Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
You'll kick things off with
“The Age”
exhibit, which considers the era in
which Andersen lived (1805-1875), putting the author in his historical con-
text—the time of Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, and Karl Marx. “The
Man” paints a portrait of this quirky individual, who was extremely tall and
gangly, with a big nose...an ugly duckling, indeed. He spent hours in the mir-
ror perfecting an expression of wry cleverness for photographic portraits (sev-
eral of which are displayed). You'll learn how bad teeth caused H. C. a life-
time ofpain, andhowthis deeply sensitive, introspective fellow worried about
his family history of mental illness even as he astounded the world with his
exuberant creativity. “The Art” demonstrates that H. C. was as talented with
visual arts as the written word; this darkened room shows off intricate paper
cutouts he created (some of which illustrated his tales) and sketches from his
travels.
“The Life”
is a circular exhibit (turn left and proceed counterclockwise,
following the footprints) with a step-by-step biography of the writer, accom-
panied by artifacts from his life. This is arranged around a central Memorial
Hall slathered with eight frescoes depicting scenes from H. C.'s past, under
a dome filled with natural light. Notice that as the story of his life—starting
with a tearful hug to his mother on his departure from Odense at age
14—progresses, the scenes change from daylight to sunset to evening. Under
the dome are items relating to H. C.'s fervent crush on the opera singer Jenny
Lind: a love letter that he wrote to her, and the champagne glass she used to
toast him as her “brother” (a painful rebuff that broke H. C.'s heart—he kept
the glass his entire life as a reminder).
Continuing around the biographical section, you'll pass a movie theater
with a 13-minute introductory
film
about H. C. (plays every 15 minutes, al-
ternates between Danish and English).
