Lerchenborg is a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

located 4 km south of

Kalundborg Kalundborg () is a Danish city with a population of 16,659 (1 January 2025),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 ...

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 ...

History

Origins

The estate was established by Carl von Ahlefeldt in 1704 when he closed down the village of Østrup to establish Østrupgård from land that used to belong to

Kalundborg Castle Kalundborg () is a Danish city with a population of 16,659 (1 January 2025),Nicolai Eigtved Nicolai Eigtved (4 June 1701 – 7 June 1754), also known as Niels Eigtved, was a Denmark, Danish architect. He introduced and was the leading proponent of the French rococo or late baroque style in Danish architecture during the 1730s–1740s. ...

, Denmark's leading architect of the time. Lerche received the

Order of the Elephant The Order of the Elephant () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional monarchy in ...

in 1748 and was given status of count in 1752. He renamed his estate Lerchenborg in 1754 but did not establish it as a county (''grevskab'') which, since he had no direct heirs, would fall back to the king. Instead he founded a ''stamhus'' which secured succession rights for other lines of the Lerche family.

19th century

When Christian Cornelius Lerche, who had inherited Lerchenborg in 1804, was ennobled with rank of count, on 26 May 1818, Lerchenborg was combined with Aunsøgård, Mineslund, Asnæsgård, Lerchenfeld,

Birkendegård Birkendegård is a manor house and estate located 6 km east of Kalundborg. The two-storey, Renaissance Revival style main building is from 1954 and was designed by Christian Tybjerg. History Early history The name is first recorded as ''By ...

, Vesterbygaard, Astrup and Davrup to form the County of Lerchenborg (''Grevskabet Lerchenborg''). In 1862,

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

stayed at Lerchenborg for a week as guest of Count C.A. Lerche.

20th century

The county was dissolved in 1923 and the Lerchenborg estate passed out of the Lerche family's ownership in 1927. However, in 1952 it was reacquired by a member of the family, Christian Albrecht Frederik Lerche-Lerchenborg, and has been owned by the Lerchenborg counts ever since. Mineslund and Asnæsgården were sold off in connection with the reacquission..

Architecture

Lerchenborg is a three-winged white-washed

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

complex, consisting of a two-storey, seventeen bay main wing and two lower, detached lateral wings. The main wing has a three-bay median risilit with a triangular pediment and corner projections of two bays with rounded pediments, all with Rococo decorations. The rear side is basically of the same pattern. There is a central entrance on each side of the building.

Interior

The house has fine Rococo style interiors. The

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other vertical sides ...

s on all three buildings are of

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

, although originally they had red tiles.

Surroundings

The entire complex of main building, farm buildings and park form a strictly symmetrical unity in accordance with the aesthetic principles of the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

. On one side, the house is approached through a hierarchy of courtyards, formed by barns and stables, and on the other side the central axis of the complex continues through the park and into the countryside. The original French-style

Baroque garden The Baroque garden was a style of garden based upon symmetry and the principle of imposing order on nature. The style originated in the late-16th century in Italy, in the gardens of the Vatican and the Villa Borghese gardens in Rome and in the ...

was designed by the Belgian-Danish architect and engineering officer Jean Baptiste de Longueville but most of it was adapted into an English-style

landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "Landscape architecture, landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, r ...

in the 19th century. Today the park has an area of 20 hectares.

Owners

*(1300–1658) The Crown *(1658–1680) Gabriel Marselis *(1680–1703) Frants Marselis *(1703–1722) Carl von Ahlefeldt *(1722–1724) Ulrikke Amalie Danneskiold-Laurvig *(1724–1726) Christoffer Watkinson *(1726–1729) The estate of Christoffer Watkinsons *(1729–1742) John de Thornton *(1742–1757) Christian Lerche *(1757–1766) Amalie Margrethe Christiane Caroline Leiningen-Westerburg née Lerche *(1766–1798) Georg Flemming Lerche *(1798–1852) Christian Cornelius Lerche-Lerchenborg *(1852–1885) Christian Albrecht Lerche *(1885–1927) Christian Cornelius Lubbi Lerche-Lerchenborg *(1927–1928) J. Bruhn *(1928–1950) Peter Andreas Lund *(1950–1952) Enkefru Marie Lund *(1952) Statens Jordlovsudvalg *(1952–1970) Christian Albrecht Frederik Lerche-Lerchenborg *(1970–1985) Christian Alfred Vincents Lerche-Lerchenborg *(1985–Present) Christian Cornelius Knud Lerche-Lerchenborg

References

External links

Official website

Lerchenborg
{{Castles in Denmark Castles in Denmark Manor houses in Kalundborg Municipality Listed castles and manor houses in Denmark Baroque architecture in Denmark Listed buildings and structures in Kalundborg Municipality Buildings and structures of the Lerche family Houses completed in 1745 1745 establishments in Denmark