Frederiksborg Palace — palace
Original uploader was Kresten Hartvig Klit at da.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 2.5

Frederiksborg Palace

  • Elevation32 m
  • 2 min read
  • 55.935° N 12.301° E

Interesting facts

  • The 1859 fire began when a fire was lit in a room whose chimney was under repair; with the lake frozen, the only water came from the kitchen and pantry.
  • Carlsberg brewer J. C. Jacobsen funded the Museum of National History in the rebuilt castle, opened in 1882, which now holds Denmark's largest portrait collection.
  • The original bronzes of the Neptune Fountain, cast in Prague, were reassembled in Sweden and still stand in the gardens of Drottningholm Palace near Stockholm.
  • Frederick II's earlier castle here was the first Danish castle built inland and for pleasure rather than defence, and the King's Way to Copenhagen was built for it.
  • The Treaty of Frederiksborg, ending the Great Northern War between Denmark-Norway and Sweden, was signed at the castle in July 1720.
  • The chapel walls carry the coats of arms of knights of the Order of the Elephant and the Dannebrog, including Nelson Mandela and Niels Bohr.
  • The Audience Chamber, finished in the late 1680s by Lambert van Haven, is the oldest preserved Baroque room in Denmark; a chair lift once raised the king to it.
  • Christian IV was born at the older castle and loved it as a child, yet as king he had it demolished to build the new palace.
  • A copy of the oldest known Danish flag, from 1427, hangs in the Valdemar Room; the original was lost when bombing hit Lübeck Cathedral in 1942.
  • The Baroque cascade garden laid out for Frederick IV in the 1720s was recreated in 1996, with royal monograms, including Margrethe II's, worked in low hedges.

Why it is worth it

Frederiksborg rises straight out of its lake in Hillerød, north of Copenhagen, spread across three small islands: red brick, sandstone trim, spires and a skyline of stepped and scrolled gables. It is the grandest building of Christian IV, the king who remade Denmark's architecture in the early 17th century. He had the older castle his father Frederick II had acquired torn down in 1599, and the new palace went up to designs begun by Hans van Steenwinckel the Elder and carried on by his sons after his death in 1601. The main wings were complete by about 1610, the chapel by 1618, the whole complex around 1620, in a Flemish and Dutch Renaissance manner that is sometimes called Northern Mannerism.

The approach is part of the show. On the way in stands the Neptune Fountain, a work designed by Adriaen de Vries in 1620–1622. Swedish troops carried the original away as booty in 1659; what stands now is a copy made in 1888. The palace faces are richly carved, with sandstone figures, cartouches and window surrounds that stand out against the dark red brick, and the whole mass is doubled in the water of the Slotssø.

Inside, the chapel is the room to remember. Between 1671 and 1840 Danish absolute monarchs were anointed here, and the organ built by Esaias Compenius in 1610, with 1,001 wooden pipes, is the oldest in Denmark. Much of the rest of the interior is a reconstruction: a fire on the night of 16 December 1859 gutted the palace, and it was rebuilt by public subscription with major support from the brewer J. C. Jacobsen of Carlsberg, who then made it home to the Museum of National History, founded in 1878 and opened in 1882. Its rooms tell Danish history through portraits, paintings and furnished interiors.

Behind the palace, the Baroque garden laid out for Frederick IV in the early 1720s by the court gardener Johan Cornelius Krieger was recreated in 1996, and from its far end comes the classic view back across the water to the towers.

Getting there

The palace is in the centre of Hillerød, about 1 km from the town centre and roughly 35 minutes by S-train (line A) from central Copenhagen; from Hillerød station it is about a 15-minute walk south along Slotsgade, or a short ride on buses 301 or 302 to the "Frederiksborg Slot" stop. The nearest airfield is Copenhagen Roskilde Airport (RKE), about 40 km away, but the practical gateway is Copenhagen Airport (CPH), with trains via central Copenhagen.

Plan your visit

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Nearby places

On these lists

The Most Beautiful Places in Capital Region of Denmark 11The Most Beautiful Places in Denmark 18The Most Beautiful Castles, Palaces and Fortresses in Denmark 5The Most Beautiful Palaces 91The Most Beautiful Castles, Palaces and Fortresses 302

From the encyclopaedia

Frederiksborg Castle is a palatial complex in Hillerød, Denmark. It was built as a royal residence for King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway in the early 17th century, replacing an older castle acquired by Frederick II and becoming the largest Renaissance residence in Scandinavia. On three islets in the Slotssøen, it is adjoined by a large formal garden in the Baroque style.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

55.93500, 12.30083per Wikidata