Concert: FIRST HATE
Join us when the Danish pop-art duo First Hate performs a concert after hours in the historic Library Hall of the tower.
First Hate was formed in 2013 by friends Anton Falck and Joakim Wei Bernild and has since made a name for themselves on the Danish music scene by going against the trends, combining pop kicks, club poetry, and fleeting romances in sharp creations filled with hedonism and heartbreak.
During Golden Days Festival, which this year has the theme “At Work,” you can enjoy a well-deserved night off with friends and experience the duo in the historic Library Hall, where books and shelves have been replaced by talks, exhibitions, concerts, and cultural events.
Doors open at 7:30 PM.
The event begins at 8:00 PM.
The event is part of the Golden Days Festival.
Ole Rømer Challenge: Test Yourself in the Spiral Ramp
It can be hard work going up and down the Spiral Ramp! How many times can you make the trip? Join the Ole Rømer Challenge during the Golden Days Festival and test your strength in the spirit of Ole Rømer.
Even if you search far and wide, it’s hard to find anyone who has had as many exciting jobs as the astronomer Ole Rømer. He didn’t just work as the director of the Observatory at the top of the Round Tower—he also served as Chief of Police, Mayor, Fire Chief, School Principal, Supreme Court Judge, and much more!
But Rømer didn’t do it all himself. He needed others to pitch in too, which led him to wonder how much work a person could actually handle in a day. To find out, he conducted an experiment in the Round Tower in 1690. He asked two strong, young soldiers to walk up and down the Spiral Ramp—over and over again—until they couldn’t continue. They managed 60 trips in four and a half hours, and Rømer thought that was quite impressive.
Take on the challenge
As part of this year’s Golden Days Festival, which focuses on the theme of work, visiting children can take on the challenge and test their own endurance on the Spiral Ramp! Which path will you choose? The outer path with a 10 percent incline? Or the inner path, which is even steeper with a 33 percent incline?
Don’t worry—you don’t have to go as many times as Ole Rømer’s soldiers. In our mini-experiment, you just need to see how many trips you can complete up and down in four and a half minutes. Remember, one trip only counts when you’ve gone both up and down. You’ll find the starting point near one of the windows in the Spiral Ramp—so keep an eye out!
Win a season pass
When you’re done, take a picture of yourself and the Spiral Ramp and post it on Instagram. Be sure to mention how many trips you completed and use the hashtag #oleromerchallenge.
By doing so, you’ll enter a competition to win a season pass to the Round Tower for you and your family. That way, you can come back and tackle the Spiral Ramp as often as you like!
This event is part of the Round Tower’s program for Golden Days Festival.
Golden Days: The Round Tower and the Seven Wonders of the World
Learn more about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and how they are linked with the Round Tower.
The Round Tower has been called the eighth wonder of the world. The way it looks and the way it is built also refers more or less explicitly to several of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and how they have been perceived and depicted, not least in the Renaissance.
Symbolic Nod
This year’s theme of the historical festival Golden Days is Antiquity. On this occasion, you can dive into hanging gardens, pyramids and giant statues as you ascend the Round Tower’s own Spiral Ramp.
The Spiral Ramp is unique in a Danish context and can be seen as a symbolic nod to one of the canonized wonders, the Lighthouse at Alexandria. How well do you really know your wonders?
Golden Days: Performance with the Writing Collective BMS and First Hate
The Round Tower is also defined by its student workers. One of them is part of the writing collective BMS that performs a singing and angry shouting choir in the Library Hall together with the pop group First Hate.
The performance consists of a series of poems in Danish introducing the recurring character Ditte. A meeting between music and poetry, but also a manifestation of the clash between two collective processes: a hope – and a shout – about multipersonal voices and restless choreographies.
The performance with BMS and First Hate is part of the annual historical Golden Days festival. This year, the festival explores youth as a phenomenon, feeling and condition under the title “Forever Young”.
Golden Days: In Search of Young People in the Old Tower
The Round Tower is an old tower whose architectural style consciously pays homage to old age and stability. But throughout its history, the tower has also been alive by virtue of the young people, who have worked here and visited the tower.
Go searching in the Spiral Ramp and find out much more about the young life in the old tower. From apprentices in astronomy and the students at the University Library to today’s student workers. Even the fairy-tale writer Hans Christian Andersen was only 14 years old when he first visited the Round Tower.
The search for the young people in the old tower is part of the annual historical Golden Days festival. This year, the festival explores youth as a phenomenon, feeling and condition under the title “Forever Young”.
Spiral Ramps Across Borders
In Berlin and spread over the rest of Europe there are and have been a number of spiral ramps, several of which have provided inspiration for the Round Tower’s Spiral Ramp. At all times good ideas have penetrated the more or less tangible walls that have divided the continent.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall that divided Europe for a generation. On that occasion, the history festival Golden Days has the theme “1989” and the Round Tower contributes by putting the divided Europe of the Cold War into perspective.
In the Spiral Ramp you can explore the spiral ramps and stairs in Germany, France, Italy and Sweden. Embark on a journey to Europe’s spiral ramps in the Round Tower and learn more about architecture across borders.
You can also hear The Round Tower’s new podcast about the euphoric November days of 1989, when East Germans gained free access to the tower.