A magical garden museum inspired by Andersen's fairy tales: to open this summer in Denmark

A new museum entirely dedicated to the writer Hans Christian Andersen (Odense, 1805 - Copenhagen, 1875), or rather dedicated to his world-famous fairy tales, from The Ugly Duckling to The Little Match Girl, The Princess on a Pea, The Little Mermaid, The Emperor’s New Clothes and many others, will be opened in Odense, Denmark, in summer 2021. The museum will thus be based in the author’s hometown and was designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma with the intention of creating in visitors the feeling of entering Andersen’s literary works. Surprise and wonder will accompany the public throughout the visit, discovering the very famous stories born from the author’s imagination.

The architect chose to use the story of theMagic Tinderbox as the main inspiration, because supernatural and magical elements prevail in the latter, as well as theexploration of unknown places. Precisely the feelings that Kengo Kuma wanted to focus on for the museum project. “The idea behind the architectural design resembled Andersen’s method, in which a small world suddenly expands into a larger universe,” Kuma stressed.

The new museum venue will offer a unique experience, combining landscape, architecture and design. Indeed, architecture, sound, light and images will take visitors into Andersen’s fairy tales. “Hans Christian Andersen’s artistic universe is fantastic because it turns upside down the way you imagine this world you thought you knew, but without putting anything else in its place. His fairy tales do not point toward a universal truth, but rather toward the peculiarity and multiplicity of the world. In the new museum, we maintain this ambiguity by using Andersen’s artistic strategies as a starting point for how the garden, house, and exhibition are shaped, as well as for the many artistic contributions that will be part of the museum,” explained the new museum’s creative director Henrik Lübker.

“First we have to immerse ourselves in fairy tales, because everyone knows them. The idea is not to tell the stories again, but rather to communicate their familiarity and inspire further readings of Andersen,” said Torben Grøngaard Jeppesen, head of Odense City Museums.

It will be a museum designed for all ages, for Danes and non-Danes, that will make people think and provide new perspectives on the visitor himself, nature, and society. Covering an area of 5600 square meters, it will include a children’s house and an underground museum intertwined with a surrounding magical garden. There will also be no shortage of state-of-the-art technology, especially in terms of the set design and the magical Andersen universe that will come to life.

This is one of Denmark’s largest and most ambitious museum projects in recent years and was made possible by a significant donation from the AP Møller Foundation and contributions from Nordea-fonden, The Augustinus Foundation, Knud Højgaards Fond, and the city of Odense.

Image: HC Andersen Hus. Copyright: Kengo Kuma & Associates,

A magical garden museum inspired by Andersen's fairy tales: to open this summer in Denmark

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