The Round Tower

Købmagergade 52A, 1150 København, Denmark

Walking along the winding streets of central Copenhagen, you will invariable chance upon the 17th-century Round Tower, with an observation deck that affords great views over the city and to Sweden in the distance. To reach the top, you walk up an interior spiral ramp with no stairs, designed to allow horses and carts in earlier times to ascend to the library and observatory, and today kids have great fun racing up and down the cobbles. The tower is also the site of an annual unicycle race. The record round-trip time so far: just under one minute 50 seconds.

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Finished in 1642, the Round Tower was constructed to serve as an astronomical observatory. The path to the top of the tower uses a sloped ramp in place of stairs, making for a highly unusual climb and fun experience. The top of the tower has a large viewing platform on it which allows scenic views of central Copenhagen. While not regularly available and subject to Denmark’s turbulent weather, each winter when the nights are long and the skies clear, they open the observatory to the public for limited evening viewings. As you can imagine, due to Copenhagen’s near-constant daylight in the summer, this isn’t available year-round.

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