The silence
High walls block the city's noise entirely; the difference is audible.
Kieran Lynam from Copenhagen, Denmark — CC BY 2.0 · xiquinhosilva — CC BY 2.0 · Ramblersen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ramblersen — CC BY-SA 4.0
An enclosed courtyard between the Royal Library and parliament buildings in the heart of Copenhagen, visible from no street and signposted from nowhere, and better known to people who work nearby than to visitors. The site was the **old naval harbour** — an inner quay where goods were unloaded from the seventeenth century. It was filled in in 1867 and turned into a garden, and the original **stone quay edge** is still visible at the pond. The garden is small and formal: a rectangular pond with a fountain at the centre, magnolias that flower in late April, and benches on gravel. The high walls around it block the city's noise completely, and that is its real effect — the difference between inside and outside is audible. At its edge stands a statue of **Søren Kierkegaard**, the philosopher who walked these streets daily and wrote about anxiety and choice. Leave by its far end and you come out in front of the **"Black Diamond"** — the library's glossy black modern building on the water.
High walls block the city's noise entirely; the difference is audible.
The philosopher who walked these streets daily, at the garden's edge.
The library's glossy modern building on the water, at the far end.
Bibliotekshaven, Søren Kierkegaards Plads area, Copenhagen
Four are worth knowing. **The Royal Library Garden** is the quietest of all, because its walls block sound. **Kongens Have** behind Rosenborg is larger, with roses and a summer puppet theatre. **The Kastellet ramparts** are a raised grass path around a working star fortress, with views over the water. And **Assistens Cemetery** in Nørrebro — genuinely a park people stroll in, holding the graves of **Kierkegaard** and **Hans Christian Andersen**. All are free, and all within half an hour's walk of the centre.
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