One of the Lucky Few

On February 23rd, I had my third field study, which was for my Copenhagen history class. Now, this field study wasn't to just anywhere it was to Amalienborg Palace. That's right the home of the Royal family!!!

Our field study started out with us walking around the area of Frederickstown. We saw several sights, such as Nyboder (the old naval houses) and Citadel (a bastion still in place). After we walked around for an hour, the most interesting part of the field study began.

When we go to Amalienborg Palace, our professor told us we were very lucky because tours of Amalienborg aren't open to the public. In order to get a tour, you have to apply and be approved ahead of time. When we began our tour we had to put all our coats and bags in a coat room. We had to wear blue plastic booties, like the ones doctors have to wear, over our shoes and we weren't allowed to bring our cameras with us. These precautions were taken in order to preserve the palace since many pieces of the palace are still intact from the 1700s and 1800s. Our tour guide showed us around and told us about the palace for a little over an hour. Also during this time, we were followed around by the palace security.

Amalienborg Palace was MAGNIFICENT. Originally the palace was built for four noble families, but when Christiansborg Palace burnt down in 1794, the Royal family bought the palaces. Many of the rooms, such as the China room, had tapestries on the walls that have been there since the day they were hung. An interesting fact we learned about the tapestries in the China room was the artist who designed the pictures never went to China. Another interesting fact, artists were involved in tapestry making since they were the ones who designed the sketch of the scene and the sewers were the ones who created the tapestry from the sketch. We saw several other rooms, such as the Grand Hall. The Grand Hall was GORGEOUS! The rocaille was made of wood and gold. Our tour guide told us that carving out of wood required some of the best skill, which made  the wood carving very expensive. Having gold along with the wood made the rocaille extra expensive. Another room we went into had an interesting story about the tapestry on the wall. When the fabric was chosen for the room, the family believed there was enough fabric to adorn the walls and furniture. As the family was close to finishing the wall, the fabric ran out. In order to hide the mistake, a painting from painting archives was hung. Amalienborg has to be one of my favorite palaces I have seen. Unlike many palaces, the interior wasn't cluttered with paintings and furniture. The interior was simple, but still displayed wealth and magnificence with the fabrics, paintings, flooring, gold, and tapestries.

Oh, did I mention I was in the same room as Margerthe II, THE QUEEN OF DENMARK?!?! Well, kind of. Although the house we were in is not regularly used by the Royal family, the Queen periodically goes to the building or uses it for special occasions, such as the Grand Hall for New Year's celebrations. As we were in the China room, someone opened the door. Our tour guide and the man started speaking in Danish. Then the door was shut again. Later, our tour guide told us that the man who opened the door was with the Queen. SO AWESOME!!! I can say I was near the Queen!!