Scan Magazine
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Unique Experiences in Denmark 2022
Hofteatret: Discover the Baroque splendour of Denmark’s only court theatre Buried in the oldest part of Copenhagen’s grand Christiansborg Palace – the modern seat of the Danish parliament – is a forgotten 18th-century cultural gem. The historic Hofteatret (The Court Theatre) – once the private music and theatre venue, party locale and meeting point of King Christian VII – will be revealed in December, after a staggering two-year restoration to former glory. By Lena Hunter
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Press photos
“Hofteatret is a national treasure. It’s the only court theatre in Denmark and has existed since 1767,” says Peter Christensen Teilmann, director of the Theatre Museum at the Court Theatre.
“Despite all of that, people forget that there was this incredibly beautiful theatre, hidden in the King’s stables and armoury,” says Christensen Teilmann.
The storied theatre has seen Kings and their councils rise and fall, and housed opera, drama, music and political debates. Incredibly, given its timber structure, Hofteatret even survived two great fires that consumed Christianborg Palace at the end of both the 1700s and the 1800s.
In resplendent tones of pearl, duck-egg blue and gold, the original Hofteatret was a neoclassical masterpiece – but the intervening centuries had not been kind. When the museum moved in in 1922, parts of the original interiors had already been sold or thrown away.
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“You could visit Hofteatret, but there were only reminiscences of the original interiors,” explains Christensen Teilmann. So, in March 2021, a 73.5 million DKK renovation began – due to be unveiled in December.
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April 2022
Lost in the sands of time
The interior restoration will create a fully immersive historical time-warp, while state-of-the-art audio and lighting and modern guest facilities will breathe new life into the opulent venue. “It’ll be fantastic. We’re rebuilding a Baroque stage that’s been covered up for years and the exquisite original vestibule,” says Christensen Teilmann. “It’s about making the historical experience stronger than it ever has been. When you walk in to Hofteatret and look up at the stage, the experience will be the same as it would have been at the end of the 1700s.”
