Elefantporten, Copenhagen

This is Elefantporten, the tower known in English as the Elephant Tower. Within Copenhagen’s Carlsberg district, it is recognized as the area’s best-known landmark. Its most striking feature is a gate supported by four granite elephants: the animals stand in paired arrangements, with the tower rising from their backs.

The building dates from 1901 and was designed by Jens Vilhelm Dahlerup in the Art Nouveau style. Its setting is the original brewery site of Carlsberg Breweries, giving the monument a direct connection with the district’s industrial beginnings. Elefantporten is also recorded as a monument on the Kulturstyrelsen register. The granite figures make this more than an entrance: they turn the brewery gateway into a memorable piece of architecture, with immense animal forms carrying the structure above them.