The monument consists of a bronze statue of Ørsted mounted on a granite plinth.

With his hands he is connecting the wires from an electric battery, thereby making a magnet oscillate.

At the foot of the statue sit the three Norns or goddesses of destiny in Norse mythology, Urðr (the past) who is noting the past, and Ørsted's name, on a tablet, Verðandi (the present), who with her distaff is spinning the thread of fate, and Skuld (the future), who is silently awaiting the fullness of time with a rune stick in her hand.

[1] The idea for the monument was conceived in early 1860 by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann as mentioned by Hans Christian Andersen in Mit livs eventyr.

The committee consisted of the politician Frederik Ferdinand Tillisch, professor Johan Georg Forchhammer, Ole Berendt Suhr and Hans Christian Andersen.