A private art collection
The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek was founded by the brewer Carl Jacobsen (1842-1914) who created one of the largest private art collections of his time. It was named after his brewery, Ny Carlsberg, with the addition of "Glyptotek", meaning collection of sculpture.

Ancient and modern art
Jacobsen was interested in contemporary French and Danish art, as well as ancient art from the cultures surrounding the Mediterranean. To secure the future of the collection, Carl Jacobsen and his wife Ottilia donated it to the public in two deeds of gift from 1888 and 1899. The Museum's buildings were created to house these works of art.

A beauty of all its own
"With a beauty all its own", Carl Jacobsen wrote about his museum on Dantes Plads. This quote still carries weight at the Glyptotek, where we see it as our most cherished duty to maintain, develop and strengthen the museum's particular profile as an art collection, an architectural monument and a cultural institute.

Ancient and modern
Today, the museum houses the largest collection of ancient art in Northern Europe, primarily sculpture, from Egypt, the Near East, Greece and Italy. But during the more than one hundred years of its existence, the museum has also expanded the collection of French and Danish art from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Impressionists, Paul Gauguin and Auguste Rodin are particularly well represented.

A place to be experienced
The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is a place to be experienced. The unique surroundings with the Winter Garden, the Larsen Building for the Collection of French painting (inaugurated in 1996) and the Café each create a beautiful frame for the enjoyment of art and culture of a high standard. Since 1996 the Glyptotek has received approximately 350,000 visitors per year, making it one of the most popular art museums in Denmark.