Thorvaldsens Museum in Copenhagen is a unique artist museum dedicated to Danish Neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. Opened in 1848 as Denmark’s first purpose-built public museum, it was designed by Michael Gottlieb Bindesbøll to house Thorvaldsen’s sculptures and his private collections of paintings and antiquities. The museum is especially distinctive for its architecture and interiors: brightly coloured walls, richly decorated ceilings and mosaic floors create a dramatic setting for Thorvaldsen’s marble and plaster works. Visitors can also explore his antiquities collection and the artist’s burial chamber beneath the inner courtyard. For art travellers, Thorvaldsens Museum offers one of Copenhagen’s most coherent combinations of artist, collection and architecture, making it an essential stop for sculpture lovers and anyone interested in Neoclassicism or historic museum design.

Because this is one of the rare museums where the artist, collection and architecture were conceived as one world. Thorvaldsen’s sculptures sit inside vivid rooms with decorated ceilings, mosaic floors and coloured walls that make the building itself part of the experience.