Travel

Without planning it, we somehow spent Constitution Day at the Denmark National History Museum. Located in the old Royal Palace, the Denmark National History Museum, albeit impressive and grandiose, leaves you wondering what kind of history you’re learning about. After walking around for nearly 2 hours, reading the literature and listening to the guided audio tour, it seems the national history is almost solely focused on the lives and conquests of the royal family. If you’re interested in the history of life in the country or how regular Danes (regular folk like you or I) have lived, good luck. Supposedly this extremely ornate castle burnt down 1 or 2 times – and yet somehow the royal family was able to rebuild it perfectly multiple times (along with maintaining and occasionally rebuilding the other 8 palaces exclusively for their use). At some point in the 1800s, the country decided that a democratically elected body that gave the common citizen some voice in how their country was spending their taxes or who they were warring with next (probably Sweden again….) Even more interesting is that when talking to Danes in Copenhagen, many of them are unfamiliar with their country’s history and haven’t been to these museums. Funny and sad that on their national holiday, there are more foreigners at the national museum than Danes.