The gilded spiral
Four turns counter-clockwise.
Avda — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Jorge Láscar from Melbourne, Australia — CC BY 2.0 · Jorge Láscar from Melbourne, Australia — CC BY 2.0 · Jorge Láscar from Melbourne, Australia — CC BY 2.0
The Church of Our Saviour is Copenhagen's strangest tower: a gilded spiral spire (1752) whose external stair winds four turns counter-clockwise around it — 400 steps, the last 150 in open air on the spiral itself, which narrows until it fits only one — the summit a golden Saviour statue on a globe 90 metres above Christianshavn. The city's first view, uncontested: the canals below, the centre's green spires and the Øresund bridge toward Sweden — and all of it in open air: no window between you and the wind, which closes it in storms. The interior is lavish baroque with an organ (1698) carried by two carved elephants and an Italian altar — and the carillon rings tunes every hour. The legend that its architect leapt from the top on realising the spiral turned the wrong way is entirely false: he died in his bed years later, and the direction was intended.
Four turns counter-clockwise.
1698, carried by two carved elephants.
Sankt Annæ Gade 29, 1416 Copenhagen
Freetown ChristianiaChristiania is Europe's strangest neighbourhood: an abandoned military barracks 5 minutes walk
Nyhavn — the Coloured HarbourNyhavn is the Copenhagen postcard the world knows: a 17th-century canal (the New10 minutes walk4.8
The Royal Library GardenAn enclosed courtyard between the Royal Library and parliament buildings in the 10 minutes walk4.8
The Ruins under ChristiansborgBeneath the floor of the palace that today holds the **Danish parliament** is an12 minutes walk4.3
Christiansborg PalaceChristiansborg is the only building in the world housing all three branches of p13 minutes walk4.7From eight up, without fear of heights — the internal stair is comfortable wood, the final exposed stretch has a solid rail but is narrow and steep. Smaller children and the hesitant settle for the church (free) and the Round Tower's roofed panorama instead — and Christiania is steps away on the same street.