Egeskov Castle

Egeskov Castle [e ː əsgɔu̯ʔ ] is a moated castle on the island of Funen in Denmark. The still medieval-themed building was transformed in the course of its history of a fortified Renaissance seat into a cozy country castle. The building is surrounded by extensive gardens ( by the property owners, the largest historical gardens of Denmark) and on the castle grounds are home to several museums.

History

The castle was built by Frands Brockenhuus and completed in 1554. He had some years before Anne Tinhuus married, who had taken the original farm from their parents. The political unrest, the Reformation and the Civil War from 1534 to 1536 caused many landowners that time to build their residence as a hard ingestible fortress. So also Frands Brockenhuus, who built his castle in the middle of a lake, according to tradition, on a foundation of so many oak piles that " it was an entire oak forest here ." Hence the name Egeskov (oak forest ).

Museums

Castle Museum

The most important part of the museum facilities is the Renaissance castle itself It is about ten sumptuous rooms on two floors and an exhibition area in the attic to visit. A large number of exotic hunting trophies tells of the passion for hunting a former lords of the castle. Furniture, paintings, musical instruments, porcelain and many other art objects document the long history of the house whose owners today is Count Michael Ahlefeldt - Laurvig - Bille.

Titania's Palace

The most famous exhibit of the museum is the very large dollhouse " Titania's Palace ", named after the fairy queen Titania. The British officer Sir Neville Wilkinson built more than 15 years in this unique work of art. The room-sized palace consists of over 3000 parts in great detail and involves partially self- valuable art treasures. Among the miniature rooms of the palace is located, for example, a chapel with a playable organ.

Other museums

In the outbuildings there are several other museums, including exhibitions of automobiles ( vintage cars up to the 1970s ), airplanes and motorcycles, a museum on the history of emergency services in Denmark and an exhibition of dolls' houses. Other exhibitions dealing with the history of agriculture, trade and crafts.

The legend of the wooden males

In the attic of the stair tower is a wooden figure that once decorated a hall of the castle. According to legend, they must never be removed from its place and needs to each Christmas, a new straw - camp get ready, otherwise Egeskov will sink into the Christmas night in the ditch.

The Garden

The surrounding the castle lake gardens have been created at different times and extended again and again in the present and adapted to tourist expectations. A formal garden area opposite the castle was reconstructed in the 1950s.

In the northeastern part, which is not publicly available, there is a historic maze of hornbeam hedges, which largely corresponds to pattern his way to the beautiful estate at Hampton Court Palace; its origin dates back to the year 1733. A greatly enlarged and somewhat advanced replanting, designed by the multi- artist Piet Hein, southeast of the castle lake, as well as two more modern garden mazes.

The garden was awarded in 2012 the " European Garden Award " of the European Garden Heritage Network in the category of " historical development investments".