Designmuseum Danmark

Designmuseum Danmark, in an 18th-century former hospital near Amalienborg, has one of Europe's finest collections of Danish and international design and applied arts. The permanent collection covers furniture, fashion, industrial design, textiles, and ceramics from the 18th century to today, with particular strength in 20th-century Scandinavian modernism.

The Danish design room is the heart of the collection: Arne Jacobsen's chairs, Poul Henningsen's PH lamps, Hans Wegner's furniture, and Kaare Klint's safari chair. These are not just museum pieces — many are still in production, and seeing them in context rather than a showroom makes a difference. The building itself is worth the visit: a converted baroque hospital with beautiful courtyards.

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The museum's Danish design collection includes the original prototype of Arne Jacobsen's Ant chair — designed in 1952 for the cafeteria of Novo Nordisk's factory in Bagsvaerd. Jacobsen initially thought it too radical to be commercially viable. It went on to sell millions of copies and is still in production. The chair was the first to be made entirely of moulded plywood, a technique that transformed furniture manufacturing.

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