In the Kudablin project, we send completely different people on trips at our expense! Nikolai Egorov visited Copenhagen: he climbed onto one of the most dangerous observation platforms in the city, tried a dozen types of Danish beer and felt like a local resident after swimming in the city fountain. More details in his report!
From Kastrup airport I decided to get to the hotel in the city center on foot, so I walked with my bag and backpack for an hour and a half. Of course, I pursued good goals – to see the districts and houses along the way – I thought, but in reality I spent 5 euros to buy a metro ticket to the third zone.
When I finally reached the island of Christianhavn, I saw a spiral lollipop in the sky. I rubbed my eyes and realized that it was a tower, but what kind of tower is anyone’s guess. My bag and backpack were pinching my shoulders, the heat was +30, I made it a point to definitely take a walk to this tower and moved on.
I’ll show you a little about this mysterious tower – it’s in the background. This is me looking at the city from the Round Tower, and in the foreground is the art center named after me, that is, Nicholas, the former church of St. Nicholas.
In general, there are so many towers in Copenhagen that you can lose your head a little when you turn it in all directions.
Looking ahead a little – along this corkscrew staircase you need to climb to a height of 80 meters, where the staircase ends in a narrow dead end. And no nets for you, behind the railing at the level of my navel is open air space. It was even a little scary at the narrow end.
Here it is, the beauty, the tower of the Vor Frelsers Kirke, or the Church of the Savior. The church began to be built at the end of the 17th century, and in the mid-18th century this very tower with a spire was opened by the Danish king. I have seen a lot of internal spiral staircases in places of worship, but this was my first time climbing the external spiral staircase of a temple tower.
Admission is not the cheapest – 45 Danish kroner, or about 7 euros. But believe me, it’s worth it, especially in good weather! Everything is analog, no elevators, we go up to the tower stairs through the premises of the temple, there is an exposition of the former angels of the temple interior.
Clock mechanism with a Danish crown – since 1699 this mechanism has been ticking and rotating the hands on the tower.
Bell. As Wikipedia writes, the Church of the Savior has the largest carillon in Northern Europe, which plays melodies every hour from morning to midnight. A carillon is a musical instrument that uses a clock mechanism to force a series of bells to play a melody. It seems that I was on the tower for more than an hour, but did not hear the melody. Probably only the eyes and sense of touch worked on the open stairs.
Wow, I go out onto the stairs, they have smooth steps sheathed in copper. Surprisingly, it is open to visitors almost all year round. After snow and rain it can be quite dangerous.
In December the tower is open to visitors only on the 1st, 6th, 8th, 12th or 15th. Closed in January and February.
I stack dominoes from nearby buildings in the frame and rise higher, there were relatively few people.
The bright yellow railing is very pretty and royal.
Leaning over the railing is scary. Damn, what a ubiquitous tradition of surrounding everything with a net that the pigeons will litter, especially with a small mesh, when you can’t put a camera lens in there. Here it’s just like in the 19th century, you climbed in and all the responsibility is on you. If you’re a fool, don’t mess around. And it’s great, such an airy effect!
Here is the very edge of the stairs. My male body didn’t even allow me to get through. I even felt around the corner with my hand – it narrows further. Only the cat will probably get to the very end.
Now let’s admire the views.
Read the second part of the report here.
Text and photo author: Nikolay Egorov
