Rungstedlund, also known as the Karen Blixen Museum, is a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhouse (Great Britain), town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the cit ...

Rungsted Rungsted, also known as ''Rungsted Kyst'' is an affluent suburban neighborhood in Hørsholm Municipality on the Øresund coast north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The center of Hørsholm is located two kilometers west of Rungsted. At the Øresund coast i ...

on the

Øresund Øresund or Öresund (, ; da, Øresund ; sv, Öresund ), commonly known in English as the Sound, is a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border, separating Zealand (Denmark) from Scania (Sweden). The strait has a length of ; its width ...

coast just north of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

, notable for its association with the author

Karen Blixen Baroness Karen Christenze von Blixen-Finecke (born Dinesen; 17 April 1885 – 7 September 1962) was a Danish author who wrote works in Danish and English. She is also known under her pen names Isak Dinesen, used in English-speaking countrie ...

, who lived there for most of her life. She was born on the estate in 1885, and returned there after her years in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, chronicled in her 1937 book ''

Out of Africa ''Out of Africa'' is a memoir by the Danish author Karen Blixen. The book, first published in 1937, recounts events of the seventeen years when Blixen made her home in Kenya, then called British East Africa. The book is a lyrical meditation on ...

'', to do most of her writings. The property is today managed by the Rungstedlund Foundation as a

writer's house museum Writers' homes (sometimes writer's, author's or literary houses) are locations where writers lived. Frequently, these homes are preserved as historic house museums and literary tourism destinations, called writer's home museums, especially when t ...

History

The property traces its history back to 1520 when it was owned by the Crown. The oldest part of the current house dates from about 1680 when it was a combined inn and agricultural estate. Notable guests who stayed at the inn include

Ludvig Holberg Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Dano-Norwegian dual monarchy. He was influenced by Humanism, ...

and

Johannes Ewald Johannes Ewald (18 November 174317 March 1781) was a Danish national dramatist, psalm writer and poet. The lyrics of a song from one of his plays are used for one of the Danish national anthems, ''Kong Christian stod ved højen mast'' which ...

. Ewald lived there from 1773 to 1775 and wrote many of his poems, including ''The Delights Of Rungsted. An Ode''. The locale also inspired him for ''The ´Fishermen'', a

singspiele A Singspiel (; plural: ; ) is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and arias which were often strophic, or folk-like. ...

remembered for ''

Kong Christian stod ved højen mast ''Kong Christian stod ved højen mast'' (; "King Christian stood by the lofty mast"), commonly shortened to ''Kong Christian'', is the unofficial royal anthem of the Kingdom of Denmark that officially has equal status of national anthem togethe ...

'', the Danish

royal anthem The anthem for a person, office or rank is music played on formal or ceremonial occasions in the presence of the person, office-holder, or rank-holder, especially by a military band. The head of state in many countries is honored with a prescribe ...

. The inn closed in 1803. Aron David, who owned it from 1821 to 1868, merged it with the adjoining properties Rungstedgaard, Sømandshvile og Folehavegaard. In 1879 the estate was purchased by Wilhelm Dinesen, father of

, and after his marriage to Ingeborg Westenholz in 1881 they took up residence there. At that time the estate consisted of four wings but two burned in 1898 and were never rebuilt. Karen Blixen spent her childhood at Rungstedlund and took up residency there again after she returned from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

in 1931. She lived there until her death in 1962 and did most of her writings in the Ewald Room. She is interred in the park. In 1958 Karen Blixen and her siblings founded the Rungstedlund Foundation which was to own and manage the estate after her death. The Karen Blixen Museum was founded in 1991.

Karen Blixen Museum

Karen Blixen's home has been preserved largely unchanged with its original furniture, decor and book. The museum also features a complete collection of her oil paintings. The museum also hosts special exhibitions about the author's life and writings. In 2013 The Karen Blixen Museum joined the Nordic museum porta
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Other uses

Rungstedlund is also the home of

Danish Academy Danish Academy is an independent organisation founded in 1960 by a circle of Danish intellectuals "to promote Danish esprit and language, especially within the field of literature". It has up to 20 members, currently 18, and is based at Rungsted ...

, which Karen Blixen co-founded in 1960 together with other Danish intellectuals. The house also hosts the award ceremony of the annual

Rungstedlund Award The Rungstedlund Award is an award of honor, founded by the Rungstedlund Foundation (''Rungstedlundfonden'') in 1991. The DKK 25,000 prize is annually handed to a person who has made a notable contribution in an area which interested Karen Blixen ...

on Karen Blixen's birthday. The grounds are used for a traditional Danish

Saint John's Eve Saint John's Eve, starting at sunset on 23 June, is the eve of celebration before the Feast Day of Saint John the Baptist. The Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:26–37, 56–57) states that John was born six months before Jesus; therefore, the feast o ...

event with a bonfire and speeches.

Rungstedlund Park

The park covers an area of 16.6 hectares. Most of the grounds have been laid out as a bird sanctuary. There are also flower gardens where every day during the summer season fresh flowers are cut for decorating the house. Karen Blixen's grave is located at the foot of Ewald's Mound.

References

External links