Art and Castles

I love castles. I love everything from the history, to their degradation and preservation. I've seen a fair few since I've been here some have been restored while others remain in their original states. 

This is the outside of Fredericksborg Castle. It was built by Christian IV (He's the Louis XIV of Denmark). It burnt down in the 1800s and the owner of Carlsberg (the beer) agreed to pay for its restoration. Luckily, it was so beautiful in its original state that there had been countless drawings commissioned of its interior and thus they were able to restore it almost as if it had never burnt down.

 This Chapel was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. It is still used today. Christian IV had his coronation here. 

 Like in England when you get knighted these shields represent individuals who have received the Order of Dannebrog. It is usually given to individuals of regular birth. The other order is the Order of the Elephant who.  These are mostly given to heads of state and to people who were already important before they were knighted. The bottom left shield is for the owner of Carlsberg. 

No American president has ever received an order, however, Dwight D. Eisenhower did receive an order of Dannebrog for his work as a general, not as a president.

This is the great hall in Fredericksborg. The photo above is of the Queen and the crown prince and his first son. I love the photo because it really shows the contrast between the new world and the old world. Even though the Queen is very formal and dolled up, as is the crown prince, the crown prince to be is very informal, a regular kid. The monarchy is not stuffy at all and very familiar with the Danish people.

The white spires coming down are all made of ivory.

 For anyone who likes inlaid wood work, these two photos are all just that. It was completely amazing. 

This is Amalienborg. It was built in the 1700s for individuals of noble birth. In the middle of the Square is a statue of Frederick V who commissioned the buildings. There are four buildings and they are identical to each other. They became the royal residence in the early 1800s when Christiansborg (the royal palace at the time) burnt down (seems like every castle in Denmark has had a fire at least once, I think it's because the Danes are so fond of candles. In my class my professors sometimes light them. It's crazy.) The top photo is the Queen's residence and because the flag is up it means she is home. The bottom photo is where she holds small gatherings. The princes live in the two buildings on the other side (no need to take pictures of four identical buildings). We definitely saw the Crown Prince and Princess watching television the day we went. 

This is the church across from Amalienborg. It's pretty spectacular but was never completed as it was supposed to have been done because it was too expensive. 

Welcome to Rosenborg! This castle was built by Christian IV in the center of Copenhagen as his retreat. He died here in 1648 and the castle has remained almost unchanged since his death. The day we went it was snowing like crazy. 

This is a Romanesque statue of himself. He was all about the grandeur. 

In his last battle CIV was hit by some shrapnel and lost an eye. These are the very garments he was wearing and although the photo quality is terrible you can sort of see the bloodstain on the upper right part of the collar. 

Christian IV had one of the first private water closets. I didn't feel the need to take a photo of the toilet but he certainly made some beautiful ceilings and as you can see in the three photos above. 

The Danish Crest of course.

This is the throne room. The throne was not Christian IV, I believe it was a Frederick's (I can't remember which one though. The lions are pure silver and they represent the lions on the Danish coat of arms. They are completely anatomically and proportionally correct because whichever king commissioned them had a menagerie of animals from all over the world, including lions.

Below is a collection of photos I took of the crown jewels. They reside in Rosenborg so that the Queen can take them out to wear them as she likes. 

This is Christian IV's crown. This photo does not do it justice because it is absolutely magnificent. It has something like 1000 jewels in it. It was considered old fashioned at the time to have an open crown but Christian IV did it anyway. He ended up having to pawn it toward the end of his reign because bankrupted the crown (seeing the similarities between him and Louis XIV yet?) His son Frederick III was able to find it and repurchase it because he did not have enough money for his own crown. 

These are the current royal crowns. The smaller one is for the queen and the larger one is for the kings before her.

Before I discussed the order of the elephant. You can see the chain here for that and the order of Dannebrog. The other items in the picture are the regalia, the septor, sword, and orb.