Year: Day to Day Men: March 2
Windows to the City
The second of March in 1842 marks the birth date of Carl Christian Hillman Jacobsen, a Danish brewer, art collector and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, regarded as one of the preeminent museums in Denmark.
Born in Copenhagen, Carl Jacobsen was the son of Danish industrialist Jacob Christian Jacobsen who, in addition to serving a period as Member of Parliament, founded the Carlsberg Laboratory, a biochemical research center that examined the process of brewing. Carl Jacobsen’s initial education was at the Borgerdyd School in the Christianshavn neighborhood of Copenhagen. Beginning in 1866, he began a four-year study abroad of Europe’s leading breweries.
Upon his return to Denmark, Jacobsen was employed at a brewing annex of his father’s Carlsberg brewery; however, bitter conflicts developed between father and son. His father, due to the family tensions, founded the Carlsbergfondef (Carlsberg Foundation) which he endowed with the controlling shares of the business. In 1882, Carl Jacobsen founded his own brewery, the Valby Brewery, and later changed its name to Ny Carlsberg (New Carlsberg). Jacob Jacobsen changed the name of the original brewery to Gammel Carlsberg (Old Carlsberg).
A reconciliation between Carl Jacobsen and his father was eventually achieved in 1886. Upon the death of his father in April of 1887, Carl did not obtain control of the Gammel Carlsberg brewery. It was not until 1906 that the two Carlsberg breweries merged into one entity with Carl Jacobsen chosen as Chief Executive Officer by the Carlsberg Foundation, the majority owner. Jacobsen would remain as CEO of the newly established Carlsberg Group until his death in 1914.
Carlsberg Brewery finished its first brew in November of 1847; the exportation of Carlsberg beer began in 1868 with one barrel shipped to Edinburgh, Scotland. Since then, the Carlsberg Group has become a multinational brewer whose flagship brand is Carlsberg beer. Currently it is the sixth largest brewery in the world based on revenue. The Carlsberg Group has facilities throughout European and Asian countries; it is the brewer of such beers as Tuborg, Kronenbourg, Somersby Cider, Holsten and more than five hundred local beers.
Carl Jacobsen was not a political individual as was his father, but rather a cultural enthusiast. Known for his interest in Greek and classical art, he was an avid antique collector. His collecting led to the 1897 founding of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek to which he donated his entire collection of antiques. Jacobsen was also interested in architecture and employed the leading Danish architects of the time, including historical architect Jens Vilheim Dahlerup, to design his brewery sites. He was responsible for the restoration work done on several public buildings and churches in Copenhagen as well as financing the city’s 1913 iconic harbor sculpture “The Little Mermaid”.
Jacobsen was a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and Académie des Beaux-Arts as well as honorary member of the Société des Artistes Français. He was awarded a Knighthood in the Order of Dannebrog in 1888 and received in 1912 the Grand Cross, a reward for meritorious service to Denmark. Carl Jacobsen died in January of 1914 and was buried in the family’s mausoleum at Jesus Church in Copenhagen.