In mid-November we tagged a long weekend in Copenhagen onto a business trip of Luisa’s. Nyhavn with its colourful houses impressed me, and one morning, while Luisa was still in Oslo, I was lucky with a beautiful sunrise.
Restaurants and architecture
The many restaurants we saw and in some cases tried were stylish and furnished in a typically Scandinavian way, and the food was so good it would have deserved a post of its own. Besides the beautiful corners and parks, I was above all impressed by Grundtvig’s Church a little outside the centre. For me it is the most beautiful church I have ever visited: simple and elegant, without paintings or special ornament, just beautiful.
Grundtvig’s Church
I would come back to Copenhagen any time for this church. Grundtvig’s Church in the Bispebjerg district was designed by Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint; built from 1921 and only completed in 1940, it is a rare example of expressionist church architecture. King Christian V had Nyhavn dug from 1670 to 1675, and Hans Christian Andersen lived here for 18 years.
A red-brick building with a clock tower and round arches – arriving in Copenhagen.Beneath iron arches: a traveller with a suitcase, a pigeon beside him.Left, “Borgerdydskolen” above arched windows; right, the letters “Vendsyssel”.A yellow brick dome with a blue zigzag above a dark metal roof.The twisted spire above the brick building, a crescent moon overhead.Nyhavn in the evening: colourful houses, sailing boats, lights in the water.Nyhavn at blue hour – Christian V had the canal dug between 1670 and 1675.Left, a light bulb by a window shutter; right, “Julemarked” in yellow lights.Passengers reflected in the window above the lit tunnel.“Anno 1675” on the grey gabled house in Nyhavn – as old as the canal itself.Left, the canal with boats; right, a row of colourful gabled houses.Orange, red and yellow – facades and ship masts in the morning light.A black boat in front of grey and white gabled houses on the canal.Left, the harbour front with towers; right, a white sailing ship in front of a warehouse.Grundtvig’s Church with its stepped gable – for me the most beautiful church I have ever visited.Tall brick pillars and three narrow windows – simple and elegant, without paintings.Grundtvig’s Church, three times: the pews, a hanging ship and a ring of lights.A narrow lattice window between the tall brick pillars.Vault after vault, small windows at the end – built between 1921 and 1940.Looking up at the pointed arches of pale brick.Left, hanging lamps between the pillars; right, the altar with candles and flowers.Tall windows between the brick pillars – I’d come back to Copenhagen for this church any time.An avenue of tall, almost bare trees.A red star, a cup-shaped sign and “Moskvich” in Cyrillic letters.Left, a red wall with a birch and benches; right, the red wall with shadows.A greenish bust, its shadow falling on the wall.Multi-storey brick houses behind bare trees.A seated green figure beneath autumn trees.The orange house corner in the last light, “Adelgade” and “Fredericiagade” signs.An equestrian statue and a green dome behind the chain fence.A person upside down in mid-air in front of the glass building on the harbour.Two bare trees and a bench on a green hill.A long red-brick building behind bare trees.A cantilevered glass box and the crescent moon in the evening sky.Yellow and blue in Nyhavn: “Galionen” and “Hyttefadet”.Nyhavn in the evening, twice: colourful houses, boats and reflections.Fairy lights and stalls at the Christmas market, a crescent moon above.Left, the gate with “Tivoli” in lights; right, red digits reading “2045”.A glass facade with a tight window grid, from below.Left, ship masts against a pale sky; right, a curved glass facade.Two people on the curving wooden walkway in the harbour.Left, a guard in a bearskin hat at the portal; right, a wing of the palace.A palace facade with columns, rooftop figures and golden doors.Orange half-timbering with diagonal beams.A red headband and a laugh among orange berries.A pond with autumn trees, pines and a white bird.Open sandwiches with salmon and prawns behind glass – the food would have deserved a post of its own.Left, a round glasshouse with a dome; right, house number 129.Rooftops and church spires beneath breaking clouds.Clouds and blue sky reflected in the glass facade.Left, dark water at the wooden edge; right, a curving boardwalk.
