The Royal Danish Collection has partnered with Smartify to launch a unified digital guide across its historic sites, connecting audiences with centuries of royal history through a flexible, cross-platform experience that extends access to Denmark’s heritage.

Caring for some of the country’s most significant cultural landmarks, the Royal Danish Collection welcomes visitors to the Amalienborg Museum, Christiansborg Palace and Rosenborg Castle. With vast collections spanning architecture, decorative arts and royal history, the organisation sought a solution to deepen interpretation and embed accessibility across multiple locations.

Smartify delivers a powerful custom web app and bespoke audio tours designed for discovery and storytelling for local and international audiences alike.

Amalienborgmuseet in Copenhagen, Denmark

A unified digital guide across three royal sites

Each palace now benefits from its own custom web app (CWA), branded and tailored to the individual site, while operating within a single, centralised Smartify dashboard.

Built to run across iOS, Android and web browsers, the guide opens instantly in the browser and requires no download. Visitors can:

• Purchase the guide during the ticket booking journey

• Scan on-site QR codes located on signage and provided by staff

• Save the guide to their home screen like an app

• Download content at the start of their visit for offline use across all sites

• Discover multiple sites via cross-promotional in-app messaging

By enabling the download feature, the Royal Danish Collection ensures that visitors can access interpretation even in areas with limited connectivity.

In addition, objects from the Royal Danish Collections are available within the Smartify app, extending engagement beyond the physical visit and allowing global audiences to explore the vast collections digitally.

The Royal Danish Collection's three visitor guides feature custom branding, including fonts, colours and imagery

Audio tours designed for diverse audiences

Smartify's in-house creative team has produced a suite of high-quality audio tours tailored to different visitor needs and interests. Across Amalienborg, Christiansborg and Rosenborg, visitors can access:

• Family tours

• Highlights tours

• Danish and English language options
  
  

At Christiansborg Palace, visitors can also experience a dedicated tour – an introduction to the Great Hall and tapestries, offering deeper insight into one of Denmark’s most iconic ceremonial spaces.

Christiansborg Palace, photo courtesy of the Royal Danish Collection

Enhancing complex histories

To help audiences navigate complex histories and interconnected narratives, the Royal Danish Collection is utilising Smartify’s Timelines feature. Interactive timelines allow curators to present key moments in Danish royal history through a rich mix of images, text and video. Visitors can explore stories chronologically and take a self-directed experience.

Interactive timelines from Smartify take visitors through centuries of history

Market-leading accessibility built in

Accessibility is central to the Royal Danish Collection’s digital strategy. The Smartify-powered guides:

• Comply with WCAG 2.2 standards

• Offer adjustable font sizes and high-contrast options

• Leverage AI-powered automated translations to support international audiences
  
  

By embedding accessibility at every stage, the Royal Danish Collection ensures that more visitors can engage with its sites.

Photo of Rosenborg Castle by Jens Ole, courtesy of the Royal Danish Collection

Connecting heritage, technology, and audiences

By implementing Smartify, the Royal Danish Collection presents Denmark’s royal heritage in ways that are both historically grounded and digitally forward-looking. By combining thoughtfully produced audio content, interactive timelines, downloadable guides and cross-platform delivery, they’ve enhanced interpretation, strengthened accessibility and introduced new commercial touchpoints. The platform supports both visitor experience and organisational objectives:

• Enhanced visitor engagement

• New revenue streams through ticket add-ons

• Improved accessibility compliance

• Greater discoverability of vast collections

• Consistent brand presence across multiple historic sites
  
  

Through this partnership, the Royal Danish Collection demonstrates how heritage institutions can embrace digital transformation – not just as an add-on, but as an integrated part of the visitor journey across multiple locations.