Charlottenlund Palace () is a former royal summer residence in

Charlottenlund Charlottenlund is a suburban area on the coast north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the administrative seat of Gentofte Municipality. Bordered to the east by the Øresund, to the South by Hellerup and to the north by Klampenborg, it is one of the ...

, some north of central

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. The palace was named after Princess Charlotte Amalie, who was responsible for the construction of the original palace. It was later extended and adapted for Crown Prince Frederick VIII to a design by

Ferdinand Meldahl Ferdinand Meldahl (16 March 1827 – 3 February 1908) was a Danish architect best known for the reconstruction of Frederiksborg Castle after the fire in 1859. Meldahl was one of the leading proponents of historicism in Denmark. Biography He was t ...

in the early 1880s. From 1935 to 2017, the building has housed the Danish Biological Station (''Dansk Biologisk Station''), later renamed Danish Fishery Survey and in the final years called DTU Aqua. It is now a cultural event venue. The Great Hall is occasionally used for classical concerts.

History

Origins

In 1622, King

Christian IV Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years and 330 days is the longest in Scandinavian history. A member of the H ...

established a new deer park at the site, which was to replace Rosenborg Deer Park at

Rosenborg Castle Rosenborg Castle () is a renaissance castle in Copenhagen, Denmark. The castle was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606 and is an example of Christian IV's many architectural projects. It was built in the Dutch Renaissance style, t ...

just outside Copenhagen. It was referred to variously as "Kongens nye dyrehave ved Skovshoved" ("The King's new deer park at

Skovshoved Skovshoved is a former fishing village on the Øresund coast north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The area is part of Charlottenlund postal district and Gentofte Municipality. Local landmarks include Skovshoved Church, Skovshoved Hotel and the listed Ar ...

"), "Gentofte dyrehave ved stranden" ("

Gentofte Gentofte () is a district of Gentofte Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Major landmarks include Gentofte Town Hall, Gentofte Hospital and Gentofte Church. Gentofte Lake with surrounding parkland and nature reserves form ...

deer park by the beach"), "Den lille dyrehave ved Ibstrub" ("The small deer park at Ibstrub") and "Freudendahl". In 1663, King Frederick III ceded the deer park to one of his courtiers, Jacob Petersen (''kammertjener'', later ''rigsbaron''). With Henrik Ruse, he opened an inn at the site.

Gyldenlund

Due to a dispute at the court, Jacob Petersen had to leave the country. After his property was then taken over by

Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve, Landgrave of Laurvig (20 July 1638 – 17 April 1704) was the illegitimate son of Frederick III of Denmark-Norway. A good relationship to his half brother, Christian V, secured him a position as one of the leading stat ...

, an acknowledged

illegitimate son Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...

of King Frederick III, it became known as Gyldenlund after its new owner. He renovated the buildings as well as the fishing ponds and constructed a new summer residence in the grounds. The exact location of the new house is not known but it is assumed that it was located at the site of the current palace. Gyldenløve had owned Gyldenlund for some ten years when Frederick III claimed it back in exchange for

Skjoldenæsholm Skjoldenæsholm Castle (Danish language, Danish: ) is a manor house located 11 kilometres north-east of Ringsted, Denmark, standing on the west side of one of the many lakes which dominate the area. The Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassical main ...

Ringsted Ringsted is a city located centrally in the Danish island of Zealand. It is the seat of a municipality of the same name. Ringsted is situated approximately from Copenhagen. History Ringsted was the site of ''Sjællands Landsting'' (lit. ''Z ...

. The king used the house as a summer retreat and for hunting.

Christian V Christian V (15 April 1646 – 25 August 1699) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1670 until his death in 1699. Well-regarded by the common people, he was the first king anointed at Frederiksborg Castle chapel as absolute monarch since the de ...

constructed

Jægersborg Allé Jægersborg Allé is a major street in the Charlottenlund and Jægersborg neighborhoods of Gentofte Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. It runs from Strandvejen in the southeast to a junction just east of Jægersborg railw ...

in 1706, originally as a private road, connecting the two royal residences in Charlottenlund and

Jægersborg Jægersborg is a suburban neighbourhood in Gentofte Municipality, some 12 km north of central Copenhagen, Denmark. History The whole area was from at least 1401 a royal estate known as Ibstrup (the earliest sources refer to it as Jepsto ...

Charlottenlund

In 1730, Crown Prince Christian (VI) gave Gyldenlund to his sister, Princess Charlotte Amalie. She replaced the house with a new building in the

Baroque style The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (i ...

. The construction took place under supervision of Engineer Officer H. H. Scheel, probably to a design by

Johan Cornelius Krieger Johan Cornelius Krieger (1683–1755) was a Danish architect and landscape architect, who from the 1720s served as both the country's chief architect, and head of the royal gardens. Krieger oversaw the construction of Fredensborg Palace and its ...

. Many of the building materials came from

Copenhagen Castle Copenhagen Castle () was a castle on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It was built in the late 14th century and was located at the site of the current Christiansborg Palace. History In 1167, Bishop Absalon (c. 112 ...

which was under demolition. In the middle of the 19th century, Charlottenlund Palace was for many years the home of Louise Charlotte and

Prince William of Hesse-Kassel Prince William of Hesse-Kassel (24 December 1787 – 5 September 1867) was the first son of Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel and Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen. He was titular Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel-(Rumpenheim) and for many years heir ...

. Quite atypically for a royal residence, the park remained open to the public. Throughout the century, on and off, it was a favourite excursion spot for Copenhageners on Sundays. In 1869, Crown Prince Frederick and his wife

Lovisa of Sweden Louise of Sweden (; 31 October 1851 – 20 March 1926) was Queen of Denmark from 1906 until 1912 as the wife of King Frederick VIII. Born into the House of Bernadotte, Louise was the only surviving child of King Charles XV of Sweden and Norwa ...

took over the palace. Both

Christian X of Denmark Christian X (; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 until his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, holding the title as a result of the personal union between Denmark and independent Icel ...

and

Haakon VII of Norway Haakon VII (; 3 August 187221 September 1957) was King of Norway from 18 November 1905 until his death in 1957. The future Haakon VII was born in Copenhagen as Prince Carl of Denmark. He was the second son of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess ...

were born in the building. In 1880–81,

undertook a major rebuilding of the palace. The queen

dowager A dowager is a widow or widower who holds a title or property – a "dower" – derived from her or his deceased spouse. As an adjective, ''dowager'' usually appears in association with monarchical and aristocratic titles. In popular usage, the n ...

Louise lived there until her death in 1926.

Later history

The royal family discontinued using the palace in 1935 and made it available to the Danish Biological Station (''Dansk Biologisk Station''), later renamed to Danish Fishery Survey (''Danmarks Fiskeriundersøgelser''). The Danish National Aquarium opened in a corner of the park in 1939 where it remained until 2013 when

The Blue Planet ''The Blue Planet'' is a British nature documentary series created and co-produced as a co-production between the BBC Natural History Unit and Discovery Channel. It premiered on 12 September 2001 in the United Kingdom. It is narrated by David ...

was inaugurated in

Kastrup Kastrup () is a suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark, on the east coast of Amager in Tårnby Municipality. It is the site of Copenhagen Airport. In Danish, the airport is often called ''Kastrup Lufthavn'' (Kastrup Airport) or ''Københavns Lufthavn, Kast ...

. The Danish Fishery Survey, now called DTU Aqua, became a department under the

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark (), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's first polytechnic, and it is today ran ...

(''DTU'') in 2001. The department planned to move to a new building at DTU's main campus in Lyngby in 2015. The future use of Charlottenlund Palace had not yet been decided as of January 2016. As of 2019, Charlottenlund Palace is being used for caterings as well as office space for a vast number of companies.

Architecture

Meldahl's extension of the palace in the 1880s adapted the original Baroque palace to reflect the French Renaissance style that characterizes its architecture today. Meldahl extended the building with two bays and the two corner risalits on the front side. The central hall with dome and lantern were also added. On the garden side there is a three bay central projection. The building was listed in 1918.

Park and surroundings

The park has an area of . The original Baroque park was redesigned into an English-style Romantic garden in the 1880s. It contains several small buildings, including an ice house and a thatched, yellow building with timber framing that has been used both as a wash house and a guard house for the

Royal Life Guards The Life Guards (LG) is the most senior regiment of the British Army and part of the Household Cavalry, along with Blues and Royals, The Blues and Royals. History The Life Guards grew from the four troops of Horse Guards Regiment, Horse Guar ...

. The park adjoins

Charlottenlund Beach Park Charlottenlund Beach Park ( Danish: Charlottenlund Strand Strandpark) is a seaside public park in Charlottenlund, Gentofte Municipality, in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. The area consists of a white sandy beach and extensive lawns, ...

and Charlottenlund Forest.

References

External links

Charlottenlund Palace
at the website ''Royal Danish Palaces,'' managed by the

National Museum of Denmark The National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet) in Copenhagen is Denmark, Denmark's largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main building is located a short distance from S ...

. {{coord, 55, 45, 1, N, 12, 34, 50, E, type:landmark_region:DK, display=title Palaces in Northern Zealand Royal residences in Denmark Listed buildings and structures in Gentofte Municipality 1850s architecture in Denmark Frederick VIII of Denmark