Tivoli Garden/ Copenhagen, Denmark

Left: Detail of Park, Photography: Marcus Hay, Right: Poster designed by Bjørn Wiinblad

Details of Park, Photography: Marcus Hay

Left: Nimb Hotel, Right: detail of building, Photography: Marcus Hay

Left: Mid Century promotional poster for Copenhagen featuring the Tivoli Gardens, Right: Exterior

Details of Park, Photography: Marcus Hay

Details of Park, Photography: Marcus Hay

Details of Park, Photography: Marcus Hay

Details of Park, Photography: Marcus Hay

Left: The Entrance Way, Photography: Marcus Hay, Right: The illustrated map

Details of The Concert Hall, Photography: Marcus Hay

Details of The Concert Hall, Photography: Marcus Hay

Details of The Concert Hall, Photography: Marcus Hay

Left: Detail of Park, Right: The exterior of  The Concert Hall, Photography: Marcus Hay

The restaurant Madklubben

Details of Park, Photography: Marcus Hay

Details of Park, Photography: Marcus Hay

Details of Park, Photography: Marcus Hay

Details of The Aquarium, Photography: Marcus Hay

Details of The Aquarium, Photography: Marcus Hay

Details of The Aquarium, Photography: Marcus Hay

Details of The Aquarium, Photography: Marcus Hay

Details of The Aquarium, Photography: Marcus Hay

Details of the park, Photography: Marcus Hay

In the center of Copenhagen lives a special place with a touch of magic; it’s called the Tivoli Gardens.

Opened in 1843 by its founder Georg Carstensen, from the very start, Tivoli included a variety of attractions: buildings in the exotic style of an imaginary Orient. It had as it still does today a theatre, bandstands, restaurants, cafés, flower gardens, and amusement rides such as a merry-go-round and a primitive scenic railway. As it always has, after dark, colored lamps illuminate the gardens. On certain evenings, specially designed fireworks can be seen reflected in Tivoli's lake. It is particularly beautiful at night, I wish I had had a spare evening to see in person but it was as amazing by day too.

The architecture of the buildings in the park so breathtaking and it’s so great to see unlike some other theme parks such as Disney many original structures stand, particularly many from the early to mid century. The park boasts the stately Nimb Palace Hotel with its Moorish-style facade sporting impressive towers and minarets. The Chinese Tower was built in 1900 and looks magical at night with the light reflecting off the central lake where the 18th century frigate St George III beckons attention. Other notable structures in the park include The Glass Hall Theater, The Concert Hall, The Pantomime Theater, Plænen and The Aquarium. I love The Concert Hall in particular; it was built in 1956 by Hans Hansen and sits 1660 people. In 2005 the concert hall saw a major renovation and extension where the classical 50's style of the main auditorium including a characteristic color scheme of red, blue, yellow and green colors was restored. The restoration was done by the famous Danish Architectural Firm 3XN.

The great thing about the park is that is obviously loved and used just as much by locals who come to dine and take business meetings in the parks high quality restaurants, We had a great authentic Danish lunch at Madklubben. After the rides of course which where super thrilling.   

This magic place is well worth a visit, It was in fact the park that inspired Walt Disney to open Disneyland and you can see the influences of fairytales and Hans Christian Anderson everywhere, I also think special mention should be made to Danish Designer Bjørn Wiinblad whose stamp seems apparent to me even if coincidental also in the styling and colors of the park, He designed many promotional posters for the park over his years and I feel there is a defiantly a nod to his magical approach to design throughout the park.