COPENHAGEN.- The New Year marks the beginning of an ambitious exhibition year at the Glyptotek. The Glyptotek will be presenting the largest exhibition of antiquities in the museum’s history, a parade of animals in 19th-century art, plus a brand-new exhibition of the museum's unique collection from the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria’s ancient oasis city on the Silk Road. Exploring the power of fashion of the ancient world, Palmyra’s cosmopolitan history, and the role of animals in 19th-century art can shed new light on identity, the meeting of cultures, and the human view of nature.

“The Glyptotek’s collections of antiquities and French art are exceptional, and in 2026 we are placing them centre stage. They hold limitless stories that we can unwrap through our research and new approaches. With a stronger focus on the museum’s own collections, we can present rewarding and stimulating art experiences art and new perspectives on works visitors may have thought they knew. In doing so, we can create new ways of seeing ourselves and the world around us both in our special exhibitions and the way we present our collections so the new knowledge we generate has a longer life,” says Gertrud Hvidberg-Hansen, director of the Glyptotek.

The Power of Fashion in the Roman Empire
1 October – 31 March 2027

In autumn 2026 the Glyptotek opens the largest special exhibition on antiquity in the history of the museum. At a time when fashion and staging the self demand more attention than ever, antiquity opens new perspectives on the ways – then and now – we view ourselves and each other.

The exhibition The Power of Fashion in the Roman Empire is based on the museum’s extensive research on the colours, dress, jewellery, perfumes and fashion of the ancient world. This ambitious special exhibition, extending over more than 1,000 m2 is a first in Denmark and internationally.

Fashion and identity are closely linked. Our clothing can be read as a language that communicates our identity – gender, age, cultural background and social status, as well as political and at times religious affiliations. Whether we are conscious of it or not, we communicate our identities to others through our clothing, just as we ‘read’ other people on the basis of what they wear.

This is also the way it was in ancient Rome. Most of the fabrics of antiquity have sadly been lost to time, but we still have marble and bronze sculptures portraying men and women in different forms of dress. What stories are hidden within the folds of their garments when we see them with contemporary eyes? And what do they reveal about identities in antiquity – and fashion today?

Antiquity continues to be relevant. Then as now we see clothing, fashion and the way we look as a means to signal identity, status and power, and the sculptures remind us that staging the self is far from a new phenomenon.

Palmyra
From 5 February

In early February next year the Glyptotek opens a new exhibition on Palmyra, the Syrian oasis city that flourished as a hub for trade between the Roman Empire, the Parthian Empire and the trade routes of the Silk Road.

Based on the museum’s unique collection of Palmyrene funerary portraits – the largest beyond Syria – the exhibition tells the story of a city where east meets west and the local and global merge to create a culture that was cosmopolitan yet deeply rooted in the city’s unique traditions.

The funerary portraits, which once stood shoulder to shoulder in magnificent family burial chambers, show the people of Palmyra as they wished to be remembered: with elegant hairstyles, wearing glittering jewellery and dressed in exclusive fabrics. Bilingual inscriptions in Armenian and Greek testify to a society where the formation of identity bridged language and tradition.

The beauty of the desert city was a focus of early European interest. From the expeditions of the 18th century to the mapping of the 19th century, Palmyra was key to conceptions of the Near East. The funerary portraits found their way to museums and private collections, including the Glyptotek. Today they bear witness to the glory of Palmyra and the period that brought them to Western art collections.
In recent times Palmyra has again become the focus of global attention. The destruction wrought by the Syrian civil war was a reminder of the vulnerability of cultural heritage – and its continued importance. The exhibition at the Glyptotek sees Palmyra through the portraits: their traces of life and connections that traverse time and place, taking us from the burial chambers of Palmyra to the museum galleries of Europe and the stories that emerge when cultural heritage crosses borders.

Animals Take the Stage
Sculptures by Antoine-Louis Barye
From 9 May

Tigers, lions, elephants, cattle, hares and deer will soon take centre stage in the galleries of the Glyptotek with a new exhibition of works by the French sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye (1795-1875). The sculptures pose many questions: why was cattle suddenly herded into 19th-century art? Can elephants actually run like other animals? And what do Barye’s small statues tell us about the human view of nature?
Animals assume a new role in the art of the 19th century. No longer decorative props, they became creatures with characters of their own. Artists like Barye were inspired by the period’s new zoos, scientific discoveries, the advance of industrial farming, debates on animal rights and a growing fascination with pet animals.

Barye became known as ‘the Michelangelo of the Menagerie’. His sculptures combine dramatic imagination with anatomical precision, every muscle the result of close, detailed studies of nature.

The exhibition shows the Glyptotek’s collection of 34 small bronze sculptures, almost all of them cast during the artist’s lifetime. They testify to his technical brilliance – from the delicate chasing to the meticulous patination – and a historical period when nature was seen with new eyes. Barye’s portrayal of animals is underpinned by ideas about science, civilisation and the relationship of humankind to nature. The question is whether our view of animals is any different today?

Celebration and Contemplation: 2026 Events

Throughout 2026 the Glyptotek invites visitors to enjoy an events programme that covers art, music and philosophy, presenting opportunities for celebration, contemplation and the creation of memorable experiences.

As the darkness of winter continues to envelop Copenhagen, Tanja Zapolski performs meditative works by Bach, Debussy, Ravel, Glass and Einaudi on the grand piano in the museum’s stately Assembly Hall. As spring approaches we invite visitors to join us for the first Slow Soiree of 2026 , an opportunity to linger over art, conversations, music and good food under the theme Renown.

March at the Glyptotek opens with Katinka Fogh Vindelev and 70 singers from the girls’ choir at Copenhagen’s music high school, Sankt Annæ Gymnasium. Commissioned for the Glyptotek’s Assembly Hall, their performance concert Elegies on Earth interweaves the ancient Greek myth of Persephone with reflections on nature and vitality.

The characteristic tones of Danish singer Kira Skov and her trio will also resound throughout the Assembly Hall, and later in the spring, in collaboration with Denmark’s Folkeuniversitetet, the Glyptotek will host an evening dedicated to Dante’s The Divine Comedy with Professor Ditlev Tamm and contemporary artist Alexander Tovborg.