Museum of Art & Design and Frihedsmuseet - Copenhagen - TravBuddy

In addition to all of the palaces, there are a lot of other great museums in Copenhagen to see that you can fit in, many of which are right by some of the more well-known sights. I went to the Museum for Art and Design and the Resistance Museum, both of which I recommend.

The Museum of Art and Design is just up the street from the Marmorkirke and Amalienborg Palace. The museum is one floor, but in a rather large rectangle. Half of the museum is the standard, here is some old pieces of artistically designed items, from Asia, the Renaissance, and early modern. Not terribly exciting (unless that is the kind of stuff you like). The other half, however, is nineteenth and twentieth century and quite good. There are a lot of posters from the period, in addition to all sorts of materials, including some very cool chairs. There were also two special exhibits when I visited -- one from bernt the furniture designer, and another on glass, with some really beautiful pieces. Unfortunately, neither of the special exhibits were in English -- only Danish. Actually, most of the museum only has the small placards about each item in Danish. However, the description about each room is in both Danish and English. For some sections of the museum, however, there is a booklet in English that you can pick up at the beginning that tells you about each room in further detail and the pieces. Definitely keep an eye out for these pamphlets so that you get a better sense of everything. The museum takes about an hour or so to get through.

The Frihedsmuseet is along the edge of Churchill Park, near the St. Albans Church and the Gefion fountain. Outside the museum is a World War II bunker that is open for just a few hours in the middle of the day (1 - 3 pm, perhaps) and free to see. Unfortunately, I did not arrive in time, so I can't comment on it. But considering it is under a mound of ground in Churchill Park, I think it must be quite interesting to see.

The actual museum has two items out front of it from the war. The first is a large rounded box which was an air raid shelter for the royal guards for the palace. I would not have wanted to be in one of those. The other is a "tank" used by the Danish resistance to fight the Germans in 1945.

The museum itself is free, and reminded me a bit of the Norwegian resistance museum in Oslo, though not quite as nationalistic. The Danish museum acknowledges that some Danes were a bit more supportive of the Germans, and displays some of those materials, as well as materials from the leading German Nazis stationed in Denmark. The Museum itself is a rectangle enclosing a small courtyard which also contains a few historical pieces -- so be sure to turn around and look outside the windows. There is also a 30 minute film that the museum shows, but I did not watch it (I was running a bit short on time). Similar to the Norwegian museum, the Danish Museum of Resistance concentrates on the Danish experience and only really has one display case on the saving of the Danish Jews. Everything in the Frihedsmuseet is in English and Danish, and there is a lot of material in every display. To really get through everything and see the movie, this museum needs about 1.5 to 2 hours.