The aptly named Thorvaldsen’s Museum in Copenhagen is dedicated to the Danish sculptor, Bertel Thorvaldsen. And this museum is free on Wednesdays.
Since I love all forms of art (and I also love free things), we decided to take a peek.
We wandered in the door on a chilly Wednesday afternoon, to a surprisingly colorful museum with ornate ceilings, mosaic floors, and gigantic sculptures.
At first, I was struck by the beauty and detail of the craft.
I mean, these things were huge! And there were so many of them. Go Bertel.
And then I was struck by… um, what appeared to be a display of penises?
Yeah. That was a thing.
“Phallus-shaped amulets like these were worn in antiquity as evil-averting pendants. One type of amulet shows a phallus coupled with the female genitals, as expressed by the hand gesture. The thumb is inserted between the index and middle finger in a fist gesture, which was considered so indecent that even the worst demons would be repelled and flee at the sight.”
(That was a real blurb on a real placard. I couldn’t make that up if I tried.)
But alas, there was only one penis amulet room. And lots of rooms filled with statues that were all starting to look alike. So after wandering through several of these rooms, my overactive imagination began to take over.
It was hard for me not to give the statues personalities and imagine conversations between them.
So I did. Frequently.
With that said, here were some of my favorite pieces at the Thorvaldsen’s Museum…
Okay, if I’m being honest, we really just popped inside the Thorvaldsen’s Museum because it was free that day. We probably would have skipped it otherwise.
But it left me wondering… were there hallucinatory drugs in the smørrebrød sandwich I ate for lunch that day, or did my brain just do this by itself?
We may never know.
But nevertheless, it ended up being way more entertaining than I would have guessed.
That’s why, even if you don’t love art, or free things, or being ridiculous…
If there’s a museum, on a cold and rainy day, that isn’t charging an entry fee… I’m going to need you to take a peek inside. Because you never know what you’ll find (or what weird things your brain might do) to make it a fantastic afternoon.
If you’re really lucky, you might even find some penis amulets.
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