Christian Jürgensen Thomsen [SEP] date of death
Christian Jürgensen Thomsen
Christian Jürgensen Thomsen (29 December 1788 – 21 May 1865) was a Danish antiquarian who developed early archaeological techniques and methods.
In 1816 he was appointed head of 'antiquarian' collections which later developed into the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. While organizing and classifying the antiquities for exhibition, he decided to present them chronologically according to the three-age system. Other scholars had previously proposed that prehistory had advanced from an age of stone tools, to ages of tools made from bronze and iron
administration remained at the mansion until 1864.
History State ownership.
After the adoption of the new Constitution in 1849, the Prince's Mansion was ceded to the Danish State. The building then came to serve as a "home for the National Collections". These included the Museum of Ethnology which opened in 1849, the Royal Cabinet of Coins and Medals and the Museum of Nordic Antiquities. The latter two were headed by the historian Christian Jürgensen Thomsen who also resided in the building from 1851 until his death in 1865.