Fredensborg Palace

Fredensborg was built from 1720 to mark the peace that ended the Great Northern War, which is where its name comes from, and it remains a working royal residence used in spring and autumn, which is why the interior is open only in July when the family is elsewhere. The palace is Italian-influenced baroque around an octagonal courtyard, with a domed central hall. The garden is the larger attraction and is open all year: a baroque scheme of radiating avenues cut through woodland down to Lake Esrum, remodelled in the eighteenth century, with the Valley of the Norsemen, a group of about seventy sandstone figures of Norwegian and Faroese farmers and fishermen carved in the 1760s, standing in a circular clearing.

History

At the end of the Great Northern War King Frederick IV asked the architect Johan Cornelius Krieger, royal gardener at Rosenborg, to build him a small pleasure palace on the site of a farmyard called Østrup, and Krieger built the baroque palace in 1720-1726, with the king closely involved and Johan Conrad Ernst in charge of construction. While it was still being built, the peace treaty between Denmark-Norway and Sweden was signed on the site on 3 July 1720, and the palace was named Fredens Borg, "Peace's Castle", to commemorate it. The small, almost square main palace with its dome stands at the centre of a "hunting star" of straight paths radiating through a game reserve; its domed hall measures 15 by 15 metres and rises 27 metres, with stucco by C. E. Brenno and a ceiling painting by Hendrick Krock. In front of it the octagonal courtyard is ringed by the single-storey Red Wing, the chapel carries a bust of Frederick IV by Didrick Gercken, and the Courtiers' Wing followed in 1724-1726; the palace was inaugurated on 11 October 1722, the king's 51st birthday (Wikipedia, Fredensborg Palace).

What to look for

• The Valley of the Norsemen - seventy sandstone figures in a clearing.
• Radiating baroque avenues - cut through woodland toward the lake.
• The domed hall - the centre of the palace, open in July only.
• Lake Esrum from the garden - the water closing the main view.

When to go

July for the interior and the private garden, which open only then; the main garden is open year round. Two to three hours. Autumn colour along the avenues is very good. The changing of the guard happens daily when the family is in residence.

Things to know

The palace interior is open for a few weeks a year and tours sell out, so plan around it. Parts of the garden are closed when the family is in residence. There is little interpretation in the garden. Facilities are limited to the town nearby.

Nearby

Lake Esrum and Esrum Abbey are north; Frederiksborg Castle is west at Hillerod.

Key facts