Church of Our Lady, Copenhagen

Church of Our Lady, Copenhagen tickets: which one to buy

Copenhagen's cathedral stands on a small square beside the old university, five minutes from the round tower and ten from the main pedestrian street, and it is free to enter. There is nothing to book and no ticket for any part of it. Walking tours of the centre include it, generally along with the university quarter, the round tower and the canals, and free walking tours leave from the town hall square several times a day.

The reason to come is sculptural rather than architectural: this is where Bertel Thorvaldsen's statues of Christ and the twelve apostles stand, in the setting they were made for, and the museum devoted to him is a fifteen-minute walk away, which makes a natural pair. Choral services and organ recitals are frequent and free. The building is used for royal occasions and closes entirely on those days. The entrance is on the square rather than through the columned portico, which is only opened for ceremonies.

Visiting Church of Our Lady, Copenhagen: what to see

A church has stood here since the 1180s and this is its fifth incarnation, the previous ones lost to fire and, in 1807, to the British naval bombardment that destroyed much of the old city. Christian Frederik Hansen rebuilt it in severe neoclassical form and it was completed in 1829: a temple front with a heavy pediment outside, and inside a barrel-vaulted hall with coffering, plain white walls and almost no colour.

Into that white room Thorvaldsen placed his apostles, one against each nave pier, and behind the altar his figure of the risen Christ with arms held open and head bowed. That statue became the most copied piece of Christian sculpture of the nineteenth century, reproduced in churches across Europe and America, and seeing the original in the space designed around it explains why. The font, an angel holding a shell, is by the same sculptor. Four bronze reliefs by the same sculptor run along the walls and were finished after his death by his workshop.

Church of Our Lady, Copenhagen opening hours and the best time to go

The cathedral is open daily with shorter hours on Saturdays and around services, and it closes for state and royal ceremonies. The white interior depends on daylight and is at its best in the middle of the day, particularly in the long light of the Danish summer; in December it is dim by three in the afternoon, though Advent brings candlelight and a heavy programme of choral music that is the best reason to be here in winter.

The square outside belongs to the university and fills with students in term. Cyclists dominate the streets around it, so watch the lanes when crossing. The round tower, with its spiral ramp and observatory, is two minutes away and worth combining. Half an hour inside covers the sculpture properly. A royal wedding was held here in 2004 and the church is still used for state services and university ceremonies.