We had a family adventure today in the Bispebjerg neighborhood of Copenhagen. We were on the hunt for a playground shaped like a man, and a sculpture of a giant owl. We had heard about both from a friend, and all we had was a sketchy hand drawn map. Of course we looked up coordinates on line, but we started with this map.
Bispebjerg is northwest of our neighborhood, The Mythological Quarter. It is home to the architecturally noted, Grundtvig’s Church as well as the Skolehaver—a teaching garden for children, which we have written about before.
After biking up the Bispebjerg Bakke, a hill large by Copenhagen standards, but not so large after all, and making a few wrong turns, we found the play ground shaped like a man hidden in the Bispeparken Apartment complex.
The family playing there were tolerant of our excited photographing and with their help we found the large ceramic owl just around the corner. The grimacing, robotic man playground is new, having been built this year, but the owl dates to 1967. The large ceramic snow owl marks the entrance to the apartment complex, and has been appropriated to advertises for the grave stone company on the corner, which has the owl for its logo.
The playground was designed by the Danish firm, Monstrum, with the help of local children who said they would like a monster playground. What they got looks like it could be a monster, a giant robot taking a rest, or perhaps a woman in labor? Any way you happen to see it, it is a beautiful and inventive playground like many of Monstrum’s designs. Check out their work here.
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