A bronze equestrian Christian IX dominates Torvet, Esbjerg's central square, atop a tall granite plinth. The statue is a copy — the original by Vilhelm Bissen stands at Christiansborg in Copenhagen — but the Esbjerg version has a particular significance, since it was Christian IX who in 1868 ordered the construction of the harbour that became this city.
The square around the statue is a pleasant place to sit on a sunny afternoon, with the late-nineteenth-century facades of the old courthouse and the Dronning Louise restaurant on one side, the city hall on another, and a steady drift of locals coming and going. The Christmas market sets up here in December.