Nikolaj Kunsthal
Nikolaj Kunsthal
3.5
11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday
11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday
11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday
11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday
11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
About
From Church to Contemporary Art Centre. St. Nikolaj Church originated in the early 1200s and is Copenhagen’s third oldest church. As a consequence of the Great Fire of Copenhagen in 1795, the building’s history as a church came to an end in 1805. Nikolaj Kunsthal presents 5-6 Danish and international exhibitions every year. Exhibitions that give visitors the opportunity to encounter experimental and innovative art - including our annual exhibition for children and young people. See you at Nikolaj Kunsthal
Duration: 1-2 hours
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listingTours & experiences
Explore different ways to experience this place.
Full view
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Plan your visit
The area
Address
Neighbourhood: Indre By (Inner City)
This is the heart of old town Copenhagen, with its blend of charming old buildings and bold new architecture, broad avenues and tiny streets as well as picturesque canals and a modern harbor. The inner city is home to the Royal Danish Theatre, which consists of three buildings, two of which are new and situated on the harbor front. The streets, squares and venues of the inner city and its surrounding neighborhoods, are alive all year round with everything from jazz festivals to outdoor ice skating rinks and parachuting at the lakes right in the center of the city. This compact area boasts beautiful old castles, tranquil parks, and bustling squares where you can always find a bench to stretch out your legs whenever you need a break.
How to get there
- Kongens Nytorv • 3 min walk
Reach out directly
Best nearby
We rank these restaurants and attractions by balancing reviews from our members with how close they are to this location.
Restaurants
3,117 within 3 miles
Attractions
552 within 6 miles
Contribute
Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
3.5
91 reviews
Excellent
14
Very good
41
Average
25
Poor
8
Terrible
3
permia
Ireland64,704 contributions
Oct 2021
Nikoline Liv Andersen excels with her creations in Eden. Walking into the first space is to be immediately confronted by a marvellous work of multitudes of figures in what could be taken as an assemblage in chaos. Very striking.
Others of her pieces are wonderful. Figures, human and other, with elaborate flowing costumes are sometimes crowned with little primates with hands over their eyes.
Swirling patterns of colour comprise further works.
Upstairs is Infinite Deep by the acclaimed filmmaker David Lynch. Comprising mostly black and white photographs such as Light Cigarettes, Untitled (Nude) and stark aspects of architecture.
The setting of the former Church is tremendous in red brick. With a fascinating landmark history dating back to the 13th century; a great tower was added in the last decade of the 1500s.
Being almost destroyed in the devastating fire of 1795, with only the tower surviving, it then served as a fire station and later a butchers market.
Fortunately at the start of the 1900s the City Authorities undertook restoration, eventually leading to the great art space of today.
Others of her pieces are wonderful. Figures, human and other, with elaborate flowing costumes are sometimes crowned with little primates with hands over their eyes.
Swirling patterns of colour comprise further works.
Upstairs is Infinite Deep by the acclaimed filmmaker David Lynch. Comprising mostly black and white photographs such as Light Cigarettes, Untitled (Nude) and stark aspects of architecture.
The setting of the former Church is tremendous in red brick. With a fascinating landmark history dating back to the 13th century; a great tower was added in the last decade of the 1500s.
Being almost destroyed in the devastating fire of 1795, with only the tower surviving, it then served as a fire station and later a butchers market.
Fortunately at the start of the 1900s the City Authorities undertook restoration, eventually leading to the great art space of today.
Written 31 October 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
jwolf35
New York City, NY33 contributions
Nov 2019
Not sure what everyone is complaining about - you can see what exhibit is taking place from the outside. I went for the Leonard Cohen show which was really great. The building itself is also quite interesting with a very long history and lots of architectural intricacies. Perhaps I would have been disappointed if that was where it stopped, but my ticket also allowed me free access to the other half of the exhibit taking place at the GL Strand museum close by - a major bonus!
Written 13 November 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The_Coach55
Ruislip, UK1,211 contributions
Feb 2019 • Friends
The Kunsthal is situated in an old church close to Kongens Nytorv metro station.
Unfortunately the art inside the building does not match up to the splendour of the surroundings.
The current exhibition is “When the Unknown Becomes Familiar” by Andreas Emenius. Whilst I found his paintings reasonably good, his other work didn’t really appeal.
We had free admission as our visit was on a Wednesday. I would have been unhappy to have paid DKK 70 to view on another day.
Unfortunately the art inside the building does not match up to the splendour of the surroundings.
The current exhibition is “When the Unknown Becomes Familiar” by Andreas Emenius. Whilst I found his paintings reasonably good, his other work didn’t really appeal.
We had free admission as our visit was on a Wednesday. I would have been unhappy to have paid DKK 70 to view on another day.
Written 14 February 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
KalleHelsinki
Helsinki219 contributions
Jul 2018 • Couples
St. Nikolaj Church originated in the early 1200s and is Copenhagen’s third oldest church. As a consequence of the Great Fire of Copenhagen in 1795, the building’s history as a church came to an end in 1805. Since then it has had numerous different functions including, being a fire station, a naval museum and a public library. The current exhibition was not much to talk about, but the building is interesting anyhow.
Written 28 July 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
NilsRump
Copenhagen, Denmark314 contributions
Oct 2015 • Couples
The building was constructed in the early 1900 on the remnants of a burnt out church but was never consecrated as church ... now put to much better use as exhibition hall.
Changing shows so look up their website for current show.
Changing shows so look up their website for current show.
Written 10 February 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
TheShis
Tel Aviv, Israel42,744 contributions
Apr 2014 • Couples
This is an average art center (at best), located in a stunning renovated 16th century church.
All the exhibits literally pale at the magnitude of the church.
Forget about the art part. Visit the place for taking a look at was once a stunning church.
All the exhibits literally pale at the magnitude of the church.
Forget about the art part. Visit the place for taking a look at was once a stunning church.
Written 30 May 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
poppadoms01235
poppadoms01235174 contributions
May 2013 • Friends
A lovely quiet haven in the middle of the city. They have regular services and occasionaly have some in English.
Inside the churh is beautiful and at the back there is a lovely restaurant/cafe.
Inside the churh is beautiful and at the back there is a lovely restaurant/cafe.
Written 30 May 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
d_isonthemove
Switzerland12 contributions
Nikolaj, a former church in the city centre, is now a popular and cutting-edge contemporary art center that presents several state-of-the-art exhibitions a year of Danish and international artists. The exhibitions are often monographic or focused on a theme (such as gender or global warming), which makes it accessible for the general public.
Once a year, they put up a Children's Exhibition (that grown-ups are allowed to visit as well). From their website they seem amazing but that i have not been able to see one so far.
The bookshop is small but there is not a single book I would not put in my library. The exhibition catalogues that I have seen were excellent.
Entrance fees are modest: 20 DKK / 4$ and free for children under 16. Children are welcome.
Once a year, they put up a Children's Exhibition (that grown-ups are allowed to visit as well). From their website they seem amazing but that i have not been able to see one so far.
The bookshop is small but there is not a single book I would not put in my library. The exhibition catalogues that I have seen were excellent.
Entrance fees are modest: 20 DKK / 4$ and free for children under 16. Children are welcome.
Written 6 August 2009
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Brian L
Chicago, IL535 contributions
Apr 2023 • Solo
This is one of the museums that is included with admission to the Copenhagen Museum. It's a small contemporary art space with rotating exhibitions in a beautiful old church. That in itself is worth the price of admission. IF you paid... ha!
In this case, it was a predominantly sound-based exhibition. There's a small room on the upper floor that had 360 of sound on a 20-something minute loop that was mesmerizing. The top floor has an interesting space too, though I didn't really "get" the current piece that was there. The first floor had a variety of pieces, one of which was four colored (or lack of light) rooms with sound. I found them uncomfortable, which I am sure was the artists' intention. Imagine walking into a pitch-black room with a droney sound. Imagine walking into one of these dark rooms and finding another person in there and getting the living bowels scared out of you upon seeing another human!
Sorry to the poor fella whom I scared.
In this case, it was a predominantly sound-based exhibition. There's a small room on the upper floor that had 360 of sound on a 20-something minute loop that was mesmerizing. The top floor has an interesting space too, though I didn't really "get" the current piece that was there. The first floor had a variety of pieces, one of which was four colored (or lack of light) rooms with sound. I found them uncomfortable, which I am sure was the artists' intention. Imagine walking into a pitch-black room with a droney sound. Imagine walking into one of these dark rooms and finding another person in there and getting the living bowels scared out of you upon seeing another human!
Sorry to the poor fella whom I scared.
Written 5 May 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
SnappleSpice
New York City, NY591 contributions
Feb 2023 • Solo
The space itself is interesting, and adds to some of the art that was on display when I went. The price is a bit steep for the relatively small museum, but I believe you can also gain entrance to a couple of others with the same ticket (I could be wrong about that - I did not have the time to try).
Written 31 March 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
No questions have been asked about this experience
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing