Copenhagen With Blooming Christmas Roses, 2008, Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate

2008 Royal Copenhagen Christmas plate, designed by Svend Vestergaard, has the title Copenhagen Christmas. Sven Vestergaard has decorated the 2008 Christmas plate, “Copenhagen Christmas”, with the most beautiful of the Danish capital’s towers: the Stock Exchange, City Hall, the Round Tower, Christiansborg Palace, the Church of Our Lady, Our Saviour’s Church and the Marble Church. These distinctive towers and spires symbolise Copenhagen for visitors and locals alike. They are landmarks in a city blessed with a wealth of beautiful architecture. Copenhagen’s towers are a unifying theme in the history of the Christmas Plate, with Our Saviours Church appearing in 1917 and the Church of Our Lady in 1949. In the foreground the artist has drawn a bouquet of Christmas roses, taking as his inspitration the legend of a poor girl who wanted to take flowers to the Baby Jesus in his cradle. Having no money, she cried so fervently that Christmas roses grew where her tears struck the ground. Behind the towers we see the radiance that lights up “Copenhagen Christmas”. This is a fond reference to the first Royal Copenhagen Christmas Plate, which was created a hundred years ago. In the 1908 plate the artist illuminated the Madonna and Child with the same radiance.