The King's Kunstkammer Hans Christian Andersen concludes his story of The Princess and the Pea by telling us that '- the pea was put into the museum, where it can still be seen, if no one has taken it!' Anyone who has read the story will probably recognize the ending, but they will almost certainly have been unaware of the allusions to one particular museum, and to a remarkable act of theft. The absolutist monarchs of Denmark had created a multi-museum in Copenhagen, a Kunstkammer, containing all those things, which nowadays can only be seen by visiting a whole range of different museums. The collection reflected the Universe, with naturalia created by God, and objets d'art created by Man - all arranged and displayed according to an efficient, precise system. This was the repository for some of the treasures of the realm. Here could be found the exquisite Dagmar Cross, as well as the two famous 5th century Golden Horns - found in 1639 and 1734. It was the fate of these Golden Horns that Hans Christian Andersen was hinting at. In 1802 they were stolen from the Kunstkammer and later melted down. The theft inspired the Danish poet Adam Oehlenschläger that same year to write his poem Golden Horns. Golden Horn. Detail of engraving from Museum Regium 1696 Read more about Frederik III's Kunstkammer The Royal Kunstkammer 1680-1825 From Kunstkammer to modern museum Frederik III Download the complete text about The Danish Kunstkammer Get Acrobat Reader Acrobat Reader is required to open the download text. The program is free and can be downloaded here: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html