the Royal Library in Copenhagen. Although now under a single organisation, the separate locations in both cities are maintained.

Christiansborg Palace castle in Copenhagen, seat of the Danish Parliament

Christiansborg Palace is a palace and government building on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the seat of the Danish Parliament, the Danish Prime Minister's Office, and the Supreme Court of Denmark. Also, several parts of the palace are used by the Danish monarch, including the Royal Reception Rooms, the Palace Chapel and the Royal Stables.

Contents

The garden has a shallow water basin with a water feature in the middle, blooming flower beds and large shady trees. It is accessible from the courtyard at Christiansborg's show grounds.

Water feature

In landscape architecture and garden design, a water feature is one or more items from a range of fountains, pools, ponds, cascades, waterfalls, and streams. Before the 18th century they were usually powered by gravity, though the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon are described by Strabo as supplied by an Archimedean screw. Other examples were supplied with water using hydraulic rams.

History

The Library Garden is located on top of the former site of Christian IVs old Naval Harbour. The harbour was flanked by an arsenal now housing the Tøjhus Museum and a supply depot, both completed in 1694, and was connected to the main harbour by a narrow canal. Later the Navy was moved to Holmens Kanal and the old harbour was filled in 1867. [2] The garden was designed in 1920 by landscape gardener Jens Peder Andersen and Christiansborg's architect Thorvald Jørgensen. As a reminder of its maritime past, a small pond has been retained in the middle of the gardens and an old mooring ring of the type used by ships in the 17th and 18th centuries has been built into the masonry at the end of the gardens.

Christian IV of Denmark King of Denmark and Norway

Christian IV, sometimes colloquially referred to as Christian Firtal in Denmark and Christian Kvart or Quart in Norway, was king of Denmark–Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 to 1648. His 59-year reign is the longest of Danish monarchs, and of Scandinavian monarchies.

Arsenal place for arms and ammunition

An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury or armory are mostly regarded as synonyms, although subtle differences in usage exist.

Holmens Kanal

Holmens Kanal is a short street in central Copenhagen. Part of the main thoroughfare of the city centre, it extends from Kongens Nytorv for one block to a junction with a statue of Niels Juel where it turns right towards Holmens Bro while the through traffic continues straight along Niels Juels Gade. The street was originally a canal, hence the name, but was filled in the 1860s. Today it is dominated by bank and government buildings.

Features

The water feature Royal Danish Library Garden - water feature.jpg
The water feature

Basin and water sculpture

The garden has a shallow pool at its centre. In the middle of it stands an eight-metre-high copper sculpture which spouts out cascades of water on the hour. Designed by scultpror Mogens Møller, it was a gift from the Ny Carlsberg Foundation to the Royal Library on the occasion of the opening of its extension, the Black Diamond, located on the waterfront on the other side of the old library building. [3]

Mogens Møller is a Danish Minimalist painter and sculptor who has designed a number of large public works and created the portrait of Queen Margrethe on Danish coins.

Carlsberg Foundation Foundation controlling the Carlsberg brewery Group and Carlsberg Laboratory

Carlsberg Foundation was founded by J. C. Jacobsen in 1876, by allocating some of his shares in Carlsberg Brewery to fund and operate the Carlsberg Laboratory and the natural history museum at Frederiksborg Palace. The foundation has since expanded to fund scientific research, to manage the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, and via the Tuborg Foundation to fund social works. As of 2011 it owned 30.3% of the shares in Carlsberg Group and controlled 74.2% of the voting power.

Black Diamond (library) modern waterfront extension to the Royal Danish Librarys old building

The Black Diamond is a modern waterfront extension to the Royal Danish Library's old building on Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. Its quasi-official nickname is a reference to its polished black granite cladding and irregular angles. Designed by Danish architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen, the Black Diamond was completed in 1999 as the first in a series of large-scale cultural buildings along Copenhagen's waterfront.

The Soren Kierkegaard statue Royal Library Garden - Soren Kierkegaard.jpg
The Søren Kierkegaard statue

Kierkegaard sculpture

A 1918 bronze statue of Søren Kierkegaard by sculptor Louis Hasselriis is located in the middle of the gardens. Kierkegaard appears absorbed in his own thoughts with his gaze directed towards a point on the other side of the wall where his fiancée, Regine Olsen, is said to have lived.

Søren Kierkegaard Danish philosopher and theologian, precursor of Existentialism

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote critical texts on organized religion, Christendom, morality, ethics, psychology, and the philosophy of religion, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony and parables. Much of his philosophical work deals with the issues of how one lives as a "single individual", giving priority to concrete human reality over abstract thinking and highlighting the importance of personal choice and commitment. He was against literary critics who defined idealist intellectuals and philosophers of his time, and thought that Swedenborg, Hegel, Fichte, Schelling, Schlegel and Hans Christian Andersen were all "understood" far too quickly by "scholars".

Louis Hasselriis Danish sculptor

Louis Hasselriis was a Danish sculptor known for his public statuary.

Regine Olsen Søren Kierkegaards fiancée

Regine Schlegel was a Danish woman who was engaged to the philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard from September 1840 to October 1841. Olsen's relationship with Kierkegaard exerted a crucial influence over his intellectual development, philosophy and theology, and the legacy of their engagement figures prominently in his writings.

Vegetation

The wide variety of flowers in the gardens change with the seasons. Visitors can enjoy the view from rows of benches in the shade of the trees or from others out in the sun along the wall between the gardens and the yard to the Danish National Archives. Column plinths from the old Christiansborg serve as epergnes in the four grassy corner pieces and the principal axis through the gardens creates a link between the yard to the Danish National Archives and the main entrance to the Royal Library.

See also

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<i>Heart Book</i>

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References

  1. "Det Kongelige Biblioteks Have". AOK. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  2. "Det Kongelige Biblioteks gamle bygning 100 år". Royal Danish Library. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
  3. "The Royal Library Gardens". Danish Palaces and Properties Agency. Archived from the original on 2010-09-11. Retrieved 2010-01-04.

See also

Coordinates: 55°40′29″N12°34′53″E / 55.6746°N 12.5813°E / 55.6746; 12.5813