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Tues-Sun 10am-4pm; 30kr, Wed free; www.glyptoteket.dk . Bus #1, #2, #5, #8, #10, #16, #28, #29 or Central Station. The dazzling Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek , central Copenhagen's finest art gallery, was opened in 1897 by Carlsberg brewing magnate Carl Jacobsen as a venue for ordinary people to see classical art exhibited in amenable and accessible surroundings. At its centre is the glass-domed winter garden ( vinterhave ), its steamy interior filled with palm trees - Jacobsen correctly surmised that the warm tropical plantlife here would lure visitors who wouldn't be interested by the works of art alone, and even on a freezing winter's day a wander through these gardens and the museum's extensive collection of Etruscan, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, French and Danish artworks can prove both a physically and mentally warming experience. As Carl Jacobsen himself put it: "I called this collection Glyptotek to make clear that it was not a museum with the usual need for scientific order and completion, where works of art often stand freezing, alien to each other in heterogeneous company. No, it was to be a place where the statues are displayed in joy and harmony, to grace life for the living."
The Glyptotek's highly rated restaurant makes a perfect spot for lunch, particularly on a cold winter's day.
The Glyptotek is split into three sections centred on the winter garden: the Dahlerup Building, the Kampmann Building, and the new French wing. (Most of the collection is held on the Glyptotek's ground floor, though be aware that a few exhibits are housed on upper and lower levels.) The Dahlerup Building at the front, completed in 1897, focuses mainly on French and Danish sculpture, with some paintings from the Danish Golden Age thrown in. The right-hand side is devoted to the inspiring French collection , which features a particularly fine collection of Rodins - the largest outside France - including a version of The Kiss (there's also a version of The Thinker outside the back of the museum). Other parts of this section include a dramatic collection of white marbles: you'll find Marqueste's dramatic Persus slaying Medusa set amidst a raft of huge, full-bodied women and muscular men by various other artists, and a series of ornate busts by nineteenth-century sculptor Carpeaux. Most of the Danish collection is housed upstairs and is less stimulating, though it does provide a good reflection of Golden Age painting, with some idealized landscapes by C.W. Eckersberg, some more realistic paintings depicting the travails of Danish peasants by Marstrand, and a few decorative frescoes by Herman Freund, a close colleague of Thorvaldsen. Pass through the winter gardens to reach the Kampmann Building , which was added to the original Glyptotek in 1906 (there's a good view of the exterior from outside at the back, where a tiered pyramid looks dramatically down over Rodin's The Thinker ). The interior is refreshingly bare compared to the ornate Dahlerup Building, though the floors are laid with exquisite mosaics, while clear sightlines down the interlocking corridors and exhibition spaces neatly frame views of distant statues. There's a fine collection of Greek and Roman portrait sculpture and statues on the upper ground floor - a portrait of Caligula, which still retains some of its original paint, and a large Alexander the Great are particularly striking - a small but excellent collection of Egyptian artefacts in the crypt, including several mummies, and, on the lower ground floor, an enormous and diverse haul of Etruscan and Mesopotamian works ranging from dozens of sarcophagi to weapons and jewellery. Unfortunately, the fake Roman colonnade in the Central Hall looks a bit tacky compared to the rest of the building, and its finest feature - a first-century AD Roman mosaic inlaid into the floor - is often covered up by chairs set out for concerts and other performances. The last section of Glyptotek is the three-storey French Wing , opened in 1996 to house the museum's collection of French paintings and sculpture. The result - the exterior in particular - is an architectural triumph: a huge white vault in the most minimalist of contemporary architectural styles, which blends extraordinarily into its classical context. Linked to the other two buildings by arches and walkways, the wing's glimmering white surface creates a real sense of light and space, particularly when sunlight spills in through the glass roof. Highlights here include a collection of charming Degas bronze figurines and an impressive collection of Gauguins - Tahitian Girl , a painting that really brings out the artist's unique style of flatly coloured shapes and heavy contours, is particularly eyecatching. Amongst other paintings on show are The Lemon Grove by Monet, a wonderful play of colour and technique, and Van Gogh's evocative Pink Roses . The ground floor of the French wing is given over to temporary exhibitions.
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