In plain sight - Copenhagen's not-so-hidden gems.

A modern city by historical standards, Copenhagen remains rich in history despite its lack of an ancient legacy. In Plain Sight acquaints Copenhagen’s expat community with the fascinating tales of their adoptive home city.

Photographs: Visit Copenhagen / Ugens Skulptur FB Page

Text: Jess Hearne

At the edge of Øresund is a majestic testament to Copenhagen’s mythological past. A domineering tableau of bronze, water and granite, Gefionspringvandet, or the Gefion Fountain, stands as a sentinel to the historic western edge of the city: a gatekeeper to Kastellet, the Little Mermaid and Langelinie.

The Norse myth of Gefion

Unveiled on 14th July 1908, this majestic sculpture features the towering figure of Gefion, commanding four wild oxen locked in motion. Dramatic, dynamic and mesmerising, the sculpture was commissioned in 1897 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Carlsberg Brewery. Under the philanthropic Carlsberg Foundation, Carl Jacobsen and other civic patrons funded a public artwork that would celebrate Denmark’s Norse heritage. Initially placed outside Copenhagen’s City Hall, it was later relocated to a site that provided the artwork with a backdrop of sea and sky, where it still stands to this day.

The fountain depicts a scene from the Ynglinga Saga: the mythical tale of the creation of the island of Sjælland, home to the Danish capital. The Norse goddess Gefion (sometimes spelt Gefjon or Gefjun, depending on the source material) approached King Gylfi of Sweden, asking to plough some land from his kingdom to make a new island. Gefion was one of the Æsir, the primary group of Norse deities, including the likes of Odin and Thor, and King Gylfi was curious to test her wits. Confident that she wouldn’t be left with enough land as she hoped for, he promised her all the land she could plough in a day and a night. Gefion, however, had a trick up her sleeve.

She travelled to Jotunheim in modern-day Norway, which was then the home of the giants. There, she bore four colossal sons with a giant chieftain and transformed them into monstrous oxen. Their hooves split the earth, and their muscles tore soil from stone. They toiled all day and all night and, by morning, a vast chunk of earth had been torn free and hurled westwards across the sea, landing between Sweden and Fyn. While Snorri Sturluson, author of the Ynglinga Saga, identified the vast cavern left behind as Lake Mälaren, other historians believe it to be Lake Vänern, as modern maps show great similarities between the lake and the island in terms of both size and shape.

"The fountain depicts a scene from the Ynglinga Saga: the mythical tale of the creation of the island of Sjælland, home to the Danish capital."

Vision, legacy and revival

Designed by Danish sculptor Anders Bundgaard, the fountain’s dramatic scene is a confluence of cast bronze figures set in a granite basin. Bundgaard trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and was inspired by French Naturalism, most notably Rodin. He secured the commission through a competition and took two years to sculpt the figures, crafting roughly thirty models and prototypes in the process. Bundegaard was influenced by both medieval religious art and mythological realism, combining his research with the monumental ensemble that stands on the outskirts of the city today.

The fountain's hydraulics required immense planning. Jets of water shot from behind the oxen and directly from their nostrils, evoking the earthen fury known as a trademark feature of the beasts in nature. However, by the late twentieth century, urban wear and failure in the waterpower of the fountain led it to run dry. Copenhagen Municipality funded an extensive restoration between April 2003 and August 2004, during which leaks were sealed, water sensors and LED lights were installed, and the fountain was equipped with modern monitoring systems and alarm systems. When the restoration was completed, a ceremonial reactivation of the fountain took place on 7th September 2004, celebrating Denmark’s commitment to preserving public art and architecture.

The myth of Gefion, immortalised in bronze, stone and water, reminds us that the deep roots of ancient legacy run deep beneath the cobblestones of Copenhagen. It’s a story made solid, and a reminder that the Norse myths of Scandinavia are hiding in plain sight.

The Gefion Fountain can be found in Churchillparken, 1263 København K.