The Hill House Museum (Bakkehuset)

A Golden Age home on a Copenhagen hillside

Bakkehuset, literally “The Hill House”, is one of Frederiksberg’s oldest buildings and an oasis of low, yellow-painted walls and small-paned windows in a dense, modern cityscape. Stepping inside the modest doorway brings you into a late 18th- and early 19th-century home, carefully restored to evoke the years when it sat on the edge of open countryside. Timber floors, tiled stoves and simple yet elegant Danish furniture set the tone for a house that was both rural retreat and cultural powerhouse. The rooms are arranged much as they would have been around 1800–1830, when the house was owned by literary figure Knud Lyne Rahbek and his wife, Kamma. Rather than grand state chambers, you find a sequence of human-scale spaces: parlours, studies and bedrooms that still feel lived-in. Subtle details – handwritten notes, porcelain on tables, worn tabletops – make it easy to imagine the daily rhythms of a middle-class household at the height of Denmark’s Golden Age.

Salon culture and famous literary guests

During the Rahbeks’ time, Bakkehuset became an informal academy for the arts, its reputation built on spirited conversation rather than institutional authority. Writers, scientists and clergy gathered here to debate ideas, read aloud from new works and test bold opinions in sympathetic company. The house effectively functioned as a salon, helping shape the cultural life of Copenhagen beyond the city walls. Among its most renowned visitors were fairytale author Hans Christian Andersen, poet Adam Oehlenschläger and physicist Hans Christian Ørsted. Exhibits throughout the house highlight these connections with portraits, letters and first editions. The famed Corner Room, often described as the home’s intellectual heart, concentrates much of this story in a single, evocative space, its windows framing the garden that so inspired the Rahbeks and their guests.

Inside the period rooms and creative displays

The museum combines faithful reconstruction with interpretive displays. On the ground floor, period interiors reflect how the Rahbeks furnished their home, from painted chests and Biedermeier chairs to delicate textiles and writing desks laid out with quills and ink. Particular attention is given to Kamma Rahbek, whose intricate decorated boxes and carefully curated interiors reveal a finely tuned sense of aesthetics. Upstairs, changing exhibitions explore themes from the Danish Golden Age, using objects, artwork and contemporary scenography to make 19th-century ideas feel current. Families find hands-on elements in the Fairytale Academy, where children can craft stories, play with fairytale motifs and experiment with shadow theatre in a space inspired by Andersen’s imaginative world. This mix of historic atmosphere and interactive storytelling keeps the literary heritage accessible across generations.

Kamma Rahbek’s romantic garden and orangery

Behind the house lies a compact but richly planted garden, a modern reimagining of Kamma Rahbek’s original romantic grounds. Beds of perennials, herbs and old-fashioned roses are arranged to emphasise colour, scent and seasonal change, echoing the garden ideals of the early 19th century. Gravel paths lead past a small pond and fruit trees, creating a series of intimate outdoor rooms that extend the domestic feel into the open air. At one edge stands an octagonal orangery, a light contemporary structure referencing Bakkehuset’s past as both country house and inn. In the warmer months it serves simple food and drinks inspired by historical recipes, inviting you to linger among potted citrus and flowering plants. Concerts, readings and small events in the garden add another layer to the site’s longstanding role as a meeting place for art and ideas.

A quiet cultural pause in busy Frederiksberg

Today Bakkehuset sits close to the redeveloped Carlsberg district, surrounded by apartments and institutions rather than fields. Yet inside the low rooms and sheltered garden there is a marked sense of calm. It is a place to slow down, read wall texts in your own time or simply look out of deep window recesses at the greenery outside. Whether you are drawn by literary history, period interiors, or just the promise of a quiet bench in a flower-filled courtyard, the Hill House Museum offers a compact but layered experience. It connects everyday domestic life with big cultural shifts, showing how a relatively small home on a hill helped nurture some of Denmark’s most enduring stories and ideas.