AD-D Does Western Denmark, Part I

The AD-D whirlwind tour of western Denmark has concluded, and a grand time was had by all. The synopsis shall be delivered in installments, partly because it is very long, and partly to build suspense.


Our itinerary for Day 1: Frauge Kirke, Trapholt Art Museum, Nicolai Børnkulturhus, and Koldinghus Castle.


We'll skip over Frauge Kirke because it wasn't terribly exciting; just your typical run of the mill northern Gothic church. 

Skylights at Trapholt.

 The art museum however was great. There was an entire wing devoted to chairs; the largest collection of Danish designed chairs in the world.

An particularly interestingly laid out room. 

 And on to Koldinghus...

An octagonal column supporting eight pointed arches. Very graceful looking.

 There has been some form of Danish installation on the site of this castle since 1268. It contains the first Protestant chapel in western Denmark, which was constructed in 1536. In 1808, almost the entire structure burned down, and following extensive restoration, it was opened to the public as a museum.

AD-D walking across the courtyard.

As outstanding as the architecture in this building was, it was blown away by the main exhibit. We had somehow managed to gain entrance to the invitation-only opening party for a huge exhibit on the Beatles. As soon as we walked into the main hall, we were handed glasses of wine and serenaded by a live band covering the Beatles' hits.

A replica of one of George Harrison's innumerable guitars.

This large dose of excellence may have distracted us a bit from our architectural analysis of the renovation... But actually, it was great to get to see the main exhibition space when it was full of people.

Sgt. Pepper's anyone?

That night we stayed in an extremely nice hostel in Kolding. The more adventurous members of our group went to the local swimming pool. Sadly it was "quiet adult night" so we couldn't use the diving boards. But Kolding redeemed itself when we stumbled across You'll Never Walk Alone, the local English Pub. This was a truly hyggelig place, with 318 beers available. The ten of us who made it there proceeded to enjoy a beer tasting of the ten most unusual beers we could find. Nothing like some Architectural Design program bonding.


Tune in tomorrow for Part Two of the AD-D saga.