Lur Blowers (Lurblæserne), Copenhagen

Bronze Age echoes above the city

The Lur Blowers monument rises over Rådhuspladsen, the central City Hall Square, its twin bronze figures poised as if about to sound an ancient call across Copenhagen. Each figure wears a cape and helmet and holds a long, curved horn known as a lur, an instrument dating back to the Nordic Bronze Age and associated with ceremonies, battle signals and ritual music. Their stance is compact and almost shoulder to shoulder, a deliberate design choice that reflects how lurs are tuned and traditionally played in pairs.Viewed from the square, the figures appear both martial and ceremonial, bridging the distance between mythic Scandinavia and the modern capital buzzing beneath them. The sculptor captured a sense of arrested motion: muscles taut, capes caught as if in a gust, and the lurs sweeping in graceful arcs above the traffic and trams.

A Carlsberg tribute turned city landmark

The monument was commissioned by the Carlsberg Foundation and New Carlsberg Foundation as a gift to Copenhagen, marking the 100th anniversary of brewery founder J.C. Jacobsen’s birth in 1811. It was inaugurated in 1914, at a time when the new City Hall and its vast square were reshaping the city’s civic centre. Architect Anton Rosen designed the tall column, while sculptor Siegfried Wagner created the bronze group that crowns it.This combination of commercial patronage and public art was typical of the era, when industrial fortunes were often channelled into cultural monuments. Here, the tribute is subtle: Jacobsen’s name and dates appear in brickwork on the column, but the overall impression is not of a corporate monument. Instead, the Lur Blowers have become woven into the square’s skyline, as familiar as the City Hall clock tower and the Dragon Fountain nearby.

The red-brick column and its subtle details

Beneath the bronzes, the monument’s column is crafted from warm red brick, echoing the National Romantic style of the City Hall itself. The shaft is simple and robust, but at its base you will find a circular bench integrated into the structure. This makes the monument not just a vertical marker but also a small, informal resting place facing the bustle of the square.The inscription around the column records Jacobsen’s name and birth centenary, tying the sculpture into the story of Carlsberg’s role in Danish cultural life. From close up, the brickwork texture and the heavy plinth give the sense of a victory column, yet the figures above are musicians rather than warriors, their power conveyed through sound rather than sword.

Myth, music and modern Copenhagen

The choice of lurs taps into both archaeological discovery and romanticised Norse imagery. Original Bronze Age lurs have been unearthed from Danish bogs and can be seen in the National Museum, their looping forms echoed in the monument’s horns. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such motifs were embraced as symbols of national heritage, appearing in everything from political pageantry to butter brands.Here on Rådhuspladsen, the Lur Blowers stand among other symbolic figures: the dragons locked in combat at the fountain, the seated Hans Christian Andersen watching towards Tivoli Gardens, and the gilded Weather Girl on the nearby Richs Building. Together they create an open-air gallery of Copenhagen’s imagination, where folklore, civic pride and commercial modernity intersect.

Experiencing the monument in the life of the square

For visitors, the Lur Blowers serve as both orientation point and visual punctuation in one of Copenhagen’s busiest public spaces. Buses, cyclists and pedestrians stream around the base, while demonstrations, concerts and celebrations periodically fill the square below. At different times of day the monument changes character: in soft morning light, the bronzes can appear almost green-grey silhouettes, while at dusk they stand out sharply against illuminated façades and neon signs.Photographers often frame the figures against the City Hall tower or capture them from oblique angles where the lurs cut diagonally across the sky. Even if you only pause briefly, it is worth circling the base to notice how the monument anchors a corner of the square, linking the historic city gates that once stood nearby with the contemporary civic stage that Rådhuspladsen has become.