Royal Copenhagen Christmas Tables

Since the exhibition opened for the first time in 1963, Royal Copenhagen's Christmas Tables have become a classic Christmas tradition, which has brought together thousands of visitors across generations. Through intricately set and inspirational tables, visitors have been able to reflect on their own Christmas traditions through a lens of tables showcasing the diversity of the holiday’s most significant moments.

Under changing themes and six decades, hundreds of artists and cultural figures have been invited to stage a Christmas table based on Royal Copenhagen's universe of porcelain, figurines, and Christmas decorations. The table setters have also had the opportunity to choose vintage sets and unique pieces, which, in conjunction with the table decorators' own selected objects, have been transformed into magical tables. Thereby, through changing epochs, the traditions of Christmas have been interpreted with impressive imagination and infused with humor and edge - but always with respect for history and the table setters themselves.

Over the years, the themes have been as diverse as the table decorators themselves; the Christmas Tables have been interpreted by fashion designers, artists, craftsmen, actors, ballet dancers, chefs, designers, florists, musicians, singers, athletes, food writers, TV-, theatre and film directors, mayors, noblewomen, nobles, and on one special occasion a royal in the form of Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II. For the 40th anniversary of Royal Copenhagen’s Christmas Tables in 2003, Her Majesty The Queen was invited to stage the royal Christmas.

Many other professions and art forms have also been represented in the high-ceilinged premises at Amagertorv 6 in the heart of Copenhagen. They have all contributed to interpreting and telling stories about the Christmas season and Royal Copenhagen, about the porcelain and the way the meal is staged. Through the Christmas tables, Royal Copenhagen has created a continuous narrative about trends and moods in society, our way of being together, about new food habits, and values in transformation. The exhibition's visitors have also been able to reflect on themselves and their time in the tables, and they have been inspired, challenged, surprised, and confirmed, and have been allowed to enter a borderland between dream and reality.