Store Dyrehave (literally Large Animal Park) is a forest located to the east of the village Ny Hammersholt immediately south of

Hillerød Hillerød () is a Denmark, Danish town with a population of 36,604 (1 January 2025)Københavnsvej, in

North Zealand North Zealand, also North Sealand (), refers to the northeastern part of the Danish island of Zealand. The Danish tourist authorities have recently introduced the term Danish Riviera to cover the area in view of its increasing importance for to ...

, Denmark. Consisting of conifers and beech, it was enclosed with stone walls in 1619–28 as a royal deer park for hunting. In 1680,

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 ...

introduced a geometrical system of roads forming a star with eight branches for par force hunting. Although par force hunting was discontinued in 1777, the road system and numbered stone posts remain fully intact. Store Dyrehave is one of the three forests forming the

Par force hunting landscape in North Zealand The Par force hunting landscape in North Zealand is a collection of hunting grounds and forests north of Copenhagen. The landscape was submitted for admission to the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites on 1 August 2010 and was inscribed on 4 July ...

, a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Location

Store Dyrehave has an almost quadratic shape. Præstevang, an area on the northwestern side of the forest, is bounded by the town of Hillerød on three sides. The small town of Ny Hammersholt and Hillerød Golf Club are located on the southwest side while the northeastern margin of the forest is bounded by the Istedrødvej motorway. To the southeast is the small village of Kirkelte in

Allerød Municipality Allerød Kommune is a municipality (Danish language, Danish, ''Commune (country subdivision), kommune'') on the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 67 km2, and has a popul ...

. Its open surroundings, which were protected in 1972, partly separate Store Dyrehave from Tokkekøb Hegn. Kongevejen, a former royal road that is now part of secondary route 201, passes through the forest close to its southwestern margin, linking Hillerød with Copenhagen through the towns of

Blovstrød Blovstrød is a small town and parish in Allerød Municipality, North Zealand, located some 30 km north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The town is situated on the east side of Lyngby Kongevej, approximately one kilometre east of Lillerød and Aller� ...

Birkerød Birkerød () is a town in Rudersdal Municipality in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is surrounded by several lakes and small woodlands. Birkerød station is located on the Nordbanen, Hillerød radial of the S-train suburban networ ...

and

Kongens Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping street and the site ...

History

The first enclosed deer park for hunting at

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 ...

's new

Frederiksborg Castle Frederiksborg Castle () is a palatial complex in Hillerød, Denmark. It was built as a royal residence for Christian IV of Denmark, King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway in the early 17th century, replacing an older castle acquired by Frederick II ...

was ''Lille Dyrehave'' (Small Deer Park) immediately to the north of the castle (now the Romantic landscape section of the castle's park). Store Dyrehave, south of the castle, was enclosed with stone walls in 1619–28. In 1680,

introduced a French-inspired geometrical system of roads forming a star with eight branches for par force hunting. Par force hunting took place in the forest until 1777. In the 18th century, the forest was used for breeding

Frederiksborg horse The Frederiksborger is Denmark's oldest horse breed. They were tremendously popular throughout the Renaissance and Baroque periods and were considered luxury items. Today, the breed is rare, but has a loyal following. Stallions and mares undergo ...

s by the Royal Frederiksborg Stud. The horses were separated in groups according to colour. Each group consisted of 15-20

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...

s and one

stallion A stallion is an adult male horse that has not been gelded ( castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cre ...

. The blue-couloured horses were kept in Store Dyrehave while the grey ones grazed in Præstevang. In 1859, Frederick VII created a small Romantic garden complex in Præstevangen in the northwestern part of the forest, which he named ''Fantasiens Ø'' (Isle of Fantasy). It is located on a small island created by digging a canal across a peninsula, in the Brededam Lake and originally included a small pavilion and a kitchen annexe. The garden fell into neglect after Frederick VII's death, the kitchen was pulled down in 1905 and the pavilion removed in 1969, but a few ruins remain. As a part of the

, Store Dyrehave was inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

list of

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

on 4 July 2015.

Ecology

Store Dyrehave comprises of forest, 18.8 hectares of lakes and ponds, 40.8 hectares of marshland, 21.6 hectares of plains and 9.8 hectares of meadows.

Deciduous trees In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, after flo ...

dominate the periphery of the forest, with

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

as the most common species, covering 414.8 hectares, while oak trees cover 132 hectares and other deciduous trees cover 120 hectares. Mainly found in the central part of the forest, evergreens cover approximately 364 hectares of which ''

Picea A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' is the sole genus ...

'' species account for 227 hectares. The share of deciduous forest will gradually be increased. Maltemosen, in the northern part of the forest, is a

poor fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich Groundwater, ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known ...

. Typical flora include

cotton-grass ''Eriophorum'' (cottongrass, cotton-grass or cottonsedge) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cyperaceae, the sedge family. They are found in the cool temperate, alpine, and Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, primarily in the mi ...

and wild calla as well as the carnivorous

sundew ''Drosera'', which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. 2 volumes. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous ...

and greater bladderwort. Rågårdsmosen and Sortedam on the southwest side of Kongevejeb close to Ny Hammersholt, are peat bogs. Store Dyrehave is home to both roe deer and

fallow deer Fallow deer is the common name for species of deer in the genus ''Dama'' of subfamily Cervinae. There are two living species, the European fallow deer (''Dama dama''), native to Europe and Anatolia, and the Persian fallow deer (''Dama mesopotamic ...

, while

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

—which used to be the focus of attention during the royal hunts—are no longer found in the area.

Historic features

Although par force hunting was discontinued in 1777 by prohibition, the road system and numbered stone posts remain fully intact. ''Kongestenen'' (The King's Stone), a stone featuring Christian V's monogram and a

compass rose A compass rose or compass star, sometimes called a wind rose or rose of the winds, is a polar coordinates, polar diagram displaying the orientation of the cardinal directions (north, east, south, and west) and their points of the compass, inter ...

, is located at ''Stjernen'' (The Star), an 8-way junction in the centre of the forest. The eight radial roads intersect a series of smaller paths called ''Etkorset'' (The One-Cross), ''Tokorset'' (The Two-Cross), ''Trekorset'' (The Three-Cross), etc. The ruins after the pavilion and remains of the vegetation can still be seen on Fantasiens Ø. The forest also contains a number of old houses, so-called ''banghuse'', which were originally used by the men who took care of the horses. They include Hingsterhus and Horsebohus.

Activities

Store Dyrehave contains various facilities for camping and bonfires. There are also a 20 km mountain bike trail, an exercise trail and marked running routes (6, 10 and 20 km).

References

External links

{{Commons
Store Dyrehave
Naturstyrelsen (in Danish)
Områdeplan
plan of the area from Naturstyrelsen (in Danish) Forests of Denmark Forestry in Denmark World Heritage Sites in Denmark Hillerød Municipality