Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
33 13 44 11,
www.natmus.dk
.
The café overlooking the entry hall serves cof-
fee, pastries, and lunch (90-145 kr).
Self-Guided Tour:
Pick up the museum map as you enter, and head for
the Danish history exhibit. It fills three floors, from the bottom up: prehistory,
the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and modern times (1660-2000).
Start before history did, in the
Danish Prehistory
exhibit (on the right side
of the main entrance hall). Recently updated, this collection is slick and ex-
tremely well-presented.
In the Stone Age section, you'll see primitive tools and still-clothed skel-
etons of Scandinavia's reindeer-hunters. The oak coffins were originally
covered by burial mounds (called “barrows”). People put valuable items into
the coffins with the dead, such as a folding chair (which, back then, was a real
status symbol). In the farming section, ogle the ceremonial axes and amber
necklaces.
The Bronze Age brought the sword (several are on display). The “Chariot
of the Sun”—a small statue of a horse pulling the sun across the sky—likely
had religious significance for early Scandinavians (whose descendants con-
tinue to celebrate the solstice with fervor). In the same room are those iconic
horned helmets. Contrary to popular belief (and countless tourist shops), these
helmets were not worn by the Vikings, but by their predecessors—for cere-
monial purposes, centuries earlier. In the next room are huge cases filled with
