Den Kongelige Afstøbningssamling, Copenhagen

Den Kongelige Afstøbningssamling is a museum of plaster casts housed in Vestindisk Pakhus on Toldbodgade in Copenhagen. Its collection contains about 2,200 casts of sculptures spanning from 2,500 BC to around the year 1600. It began in 1895 through the initiative of art historian Julius Lange and brewer Carl Jacobsen, with the aim of making major works of sculpture available for study by everyone.

Some casts came from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where artists used them as drawing and painting models until the mid-1900s. The striking twist is that copies can preserve a more complete record than originals: some source sculptures have changed or deteriorated since their casts were made. The warehouse opened to visitors in 1995.