Periodicals
The Library’s extensive collection of Danish and foreign periodicals consists of over 900 titles, 160 of which are on current subscription. The newest issues of some of the periodicals are available to view in the periodical section of the lounge at Nyhavn 2. More
What does the collection cover?
The periodical collection covers all the significant areas and subjects within the field of art history and museology, among them:
- the history of the visual arts and architecture
- art theory, aesthetics, method
- art criticism
- iconography
- the history, theory and practice of collections and museums
- reviews of exhibitions and books

The collection covers scholarly journals in all the main West European languages, with particular emphasis on the Scandinavian languages, English and German.
What kind of periodicals does the Library have?

Besides periodicals which deal with art in general the Library has more specialised journals, including those about architecture, graphics, photography, about gardening and visual culture, as well as periodicals about women’s art, aesthetics, the politics of art, about individual periods, artistic trends and the various aspects of museology, and even ones about individual artists. Interdisciplinary journals such as Renaissance Studies or Romanticism are also part of the Library collection. And there are a number of artist’s periodicals, such as the Surrealists’ Minotaure.
How do i search?
To find a particular journal, write the journal’s name in the Library catalogue's search bar. You can only search for the titles of the periodicals, not the individual articles.
To find articles on specific subjects, you have to use bibliographies and databases for periodicals and articles. In addition the library provides a large number of printed specialist bibliographies, which can be requested via the library catalogue. The following such resources are available onlines:
- Bibliography of History of Art (BHA) - international bibliography of art historical articles and monographs, published between 1973 and 2008.
- Bibliografi over Dansk Kunst (BDK) (Bibliography of Danish art) –bibliography of articles and monographs about Danish visual art and architecture.
- Wilson Art Full Text – full-text article database, which covers several hundred periodicals about art and architecture published since 1984.
- JStor – full-text article database, which covers the most important scholarly periodicals within the field of the history of art and architecture.
- Artlibraries.net – several million references to monographs, periodicals and articles from leading libraries in Europe and U.S.A.
The Royal Library's database and bibliotek.dk, the collective database of the stock of the Danish public & research libraries. also make possible the extensive search for articles.
Also worth consulting: WorldCat – the world’s largest online catalogue, which has references to books, periodicals and libraries the world over.