Christiansborg Palace Square

Christiansborg Slot (Christiansborg Palace) on Slotsholmen in Copenhagen was built for the country's three supreme powers: the royal power, the legislative power and the judicial power. As a result of two serious fires in 1794 and 1884 the palace complex bears testimony to three eras of Danish architecture. The main palace from 1928 in the historicist neo-baroque style is the third Christiansborg on the site, the Palace chapel is from the second, neo-classicist Christiansborg from the 19th century, and the Riding Ground complex has survived from the first, luxurious baroque palace built in the 18th century. The present and third Christiansborg is the result of an architectural competition that was held in 1905 and won by the architect Thorvald Jørgensen. The square is paved with cobblestones laid in a pattern, and the only decoration is Vilhelm Bissen's equestrian statue from 1873 of Frederik VII. The statue is not very heroic, rather convivial, like the many myths that were circulating about the peculiar monarch.