NOVEMBER 2025 · ESCAPE
Subterranea
Copenhagen, Denmark
In 1853, cholera killed 4,700 people in Copenhagen. Three years later they built the Cisternerne — a drinking water reservoir under Frederiksberg Hill, brick arches and stone pillars running in long parallel rows, 150 metres of it, deep enough underground to stay cold year-round. Clean water was the solution to the problem.
The reservoir was decommissioned in 1933. It sat sealed for fifty years before someone opened it up and started using it as an exhibition space. When I went it held a light installation — glowing orbs suspended in the darkness at the end of long receding archways, one per chamber, just enough light to see by and not much more.
The reflections in it are exact.
Copenhagen former reservoir — November 2025
I shot available light only, which here means the installation light and nothing else. The teal glow from the floor panels, the warm amber of a single hanging bulb in one of the side corridors, the orbs receding into the distance. Your eyes adjust slowly. The arches repeat in perspective until they disappear.
Parts of the floor are flooded — a thin layer of standing water that has no intention of leaving. The reflections in it are exact. Rusted pillars, brick vaults, the orbs doubled below the surface. The place has been damp for long enough that stalactites have started forming from the ceiling — mineral deposits, slow accumulation, the building beginning to grow its own geology.
A silhouetted figure at the far end of one corridor, someone else visiting, their phone torch the only thing marking where they were. I waited until they stopped moving.
Looking through repeating brick arches in the Cisternerne underground reservoir, teal-lit floor and darkness beyond, Copenhagen
Receding arches in the Cisternerne reservoir lit by glowing orbs, silhouetted figure with a light at the far end, Copenhagen
Looking through flooded arched chambers in the Cisternerne reservoir, rusted pillars and water reflections, Copenhagen
Narrow Cisternerne corridor with weathered concrete wall lit warm on one side, a single hanging light in the darkness, Copenhagen
Series of arched passages in the Cisternerne reservoir leading to a single glowing orb in the darkness, Copenhagen
Cisternerne arched chamber with moss-covered walls, metal grating walkway and a glowing orb of light in the distance, Copenhagen
Dark Cisternerne corridor with stone columns, metal grating floor and a distant warm glow, stalactites forming, Copenhagen
Rocking chair and antique cart in a dimly lit attic under exposed timber roof trusses, shaft of light from a small window