Image: Foto: Linda Kastrup / Berlingske.
Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen has been nominated for Berlingske’s ‘Byens Bedste’ award in the category of Best Museum Experience 2026. Voting is open until 12 noon on 31 August, according to the museum and the newspaper’s nomination guide.
The nomination recognises five museums that Berlingske says have offered an exceptional experience over the past year. In its assessment of Thorvaldsen Museum, the newspaper points to the institution’s recent ‘confrontation exhibitions’, which place the museum’s historic collection and architecture in dialogue with contemporary artistic practices. It also highlights the museum’s presentation as a unified work of art rather than solely as a memorial site for the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.
Berlingske specifically cites the museum’s exhibition by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher as a major example of this approach. The presentation, described by the newspaper as the previous year’s major programme at the museum, is given as a principal reason for the institution’s nomination. The source material does not provide the exhibition’s title or dates.
Thorvaldsen Museum is housed at Bertel Thorvaldsens Plads 2 in central Copenhagen. The building, constructed between 1839 and 1848, is Denmark’s first purpose-built museum building and was designed by architect Michael Gottlieb Bindesbøll. Thorvaldsen’s grave is located at the centre of the museum’s inner courtyard. The institution is part of Kunst & Historie, alongside Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen Museum and the City Archives.
The nomination comes as the museum prepares to open ‘Life, Longing & Landscape – Thorvaldsen’s Painting Collection’ on 9 September 2026. The exhibition will occupy nine renovated rooms and present a selection from Thorvaldsen’s private collection of more than 350 paintings. The works were included in the first public display held when the museum opened in 1848.
The exhibition will examine Thorvaldsen’s preferences as a collector and the artistic currents of his period. Several paintings are returning to public view after many years in storage, including works by Dietrich Wilhelm Lindau, Károly Markó the Elder and Albert Küchler. The display will also include works by C.W. Eckersberg, Constantin Hansen and Wilhelm Marstrand, organised around themes including Italian popular life, romantic views of ancient ruins, dramatic landscapes and representations shaped by travel to places such as Rome and Munich.
An opening event for the exhibition is scheduled for 9 September from 4pm to 7pm and will be free to all visitors. The programme includes an opening speech, wine in the museum foyer and performances of ‘SPEKTRUM’, a work combining an Italian medieval hymn with newly composed music. The museum’s inner courtyard, meanwhile, is closed during a restoration project funded by DKK 9 million from the A.P. Møller Foundation and an equivalent contribution from the City of Copenhagen; the work is expected to be completed in 2027.
