Christiansborg Palace

A centre of power open to the public

Christiansborg Palace is both a royal palace and a government building. It is the only building in the world to house all three of a country’s branches of government, the executive, legislative and judicial (Supreme Court). And several parts of the building are still in use by the Danish monarch.

As it centralises the different powers within Denmark, the building is often used as a metonym for the Danish political system. However, parts of the building in use by the government are not open to the public. You can however visit the Royal Reception Rooms with The Great Hall and the Queen’s tapestries, The Royal Kitchen, The Ruins under the palace and Christiansborg Palace Chapel.

Royalty and ruins

During your visit to Christiansborg Palace you can explore the royal rooms and ruins on your own or choose to take a guided tour. The Royal Reception Rooms are used by the King of Denmark to receive foreign kings, queens and presidents. The Great Hall is where the King hosts magnificent gala dinners, it’s walls are decorated 17 colourful tapestries which represent 1100 years of Danish history.

The Royal Kitchen have been restored to how they looked during the reign of king Christian X. Here you can follow the preparations for a gala dinner to mark the king’s Silver Jubilee on the 15 May 1937, which catered to 275 guests. The Palace Chapel is usually only open on Sunday except in July when it is open all week.

The current palace is the third building on this site and under it you can visit the ruins of both Bishop Absalon’s Castle (1167) and Copenhagen Castle (14^th-century). The largest ruin is the curtain wall from Bishop Absalon’s Castle, which protected the castle from Wendish pirates.

Buy tickets to visit Christiansborg Palace

Christiansborg Palace is the city centre of Copenhagen, and has been so for over 800 years. This is the place to visit to truly feel Danish history. If you prefer to explore the different parts of the palace on your own instead of waiting for a guided tour to start, you can use the Useeum app.

It has free audio guides about the tapestries, the Royal Reception Rooms, the Ruins under the palace and a tour outside the building. For those who enjoy a good puzzle, the app also has a free scavenger hunt “The Museum Mystery”, where you can help prevent the theft of one of Christiansborg Palace’s invaluable treasures. The app is available in English, Danish, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and Chinese.