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.