Kunsthal Charlottenborg occupies the oldest building on Kongens Nytorv, a brown brick mansion that one VoiceMap guide cheerfully dismisses as a bit of a mess. Built in 1677 for King Christian the Fifth's half-brother, it was the first grand house to rise outside Copenhagen's medieval ramparts, hauling Baroque architecture and a whole new city quarter into being.

It took its present name in 1700, when the King's widow, Queen Charlotte Amalie, bought it as her winter residence and lived here until 1714. Since 1754 it has housed the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and today its courtyard galleries hold one of Northern Europe's largest contemporary art venues.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours trace the mansion's leap from royal residence to art school to gallery, using it to unpack the birth of Kongens Nytorv and even the meaning of hygge, a word Danes wield as both verb and adjective.