Krigsmuseet
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A military museum in Copenhagen, chronicling Denmark’s involvement in wars since the 1500s up to nearly the present day, including the Cold War as well as participation in missions in Afghanistan. In English the museum’s name is usually given as ‘Danish War Museum’ (‘war’ = “krig” in Danish).
>Combinations with other dark destinations
More background info: Denmark, the land known for its statistically happiest population and home to its concept of “hygge”, is these days not immediately associated with military conflict. But one has to remember that the country was once one of the great seafaring nations with colonies ranging from India (Tranquebar) to Greenland (the latter still to a degree a colony, though largely self-governed today). There were also plenty of conflicts with regional neighbours such as Norway and Sweden (to which Denmark belonged for a while) as well as Germany and Britain.
In the 20th century, Denmark remained neutral in WW1 but was occupied by Nazi Germany during WWII (covered separately in the Danish Resistance Museum). In the then following Cold War, Denmark, as a key NATO member, played an important role as the main “guardian” of the waterways between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea as well as the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans (see also REGAN Vest). Since the beginning of Putin’s aggression against Ukraine and his threats to the wider world, Denmark’s role with regard to the Baltic Sea has returned to a similar status as during the Cold War, now with regard to Russia.
Denmark has also participated in international missions, e.g. in Afghanistan (a main theme in this museum) Iraq, Libya and Bosnia.
The current museum is housed in a historic early 17th century arsenal building on Slotsholmen right next door to one of the great palaces of Copenhagen, Christansborg. After the arsenal was moved elsewhere the building eventually became a military museum in the late 1920s. Originally called “Tøjhusmuseet” (‘Arsenal Museum’) its name was changed to the more transparent “Krigsmuseet” in 2018. The official name in English is ‘Danish War Museum’. In 2015 it received the collections from another War Museum at Christianshavn when that museum closed. The current museum is run as part of the Danish National Museum. Much of the present permanent exhibition goes back to a major upgrade begun in 2010 and opened in 2012.
What there is to see: As you enter the big hall behind the entrance door you see that past the ticket counter the space doubles up as a cafe and large museum shop, which you will naturally pass through on exiting the main exhibition.
The ground floor of this very large and oblong building (635 feet/163m long!) is home to the Kanonenhallen, i.e. the Artillery Hall. This includes a large number of historic cannons but also a couple of modern ones. The first of those that you encounter, a US make, was apparently one capable of firing nuclear-bomb shells. Panels explain that while Denmark remained nuclear-free, such cannons could have been supplied with nuclear shells from US depots in West Germany. I never knew that. Otherwise the Cold War part of the ground-floor exhibition isn’t the most elaborate (but more is to come upstairs – see below).
Yet another big exhibit from that era is a triple SAM (surface-to-air missile) launcher of the “Hawk” type from the 1970s. Also in this hall is an Iraqi jeep that was attacked by an IS drone. This exhibit is part of a subsection about these modern developments of drone warfare (and as we currently have to observe in Ukraine, they have become more and more significant).
But what stands out in this ground-floor hall is the semi-separated special section called “A Distant War”, which is about Afghanistan, more precisely Denmark’s military involvement in that country following the post-9/11 US-led invasion. This features very realistic reproductions of military infrastructure in the field, from accommodation (of very different comfy levels) to an improvised-looking toilet and from supply stores to a field kitchen, as well as a medical rescue part. One installation recreates an observation point where you can stare along a machine-gun barrel into a desert canvas.
A large exhibit here is an APC (short for ‘armoured personnel carrier’) that had been ambushed and largely destroyed by a Taliban IED (‘improvised explosive device’) in August 2010, with two Danish soldiers wounded badly (they had to be flown from the scene by helicopter).
After you exit the Afghanistan exhibition proper there’s also a kind of postscript on the outer wall of this section quoting different political parties of Denmark on their “current” position as to what role the country should play in Afghanistan – surveyed in 2011.
Impressive as the whole Afghanistan exhibition may be, you’re left with a feeling that it is quite dated – given that coverage ends in 2011 and in view of how much has happened since then, what with the shameful hectic withdrawal of all Western powers and the return of the Taliban to absolute power and repression in the country. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were already discussions behind closed doors about updating or even replacing this part of the museum. So what is described above may in due course no longer be there or at least not in the same form.
The main exhibition continues upstairs and basically consists of two parts, a) a section about the Danish Navy and b) a section called Denmark at War.
As you arrive at the top of the stairs you are greeted on the right by three artful installations, one consists of six rows of steel helmets, about two dozen each, mounted on a wall; this is echoed by a similar installation of rows of cuirasses (that’s the breast part of olden-days suits of armour); the third one on the far wall is smaller and is an arrangement of eight machine guns forming a star shape.
Behind these installations begins the Denmark at War section, so I went in there first. It covers the past 500 years, so there was plenty of old stuff that rather falls out of the time frame for dark tourism (at least in the understanding of the concept of dark tourism adopted for this website, i.e. situating the concept in the modern age). Hence I just quickly walked past all the suits of armour, swords, spears and medals on display until it got more interesting and DT-relevant, with the beginning of the 20th century.
WW1 only gets a little bit of coverage (Denmark stayed neutral in that conflict, so there isn’t much to cover to begin with), but amongst the few exhibits is a gas mask from that war, always a grim sight to behold.
More space is devoted to WWII and on display are e.g. weapons, hats, Nazi uniforms and swastikas and also some bits about the Danish resistance. But it feels a little superficial – for that topic you have to go and see the exhibition at the Frihedsmuseet.
The post-WWII era is exemplified by Denmark’s membership of NATO, its role in the Cold War and also involvement in military missions after the Cold War, e.g. in the disintegration of Yugoslavia and especially in Bosnia.
There are also plenty of more modern weapons on display as well as a relatively large selection of model planes and cannons.
I noticed that at the end of this section there were two empty glass display cabinets, presumably awaiting to be filled with more recent elements or other additional exhibits.
At the far end the wall features a large mural in the style of a triptych, with the outer sections depicting NATO air force sorties while the large central part shows scenes of civil war, presumably in Libya, going by the “I ♥ Libya” tote bag one of the figures in it is carrying.
Turning away from the mural and into the hall you find yourself at the (chronological) end of the Danish Navy section. This means that whichever of the two sections you decide to go through first you’ll end up at the final parts of the other one … unless you make your way all across the hall to the other end, start from there and then do the long crossing of the hall again. This could possibly have been arranged in a better way. Apparently, going by the folder I was given at the ticket counter, there’s supposed to be yet another section on the upper level entitled “Krigsmuseet Skatkammer” or ‘Treasures of the War Museum’, but somehow I must have missed this and hence never saw it.
Anyway, the Navy section consists mostly of ship models, from modern ones, including Denmark’s latest submarines to old sailing warships, as well as a couple of Soviet torpedo boats. In the older parts there are also dioramas of Copenhagen harbour in bygone days. Original artefacts include some sea mines and guns and a string of sailors’ hammocks. Nothing that I found terribly exciting, so I went through this Navy section rather quickly too.
Back downstairs you exit the exhibition space through the museum shop, as is customary these days. As expected the shop sells mostly books, plastic scale model sets of ships, planes and tanks, various trinkets, T-shirts and so on. More interesting is the fact that above it all a full-size V1 is hanging from the ceiling, one final exhibit and one of the larger ones on display.
The museum’s very largest exhibit, however, is in the open air, in the courtyard between the Royal Library Gardens and the museum building, namely an original Leopard 1 tank from Germany. Also dotted around are a few tank barriers amongst a few benches.
All in all, I got a very mixed impression in this museum. The special Afghanistan section is certainly very well-made, but feels dated vis-à-vis the changes in the years since 2011. The Cold War and WWII parts have their appeal but seem rather superficial. And the rest, the suits of armour, swords, medals, old cannons and model ships left me rather cold. But visitors with a keener interest in such things will certainly get a lot more out of this museum than I did.
Location: in the centre of Copenhagen on Slotsholmen, just south of Christiansborg Palace in a historic building between Tøjhusgade and Christians Brygge, with the entrance on the former.
Google Maps locator: [55.6748, 12.5797]
Access and costs: easy to locate; mid-priced
Details: Given its location right in the middle of Slotsholmen with its grand Palace, the War Museum is easily reached from within the city centre, even on foot, including from the Central Train Station, which is about a 15 minute walk away to the west.
The nearest metro station is Gammel Strand just north of Slotsholmen; alternatively you can use the water bus stop Kongelige Bibliotek to the south of the museum. The entrance is on Tøjhusgade at the northern end of the building just west of Rigsdagsgården.
Admission: 95 DKK (ca. 13 EUR), under-18-year-olds free.
Opening times: Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; open every day between June and September, but otherwise closed Mondays (except for a few special dates) and over Christmas and New Year’s Eve, though open on all other Danish public holidays.
Time required: those into suits of armour, old swords and cannons as well as medals and model ships can probably spend a good few hours in this museum; for dedicated dark tourists the attraction is a bit more limited. I spent about an hour in there, but was skipping most of the older exhibits.
Combinations with other dark destinations: see under Copenhagen.
Combinations with non-dark destinations: The directly neighbouring Christiansborg is a prominent landmark of Copenhagen and a major tourist sight in itself. Also part of the complex on Slotsholmen are the Royal Library gardens, the Jewish Museum and Thorvaldsen Museum – as well as the historic Børsen (stock exchange) with its iconic tower of twisted dragon tails. Contrasting with all the historic buildings is the ultra-modern new Royal Library building at the southern end of Slotsholmen facing the waterfront.
For more see under Copenhagen in general.
