Amalienborg

Amalienborg is not one palace but four — four near-identical Rococo mansions set around an octagonal square at the centre of the Frederiksstaden district of Copenhagen. Designed by the architect Nicolai Eigtved and completed around 1760, they were built for four noble families, with the equestrian statue of King Frederik V at the heart of the square.

When the first Christiansborg burned down in 1794, the royal family bought the four palaces and moved in. They have been the principal home of the Danish monarchs ever since, and one of them is today the residence of King Frederik X and Queen Mary.

What it is famous for

Amalienborg is famous for the daily changing of the guard: every day at noon the soldiers of the Royal Life Guard (Den Kongelige Livgarde), in bearskin caps and blue greatcoats, march through the city from Rosenborg to relieve the watch at the palace gates. When the monarch is in residence, the ceremony is performed in its fullest form.

One of the palaces houses the Amalienborg Museum, where the private studies and drawing-rooms of recent kings and queens are preserved almost exactly as they were used, giving a rare, intimate view of the modern monarchy and the long reign of Christian IX, the "father-in-law of Europe".

Good to know

The square itself is open day and night and free to cross; only the museum charges admission. Amalienborg lies a short walk from Nyhavn and the Marble Church, in a part of the city best reached on foot or by harbour bus. Visitors are asked to respect the working royal residence and the guards on duty.