The Danish Academy in Rome

Just a few steps from the beautiful Villa Borghese, the Danish Academy in Rome is an independent institution of the Danish Ministry of Culture dedicated to research, study and creativity in art and science and promotes cultural dialogue between the two countries.

THE ORIGINS OF THE ACADEMY: THE BIRTH OF AN IDEA IN THE HEART OF ROME

The Danish Academy's roots go back to the first Dano-Swedish institute, an experimental initiative started in 1925 - based in Via del Boschetto, in the historical Rione Monti - and continued the following year as the Swedish Institute in Rome. Officially inaugurated in October 1956 and honourably presided over by Queen Ingrid, who established the Queen Ingrid Roman Foundation, the academy had its first seat on the second floor of the prestigious Palazzo Primoli. 
After eleven years, the current institute moved to Via Omero, in an uncompleted building, donated in 1961 by the Carlsberg Foundation, on a building plot in Valle Giulia, already offered by the Italian state to Denmark in the 1930s.

REFLECTIONS OF DANISH ARCHITECTURE IN ROME

Designed in the early 1960s by the famous architect Kay Fisker, of whom it was the last work, the current seat of the Danish Academy began to take shape with the laying of the foundation stone on 22 April 1964, in the presence of King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid. Completed and inaugurated in 1967, two years after Fisker's death, the building, which was renovated and modernised between 2014 and 2015 in accordance with the architect's ideas, has a strong Danish architectural influence, characterised by elegant, rigorous and harmonious lines: the materials used - including teak and brick - the combination of colours, the large doors, the large windows and the human-scale spaces give life to the functionalist style of the time. Between history and beauty, the structure dialogues elegantly with the memory of Rome through evocative references to antiquity: from the vestibule with central courtyard, evoking the domus, to the Aurora Septentrionalis, Søren Georg Jensen's sculpture in the centre of the hall, recalling the impluvium for collecting rainwater, to the travertine slabs with Latin inscriptions and the bronze gate. 
Inside the prestigious academy, patronised since 2011 by Queen Margrethe, is a remarkable library housing a large collection - including books, monographs, music scores from the Middle Ages to the present day, magazines, series and media - dedicated to archaeology, ancient history, architecture, art history, philology, Italian and Danish literature, Italian topography, Danish museum catalogues and works by Danish travellers in Italy.

Photo: redazione Turismoroma

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