Indre By, Copenhagen — Area Guide & Where to Stay

What are the main landmarks in Indre By?

Few districts carry more. Tivoli, the pleasure garden by the central station, runs its rides and lights from spring through the dark of winter, with the steel of the Dæmonen coaster looping over its lawns. North of the squares, Rosenborg Slot stands as a Renaissance royal palace set in its king's garden, while the spiral ramp of the Rundetårn climbs to a rooftop view over the old roofs.

The copper dome of the Marmorkirken rises to the east near the harbour. The churches answer it: the Vor Frelsers Kirke with its external spiral spire, and the brick Helligåndskirken on the main street. Indre By is also Copenhagen's museum quarter.

The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek holds antique and French sculpture behind the gardens, the Nationalmuseet tells the Danish past, and the Thorvaldsens Museum keeps the sculptor's own marble. The Statens Museum for Kunst, the Den Hirschsprungske Samling, the Davids Samling and the Designmuseum Danmark fill out the art and design holdings. Smaller still are the Nikolaj Kunsthal, the Arbejdermuseet and the Krigsmuseet.

Out among the old squares, the Caritasbrønden fountain still plays where it has stood for centuries among the merchant streets of the inner town. This is the heart of the city.

What is the history of Indre By?

Indre By is Copenhagen itself, the medieval town that grew behind walls and ramparts before the city spread beyond them. For centuries this was the whole of Copenhagen, a tight grid of merchant streets, royal palaces and churches packed inside the old fortifications on the eastern shore of Zealand. The walls came down as the city expanded, leaving the core as the historic centre while new districts rose outside it.

Rosenborg Slot recalls the royal years. The Rundetårn still marks the old skyline.

Where is Indre By?

At the north-eastern heart of Copenhagen, in eastern Denmark on the island of Zealand, Indre By is the old walled core, a dense grid of squares and museums set back from the harbour.