danish buildings, halls, churches.

welcome to the amalieborg, home of the royal danish family.

outside the amalieborg, 4 tin men! a picture of the amalieborg and its own special danish flag. the centre of the flag consists of a smaller square featuring an eagle eye's view of the entire palace square. and amaliehave is the garden next to the borg.

inside the mamorkirken, which is the famed marble church. also known as frederik kirken. i dont know why blogger refuses to publish the other church photos. it will die die be up.

taken at frue plads, which is the main university hall. its been the main university hall since the middle ages. middle ages, i kid you not. and the uni flag flying very nicely in the wind.

atsuko and me, at the international day reception. that isnt alcohol, i swear. its orange squash. observe the interior of frue plads.

and again. the interior is amazing. its surrounded by renaissance murals and the art is just mind-blowing. i dont purport to know art, art history or whatever, but i think i can appreciate beauty, and this is it. the political science choir serenading an international audience with danish summer songs. jeg elsker det!

a collage from inside the church of our lady, the church where crown prince frederik and crown princess mary donaldson from tasmania wedded. im running out of vocab to describe things that are beautiful. stunning? overwhelming? majestic?

random pictures from within the church.

some reflections: btw within copenhagen itself, there are 101 churches. alot of them are preserved historical sites, but sometimes i wonder, apart from the stunning architecture, where is the heart and soul of the church? where is its people? in the mamorkirken, the ceiling was painted with several saints ( i will put this pic up) and when i looked up, immediately the verse with 'and all the saints join in one song' just popped into my head. but where are the earthly saints? someone once told me that although nordic countrics are largely lutheran, only a mere 20% are regular church goers. personally, i find it fine when churches exist as photographic models and examples of fine human creativity and detail, but when that is all it stands for... then its a little iffy. ironically, i was reading a danish magazine yesterday and one of the articles was on the danish churches and churches around the world which are now used as social activity centres, to screen films, run cafes, installation art (very much like chijmes at home) and it was entitled, "jesus has left the building". ohhhh boy.