Odense is Denmark's third-largest city and the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen, a fact the city embraces wholeheartedly. The Hans Christian Andersen Museum, recently rebuilt and expanded by architect Kengo Kuma, is the centrepiece, but Odense has more to offer than fairy tales.
The old city centre is compact and walkable, with cobbled pedestrian streets, small cafes, and the Gothic St. Canute's Cathedral — one of Denmark's finest churches, with a gilded altarpiece by Claus Berg and the remains of King Knud the Holy in the crypt. The Carl Nielsen Museum, Brandts photographic art centre, the Danish Railway Museum, and the city history museum Møntergården round out a serious roster of small museums. Odense is also the capital of Funen, the island Danes call "the garden of Denmark" for its gentle, green landscape.
The Funen Village, an open-air museum on the outskirts, reconstructs 18th and 19th century rural life with farmhouses, a smithy, a windmill, and working agriculture. It is one of the best of its kind in Scandinavia.