It took Oscar Matthiesen (1861-1957) five years to paint this monumental fresco. The assembly, amounting to more than 220 people, comprises the Members of the Danish Parliament and of the Landsting who were present on Saturday 5 June 1915 when the Rigsdag was presented with the signed copy of the Constitutional Act of Denmark. The meeting took place in what are now the premises of the Eastern High Court on Bredgade where the two chambers met before the new Christiansborg Palace was inaugurated in 1918. Oscar Matthiesen had all of the members of the Rigsdag sit for him so that he could sketch them and paint them in later as work on the picture progressed. A bricklayer turned up each morning to spread fresh plaster in the wall. Author: Lisbeth Bonde, M.A and art critic. Photographer: Torben Eskerod.