Iselingen is a manor house and estate located close to

Vordingborg Vordingborg () is a market town and old ferry town on the south coast of the island of Zealand in Denmark. Because of three large estates surrounding the town, a coherent urban development has not been possible, which is the reason why three sat ...

on the southern part of

Zealand Zealand ( ) is the largest and most populous islands of Denmark, island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size) at 7,031 km2 (2715 sq. mi.). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 Januar ...

in southeastern

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 ...

. It takes its name after the Swiss-born merchant

Reinhard Iselin Reinhard Iselin (4 August 1714 – 10 April 1781) was a Danish merchant, shipowner and industrialist who founded Reinhard Iselin & Co. in Copenhagen in 1749. The company completed 65 expeditions to the Danish West Indies. Iselin was also active i ...

who established it in the 1770s. The current main building was completed a hundred years later to design by

Vilhelm Dahlerup Jens Vilhelm Dahlerup (4 August 1836 – 24 January 1907) was a Danish architect who specialized in the Historicist style. One of the most productive and noted Danish architects of the 19th century, he is behind many of the most known buildings ...

History

The Iselin family

Iselingen was created when the former Vordingborg Cavalry District was divided into 12 estates and sold in auction by the crown in 1774. One of them was the former

Vordingborg Castle The Vordingborg Castle ruins (''Vordingborg Slotsruin'') are located in the town of Vordingborg, Denmark and are the town's most famous attraction. History The castle was built in 1175 by King Valdemar I of Denmark as a defensive fortress, and ...

. The castle was a ruin but the land and its tenant farms were acquired by the merchant

who gave it the name Iselingen. He also acquired one of the other estates, Vordingborg Castle's former home farm (Vordingborg Ladegård), which was named Rosenfeldt. Iselin was ennobled with title of baron in 1776. When he died in 1781, his widow Anna Elisabeth Iselin née Fanritius founded Stamhuset Iselingen for their oldest daughter Marie Margrethe Iselin. Rosenfeldt was also turned into a ''stamhus'' and passed on to the younger daughter Anna Elisabeth Iselin. The legal effect of a ''stamhus'' was that the estate could not be sold or divided between several heirs. Datteren Marie Margrethe was married to Christian Frederik Ernst Rantzau but the couple was—highly unusually for the time—divorced in 1793. In 1802, she began the construction of a new main building at a site located to the northeast of the old castle ruin. In 1803, Stamhuset Iselingen was dissolved and replaced by a family trust (''fideikommis''). The estate was then sold to ship captain Jens Lind.

Aagaard and Hammerich

After about a year, Lind sold Iselingen to district manager (''amtsforvalter'') H. H. P. Reiersen who shortly thereafter sold it to a consortium from Copenhagen consisting of

Just Michael Aagaard Just Michael Aagaard (17 July 1757 – 7 October 1819) was a Danish merchant and '' konditori''-owner in Copenhagen. He served as chair of the Council of 32 Men (later to become the Copenhagen City Council) and was director of Kjøbenhavn ...

, Peder Bech,

Iver Qvistgaard Iver Qvistgaard (28 October 1767 8 October 1829) was a Danish civil servant, landowner and mayor of Copenhagen. He owned Aagaard Manor at Holbæk and the country house Wesselsminde at Nærum. He also engaged in a number of other speculative inve ...

and Hans Wassard. Aagaard became the sole owner of Iselingen in 1806. In 1810, he sold the farm Marienlyst to Wassard. It was at the same time incorporated as an independent manor. Aagaard offered his son Holger Halling Aagaard to become manager of the estate. Recently engaged to 18-year old Marie Koës, he consulted his fiancé on the matter and she responded with a "Yes let's move to Iselingen, then I can have a large garden with lots of flowers and strawberries!". Holger Halling Aagaard managed the estate with great skill and inherited it in 1819. He owned Iselingen until 1866 and it won a reputation for being the most well-run estate in the country. He was very interested in both art and science and socialized with many of the most prominent figures of his day. His visitors at Iselingen included the Ørsted brothers, Grundtvig,

Bertel Thorvaldsen Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen (; sometimes given as Thorwaldsen; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danes, Danish-Icelanders, Icelandic Sculpture, sculptor and medallist, medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–183 ...

Adam Oehlenschläger Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger (; 14 November 177920 January 1850) was a Danish poet and playwright. He introduced romanticism into Danish literature. He wrote the lyrics to the song ''Der er et yndigt land'', which is one of the national anthe ...

and

Christian Winther Rasmus Villads Christian Ferdinand Winther (29 July 1796 – 30 December 1876) was a Danish lyric poet. He was born at Fensmark near Næstved, where his father was the vicar. He went to the University of Copenhagen in 1815, and studied theol ...

Holger Aagaard's son, Georg Aagaard, a

National Liberal National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements of nationalism. Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning as conservative liberalism (right-liberalism). A serie ...

politician who was a member of the Constituent Assembly that prepared the

Danish constitution The Constitutional Act of the Realm of Denmark (), also known as the Constitutional Act of the Kingdom of Denmark, or simply the Constitution (, , ), is the constitution of the Kingdom of Denmark, applying equally in the Realm of Denmark: Denma ...

of 1849, died before his father. Iselingen was therefore passed on to Holger Aagaard's son-in-law Martin Hammerich, a scholar specializing in Norse linguistics, culture, history. His home at Iselingen became a meeting place for many of the most prominent Nordic intellectuals of the time. Martin Hammerich's son Johannes Hammerich inherited Iselingen in 1881.

Later history

In 1812 Johannes Hammerich sold Iselingen to Carl Moresco. In 1918, Iselingen changed hands again when the estate was acquired by Th. Wessel. He sold it to P. Lind in 1823. His daughter Elly Bille Hansen inherited the estate in 1945. After the death of her husband Ove Morton Middelboe Bille Hansen (1877-1957) in 1957, she ceded it to their daughter Tove, Countess of Ahlefeldt–Laurvig. She was married to Christian Preben Lauritz greve Ahlefeldt-Laurvigen (1924-2009), son of Frederik 'Fritz' greve Ahlefeldt-Laurvigen (1887-1968) and Gudrun Dorothea Wilhjelm (1896-1981). Iselingen was acquired by Niels Otto Hansen on 1 January 1997.

Architecture

The main building is from 1792 and was partly built with materials from Vordingborg Castle Ruin. The building was adapted in 1874 under supervision of Jens Vilhelm Dahlerup and Fr. Bøttger. It consists of a two-storey main wing flanked by two one-storey side wings. The tower with spire was added in 1920.

Today

The estate is today owned by Niels Otto Hansen. It covers a total area of 526 hectares of which 290 hectares is farmland and 145 hectares is woodland. The garden covers five hectares.

In culture

* Iselingen was used as a location in the 1953 film '' Vi som går køkkenvejen''.

List of owners

* ( -1774) The Crown * (1774-1781)

* (1781) Anna Elisabeth Iselin née Fabritius-Tengnagel * (1781-1793) Christian Frederik Ernst Rantzau * (1793-1803) Marie Margrethe Iselin, gift Rantzau * (1803-1804) Jens Lind * (1804) H.H.P. Reiersen * (1804-1806) Peder Bech/

/ Wassard/

* (1806-1819)

* (1819-1866) Holger Halling Aagaard * (1866-1881) Martin Hammerich * (1881-1905) Anna Hammerich née Mathea Aagaard * (1905-1912) Johannes Hammerich * (1912-1918) Carl Moresco * (1918-1923) Th. Wessel * (1923-1945) P. Lind * (1945-1958) E. Bille-Hansen * (1958- ) Tove Ahlefeldt-Laurvig * (1996–present) Niels Otto Hansen

References

External links

Official website
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040131055837/http://www.iselingen.dk/ , date=2004-01-31
Source
Manor houses in Vordingborg Municipality 1774 establishments in Denmark Historicist architecture in Denmark Houses completed in 1874