Regensen: 400 Years of Student Life

One of Denmark’s oldest colleges, Regensen, celebrates its 400^th anniversary in 2023. The occasion is marked with an exhibition at the Round Tower. Visit the Library Hall and explore 400 years of student history.

The college known as Regensen was built in 1623. Since then, students from the University of Copenhagen have lived behind the red brick walls just across the street from the Round Tower. This exhibition tells the students’ spectacular stories, mirroring 400 years of change in Copenhagen, at the university, and in the life of students in general.

Through sound, tableaux, and installations, the exhibition stages the story of how Regensen has developed from a strict educational facility to a diverse social community.

Life at Regensen has changed dramatically as the servants moved out and the female students moved in. Through four centuries, the students have fought for the survival of their college in times of economic crisis, disastrous fires, and threats of demolition. They have also developed a distinct identity, which lives on at the college today.

The story of Regensen is also a story about the Round Tower: Here, the students have gazed at the stars from the Observatory at the top, pored over the books in the old Library Hall and listened to services in the student church Trinitatis.

“REGENSEN – 400 Years of Student Life” is produced by artist collective Vontrapp and historian Louise Depner and presented in collaboration with the Round Tower.

Regensen’s 400^th anniversary is sponsored by:

A.P. Møller Foundation
Augustinus Foundation
Knud Højgaards Foundation
Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Foundation