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Jewish Museum Copenhagen, Denmark

Daniel Libeskind Building Denmark – design by Daniel Libeskind Architect

11 Apr 2016 – new photos

The Danish Jewish Museum

Dansk Jødisk Museum

Location: Proviantpassagen 6, Copenhagen
Date built: 2004
Design: Daniel Libeskind Architects

photograph © Adrian Welch

The Jewish Museum is located just south of Christansborg Palace in central Copenhagen. The Danish Jewish Museum is divided by architect Daniel Libeskind into five parts relating to Jewish culture:

Exodus
Wilderness
The Giving of the Law
The Promised Land
Mitzvah

According to the architects it is “located in one of the oldest parts of Copenhagen, the Danish Jewish Museum is housed in a former 17th-century boathouse and library built by King Christian IV. Studio Libeskind designed the new interior space, while preserving the original building.

The museum differs from other European Jewish Museums because the Danish Jews were, by and large, saved from the Nazis by the efforts of their countrymen. This historical act of kindness or “mitzvah” is the guiding concept of the museum’s design and symbolized in its form, structure and light.

Studio Libeskind intertwined the historic vaulted brick structure with new exhibition spaces and displays. The juxtaposition of the contemporary creates a dynamic dialogue between the architecture of the past and of the future. Completed in 2003, the Danish Jewish Museum was recognized with an American Architect Award in 2005.”

photographs © Adrian Welch

Danish Jewish Museum architect – Studio Daniel Libeskind

Opening Times
(check with the Museum, correct as of 2006)

Winter:
Tue – Fri: 1 – 4 pm
Sat + Sun: 12 – 5 pm

Summer: 1 Jun – 31 Aug
Tue – Sun: 10 am – 5 pm

Admission (correct at time of writing, please check with operators)
Adults: 40 DKK
Students + pensioners: 30 DKK
Up to 16 years: free

Architecture

The design of the Danish Jewish Museum by architect Daniel Libeskind was “based on a unique feature of Danish Jewish history: the majority of Danish Jews were saved from Nazi persecution by their fellow Danish citizens during World War II. It is this human commitment that is symbolized in the museum shape, texture and light.

The landmark and the concept of the museum is the Hebrew word Mitzvah, which both can be interpreted as “commitment,” “heartfelt reaction”, “dedication” and “good deed”. The word Mitzvah is the generally positive Jewish experience in Denmark and the special experience of being rescued, and has also been part of the museum’s logo.

Archietct Daniel Libeskind himself describes the walking area as a kind of text that runs within a framework of many other surfaces – walls, interior space, displays, virtual perspectives – and draws a parallel to how the Jewish core texts such as Talmud are always presented surrounded by comments, and always proportionate to these comments. The hall area is in another sense, a text written in space: The Hebrew letters of the word Mitzvah is in fact used as the basic shape for the circulation, so museum visitors are in fact wandering ‘within’ the four letters of enormous size.”

source: http://jewmus.dk/arkitektur/

Dansk Jødisk Museum, Copenhagen – Building Information

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Moe and Brødsgaard
MECHANICAL ENGINEER: Moe and Brødsgaard
ELECTRICAL ENGINEER: Moe and Brødsgaard
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: GHB Landskabsarkitekter
CONTRACTOR: Tomrerfirma Gert Fogt
RENOVATION OF GALEJHUSET: Fogh & Følner Arkitektfirma
CONSULTING ENGINEER: Hansen & Henneberg
EXHIBITION DESIGN: Kvorning Design & Kommunikation

DATE: 2003
CLIENT: Danish Jewish Museum
BUILDING SIZE: 4,800 sqft

Website: Danish Jewish Museum in Copenhagen – Studio Libeskind project post

Location: Proviantpassagen 6, Copenhagen, Denmark, Northern Europe