Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/374

Rh 344 COPENHAGEN 50 feet wide, with a gallery supported by Corinthian columns. In the great entrance hall is the Triumphal March of Alexander into Babylon by Thorwaldsen. In the upper part of the building is the Royal Gallery of Paintings, enriched by many valuable specimens of the Flemish, Dutch, and Italian schools. The palace also contains the council chamber and the apartments in which both Houses of the Parliament hold their sittings. The large exterior court on the west side forms a riding ground, and is inclosed on both sides by regular buildings with piazzas, containing the court theatre, stables, and riding-house. In connection with the palace is the royal library, with about 550,000 volumes and 30,000 manuscripts ; and the chapel, adorned with works by Thorwaldsen and Bissen. The palace of Rosenborg, supposed to have been planner! by Inigo Jones, was erected in 1604. It is an irregular building in the Gothic style, with a high pointed roof, and flanked by four towers of unequal dimensions. It contains the coin and medal cabinet, a fine collection of Venetian glass, the famous silver drinking-horn of Oldenburg, the regalia, and other objects of interest as illustrating the history of Denmark. The Riddersal, a spacious room, is covered with tapestry representing the various battles of Christian V., and has at one end a massive silver throne. The gardens, formerly much more extensive, are open to the public, and afford an agreeable promenade. The palace of Charlottenborg, on the Kongens Nytorv, which takes its name from Charlotte, the wife of Christian V., is a huge desolate-looking building, built iu 1G72. Frederick V. made a grant of it to the Academy of Arts, which holds its annual exhibition of paintings and sculpture within its walls, in April and May. The four palaces on the Amalienborg were built for the residence of four noble families ; but on the destruction of Clmstiansborg in 1794 they became the residence of the king and court, and so continued till the death of Christian VIII. in 1848. At present (1877) one of the four is inhabited by the king, the second by the crown prince, and the third by the queen-dowager, while the fourth is occu pied by the foreign office and the principal court of justice or Hojeste Ret. Prindsens Palais to the west of Christiansborg, once the residence of Christian V. and Frederick VI. when crown princes, now contains the Royal Museum of Art, the Ethnographical Museum, and the Ruyal Museum of Northern Antiquities. The last named was founded in 1807, and under the mamgement of Mr Worsaae has become the richest collection of Scandinavian antiquities iu the world. The chancery buildings, immediately adjoining the Christiansborg, and united to it by a corridor, consist of a large main building erected by Frederick IV., and of three others since added. Here are deposited the privy archives of the state and of the royal family. The town- hall and court-house, in the Slotsholm or Castle Island (built 1805-15), contains the municipal council chamber, the police and criminal courts, and other public offices. The exchange, also on the Castle Island, is surmounted by a remarkable spire, formed of four dragons, with their heads directed to the four points of the compass, and their bodies entwining each other till their tails coma to a point at the top. &amp;gt; The Thorwaldsen Museum, built 1837-46 in a combina tion of the Egyptian and Etruscan styles, is 230 feet in length, 125 feet in breadth, and 40 feet high, and consists of two stories. In the centre is an open court, 116 feet long and 50 feet broad, containing the artist s tomb. The exterior walls are decorated with groups of figures of coloured stucco, illustrative of events connected with the formation of the museum. Over the principal entrance is the Chariot of Victory drawn by four Horses, executed in bronze from a model by Bissen. The front hall, corridors, and apart ments are painted in the Pompeian style, with brilliant colours and with great artistic skill. The museum contains about 300 of Thorwaldsen s works : and in one apartment is his sitting-room furniture arranged as it was found at the time of his death in 1844. Educational Buildings. At the head of the educational institutions is the university, which, with its library and zoological museum, occupies a series of buildings forming a large quadrangle next Frue Kirke. It was founded by Christian I. in 1479 ; but its present constitution dates from 1788. There are five faculties, a theological, juridical, medical, philosophical, and mathematical with thirty-four professors : and the average number of students is about 1000. In 1851 an English, and in 1852 an Anglo- Saxon, lectureship was established. All the professors are bound to give a series of lectures open to the public free of charge. The university possesses considerable endowments and has several foundations for the assistance of poor students ; the &quot; regent s charity,&quot; for instance, founded by Christian, affords free residence and a small allowance to 100 bursars. In connection with the university are the observatory, the chemical laboratory in Ny Vester Gade, the surgical academy in Bred Gade, founded in 1786, and the botanic garden. The university library, formerly lodged in Trinity Church, but now in a special building erected ir. 1863, has been incorporated with the former Classen Library, collected by the famous merchants of that name, and now contains about 200,000 volumes, besides about 4000 manu scripts, which include Rask s valuable Oriental collection and the Arne-Magnean series of Scandinavian documents. It shares with the royal library, which has 550,000 volumes and 30,000 MSS., the right of receiving a copy of every book published in Denmark. Among the other educational institutions may be mentioned the polytechnic school, founded in 1829 ; the veterinary and agricultural college, established by Abildgaard in 1773, and adopted by the state in 1776; the military academy, and the school of navigation. Among the literary and scientific associations may be mentioned the Danish Royal Society, founded in 1742, for the advancement of the sciences of mathematics, astronomy, natural philosophy, etc., by the publication of papers and essays; the Royal Antiquarian Society, founded in 1825, for diffusing a knowledge of Northern and Icelandic arche ology, and stimulated by the efforts of such men as Thomsen, Rape, Finn Magnusen, and Peterson ; the Society for the Promotion of Danish Literature, for the publication of works chiefly connected with the history of Danish literature; the Natural Philosophy Society; the Royal Agricultural Society; the Danish Church History Society; the Industrial Association, founded iu 1838, the Royal Geographical Society, established in 1876 ; and several musical and other societies. The Academy of Arts was founded &quot;by Frederick V. in 1754, for the instruction of artists, and for disseminating a taste for the fine arts among manufacturers and operatives. Attached to it are schools for the study of architecture, ornamental drawing, and modelling. An Art Union was founded in 1826, and a musical conservatorium in 1870, under the direction of the composers Gado and Hartmann. Churches. The principal church, or cathedral, the Frue Kirke (Church of our Lady), was almost entirely destroyed in tae bombardment of 1807, but was completely restored in 1811-29. The works of Thorwaldseu, by which it 13 adorned, constitute its chief attraction. In the pediment is a group iu terra cotta of sixteen figures, representing John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness ; over the entrance within the portico is a bas-relief of Christ s entrance into Jerusalem ; on one side of the entrance is a-