The Brewery
Christian the Fourth's iconic brewery on Copenhagen's waterfront is home to 350 royal statues built between 1500 and 1700. Initially, the statues were housed in royal gardens, squares, and castles. But time has left its mark on the precious statues, and to ensure that an essential piece of cultural heritage is not lost, they have been given a roof over their heads. The brewery is open today so the public can visit the old statues.
When lighting designer Jesper Kongshaug was tasked with designing the lighting for the exhibition and giving the statues new life, Stouenborg was responsible for the technical installations and programming.
The lighting design was created with respect to the statues' original location, with particular attention to reproducing the same shadows that the statues cast when they stood in the open air. The building's limited natural light combines high-quality optics, energy-saving light sources, and good color rendering to create the desired effect and highlight the statues' rich detail.
The lighting is programmed to follow the rhythm of the day, increasing the artificial lighting as the daylight fades. As the day draws closer, shadows become more prominent, creating a dramatic effect.
The project uses, among other things, Robert Juliat’s TIPO LED profile spot and Source Four’s HID Junior, which are suitable when color temperature needs to be calibrated with great precision. Videos and gobo-animated synchronous stories have been projected onto the walls to retell the history of the statues, which visitors can immerse themselves in.
The entire building is listed, which has placed special demands on the installation, as it has not been possible to wall-mount the light sources. At the same time, the system had to be theft-proof and must be able to withstand the ground floor sometimes being flooded. To solve the task, Stouenborg has drawn on experience from projects at Kronborg Castle and Dover Castle in England, among other things.
If you are interested in reading more about other museum projects where Stouenborg has been an integrator, you can find them here. Or you can also read more about the work we did at the Frederikssund Museum here.