Vilhelmsborg is the National Equestrian Centre of

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 ...

and a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Aarhus Municipality Aarhus Municipality (), known as Århus Municipality () until 2011, is a ''Municipalities of Denmark, kommune'' in the Central Denmark Region, on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and ...

. The main manor building was completed in 1842 and was listed by the

Danish Heritage Agency The Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces () is an agency under the aegis of the Danish Ministry of Culture. The agency carries out the cultural policies of the Danish government within the visual and performing arts, music, literature, museums, h ...

on 3 March 1945. The manor lies 10 km. south of

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

, by Beder-Malling in Mårslet Parish, and is today owned by Aarhus Municipality along with 288 hectares of adjoining land. In the 19th century H. C. Andersen lived on the Vilhelmsborg estate on several occasions and some of his fairy tales are said to have been inspired by the view of Mols from his window. Johan Skjoldborg also frequented the estate and his novel ''Gyldholm'' depicts the hardships of farm hands by the end of the 19th century.

History

The Vilhelmsborg estate lies on the site of the former farm ''Skumstrupgård'' and the small village of ''Skumstrup''. The farm was elevated to the status of manor at the end of the 15th century and over time it gradually absorbed the lands and farms surrounding it until the village of Skumstrup ceased to exist. In 1660 Gabriel Marselis was given the farms Moesgård, Havreballegård, Stadsgård and Skumstrupgård as payment for debts incurred by the crown during the

Second Northern War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of ...

. In 1673 Marselis' son, Vilhelm Güldencrone, inherited Skumstrupgård and had it elevated to a

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

. The name Vilhelmsborg means "Vilhelm's Castle" in reference to Vilhelm Güldencrone and the manor stayed in the Güldencrone family for generations, into the 20th century. In 1919 political reforms altered many of the inherited titles and their privileged positions resulting in the Güldencrone family leaving the estate and selling it in 1923. In 1973 the estate was bought by

. The city council elected to turn the estate into the National Equestrian Centre. Several riding halls were erected and much of the arable land was sold off while the forest and park was opened for public use.

Architecture

The main building was built in the 1840s as a two storey neoclassical building on a tall granite foundation. The adjoining barns, tenant housing and other farm buildings formed a square to create a courtyard, as was typical for farms at the time. In 1855 the adjoining buildings burned down leaving only the main building and it was decided to rebuild with structures separately. The estate contains the remains of a former

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

castle. Today only the foundation of the caste remains but from descriptions from the 1670s it is known roughly what it looked like. It was a single building in two stories with oriel and a tower in the middle, facing a courtyard ringed by farm buildings.

National Equestrian Centre

The National Equestrian Centre was established in 1989 in renovated buildings and newly built riding halls, exhibition halls, outdoor tracks and a restaurant. The centre is managed non-profit by Aarhus Municipality, Aarhus Riding Club and Dansk Varmblod and Prince Henrik is the official protector. The centre offers large venues for international competitions, hippology studies and conferences.

Owners

References

External links