The Archaeological Workshop

On the corner of Stormgade and H. C. Andersens Boulevard children and adults are given the opportunity to get close to the archaeologists´ work with sorting, washing and examining the many finds that are excavated from beneath our feet every day.

Traditionally when you visit a museum and look at pottery sherds, skeletons and other finds, which have been excavated and then displayed, you completely miss out on an important link in the process, that comes before the exhibition itself. Because what is this find really? Where does it come from? What was it used for? And how old is it? These are some of the questions the archaeologists try to answer when they work in the Archaeological Workshop. And everyone can come and join on special occasions throughout the year.

History to the people

In the Archaeological Workshop, the notion that you can only see and not touch has been eliminated. 

”We want to open up the museum and create a higher focus on public involvement and on making our common cultural heritage available to everyone – we want to invite the public into the machine room and experience how we work. The archaeological finds have to be claened, registered and analyzed before they are sent off to the storage facilities, and in connection with this work, we invite the public to get close to the process. They can follow the work of analyzing leather, wood, textiles, bones, pottery and chalk pipes”, says curator Mia Toftdal, who is responsible for the Archaeological Workshop.

”I can almost garantee that the quests will experience something different every time they visit the workshop, because we process the finds in the order they arrive from the excavations. One day it can be delicate glass finds, the next day discarded animal bones. The quest themselves can take part in washing animal bones and in sorting pottery, and they can study small finds in the microscopes”. 

”With the Archaeological Workshop, the Museum of Copenhagen wish to open the public´s eyes to the historical and social processes that have created the city through the physical finds and through the professionals who process and interpret the finds. It´s about showing and talking to the visitors about how present Copenhagen is connected to the past, and how the past and the present shape our expectations and ideas about the future”, Mia Toftdal explains.

The education department at the Museum of Copenhagen offers teaching in the Archaeological Workshop to both kindergardens and primary schools. Learn more here (in Danish).

Opening hours

The Archaeological Workshop is open to the public on selected days in connection with festival, public holidays and other special occasions. Keep an eye on the museum´s website or follow us on Facebook and Instagram, where activities are announced. 

Address

The Archaeological Workshop: Stormgade 20 (on the corner of Stormgade and H. C. Andersens Boulevard), 1555 Copenhagen V

For further information

Mia Toftdal, museum curator and responsible for the Archaeological Workshop. 

E-mail: zb6@kk.dk