The spiral ramp
Seven and a half turns — 209 metres.
Avda — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Dietmar Rabich — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dietmar Rabich — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dietmar Rabich — CC BY-SA 4.0
To carry heavy astronomical instruments (brass telescopes and observing apparatus) on carts rather than porters — and to join observatory, university library and Trinity Church in one triple-function building, Christian IV's way of combining. The side effect: Europe's first tower a horse climbed — and today's mothers climb it with prams effortlessly.
Sign in to write your review of this place.
No reviews yet — be the first.
The Round Tower is Europe's oldest working astronomical observatory (1642) — built by Christian IV without a single stair: a paved spiral ramp winding seven and a half turns around its hollow core to the summit (36 metres), so astronomers could climb with instruments on carts — and Tsar Peter the Great rode it on horseback (1716), his tsarina behind him in a carriage. The ramp itself is the pleasure: 209 metres of spiral under brick arches opening onto the old library hall (changing exhibitions) and the hollow core with a glass floor suspended 25 metres over the bottom for those who dare. The summit is an observatory with a dome still opening to the public in winter with its telescope (Tuesday and Wednesday evenings) — and the terrace gives old Copenhagen's roofs and green spires in a full circle from the old town's heart, the city's cheapest central panorama.
Seven and a half turns — 209 metres.
25 metres above the core's bottom.
Købmagergade 52A, 1150 Copenhagen