Enigma: Denmark's Post and Tele Museum gets a modern makeover in new location
Melanie Haynes - [email protected]
Published: 10 Jan, 2017 CET.
Updated: Tue 10 Jan 2017 10:27 CET
Just over a year ago, the historic Post and Tele Museum closed its doors on Copenhagen’s Købmagergade. Now the first phase of its replacement, the new communications museum Enigma, has opened in Østerbro.
The previous museum had a more traditional focus on different modes of communications throughout the years but Enigma will be focussed more on delivering debate around the subject of communications. Enigma Torv and Scene is the first stage of the new museum and also includes a cafe, shop, citizen service and post office.
The museum is currently funded by telecommunications company TDC and the Danish postal service until 2020. Rather than wait five years to open the complete museum, it was decided to open in phases; the next is planned for 2018.
The museum takes its name in part from the Enigma cipher machines used in the early 20th century for commercial and military messaging.
“We have the oldest Enigma decoding machine in the museum and the new name comes partly from this but also the Greek meaning of a riddle,” Jane Sandberg, ENIGMA’s director, told The Local. “The idea of ENIGMA is to decode the riddles of communication and we are doing this by encouraging debate and critical thinking around the subject of communication.”
Sandberg said the museum’s set-up is meant to facilitate communication at all turns.
“The family style dining in the cafe encourages communication and debate. We have a range of crockery and serving dishes developed specifically to encourage discussion. The programme of events at Enigma Scene are aimed at disrupting current thought about communication,” he said.
Enigma Torv and Scene is located on the ground floor of the old post office at Trianglen.
The event calendar is fascinating in its alternative nature. There are weekly presentations such as Things that Talk, where a museum expert talks about an interesting item in the museum, as well as panel debates and presentations by editors of alternative media like the homeless newspaper Hus Forbi. Another feature has been labelled Old Greeks vs New Geeks and will see philosophers and IT experts debate different aspects of communication.
For children, there is a bedtime story evening where an author reads from their own work and every weekend children can come in create their own stamps, play board games and hire a robot to try their hand a programming.
Enigma is free with only a small charge for the hire of the robots. More information can be found on the museum's website (currently only in Danish).
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The previous museum had a more traditional focus on different modes of communications throughout the years but Enigma will be focussed more on delivering debate around the subject of communications. Enigma Torv and Scene is the first stage of the new museum and also includes a cafe, shop, citizen service and post office.
The museum is currently funded by telecommunications company TDC and the Danish postal service until 2020. Rather than wait five years to open the complete museum, it was decided to open in phases; the next is planned for 2018.
The museum takes its name in part from the Enigma cipher machines used in the early 20th century for commercial and military messaging.
“We have the oldest Enigma decoding machine in the museum and the new name comes partly from this but also the Greek meaning of a riddle,” Jane Sandberg, ENIGMA’s director, told The Local. “The idea of ENIGMA is to decode the riddles of communication and we are doing this by encouraging debate and critical thinking around the subject of communication.”
Sandberg said the museum’s set-up is meant to facilitate communication at all turns.
“The family style dining in the cafe encourages communication and debate. We have a range of crockery and serving dishes developed specifically to encourage discussion. The programme of events at Enigma Scene are aimed at disrupting current thought about communication,” he said.
Enigma Torv and Scene is located on the ground floor of the old post office at Trianglen.
The event calendar is fascinating in its alternative nature. There are weekly presentations such as Things that Talk, where a museum expert talks about an interesting item in the museum, as well as panel debates and presentations by editors of alternative media like the homeless newspaper Hus Forbi. Another feature has been labelled Old Greeks vs New Geeks and will see philosophers and IT experts debate different aspects of communication.
For children, there is a bedtime story evening where an author reads from their own work and every weekend children can come in create their own stamps, play board games and hire a robot to try their hand a programming.
Enigma is free with only a small charge for the hire of the robots. More information can be found on the museum's website (currently only in Danish).
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