Bernstorff Palace ( da, Bernstorff Slot) in

Gentofte Gentofte () is a district of Gentofte Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Major landmarks include Gentofte Town Hall, Gentofte Hospital and Gentofte Church. Gentofte Lake with surrounding parkland and nature reserves form ...

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 , establish ...

, was built in the middle of the 18th century for Foreign Minister

Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff (german: Johann Hartwig Ernst Graf von Bernstorff; 13 May 1712 – 18 February 1772) was a German-Danish statesman and a member of the Bernstorff noble family of Mecklenburg. He was the son of Joachi ...

. It remained in the possession of the

Bernstorff family Bernstorff is an old and distinguished German- Danish noble family of Mecklenburgian origin. Members of the family held the title of Count/Countess, granted to them on 14.12.1767 by King Christian VII of Denmark. Notable members * Andreas Go ...

until 1812. In 1842, it was bought by Christian VIII. For many years, it was used as a summer residence by Christian IX until his death in 1906. Since then and until recently, it was used by the

Danish Emergency Management Agency The Danish Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) ( da, Beredskabsstyrelsen) is a Danish governmental agency under the Ministry of Defence. Its principal task is to manage an operational part who work out of six Emergency Management Centres, and adm ...

as an academy for non-commissioned officers, but it has now opened as a hotel and conference centre.

History

Origins

The palace was designed by the French architect Nicolas-Henri Jardin, who had been brought to Denmark to complete

Frederick's Church Frederik's Church ( da, Frederiks Kirke), popularly known as The Marble Church () for its rococo architecture, is an Evangelical Lutheran church in Copenhagen, Denmark. The church forms the focal point of the Frederiksstaden district; it is loc ...

in Copenhagen after the death of

Nicolai Eigtved Nicolai Eigtved, also known as Niels Eigtved (4 June 1701 – 7 June 1754) was a Danish architect. He introduced and was the leading proponent of the French rococo or late baroque style in Danish architecture during the 1730s–1740s. He design ...

in 1754. It is one of the earliest examples of

Neoclassical architecture Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

in Denmark. The elaborately decorated two-storeyed building was completed in May 1765 at considerable cost. At the time, it had four small decorative garrets, attics with decorative vases and a wide balcony on the roof ridge itself. On the garden side, there is a dome-covered projection rising the full height of the building. The palace's many rooms were modest in size and intended primarily for domestic use rather than for display. Most are panelled with parquet floors, large mirrors and decorated ceilings. The four rooms on the south side have overdoors decorated by

Johan Edvard Mandelberg Johan Edvard Mandelberg (22 January 1730 – 8 January 1786), Swedish-born painter living in Denmark, was born at sea during a voyage between Stockholm and Livland, Sweden. Life Mandelberg seeks training He was born to painter Johan Edvard Man ...

. Bernstorff left Denmark in 1770, after being dismissed by the regent,

Johann Friedrich Struensee Lensgreve Johann Friedrich Struensee (5 August 1737 – 28 April 1772) was a German-Danish physician, philosopher and statesman. He became royal physician to the mentally ill King Christian VII of Denmark and a minister in the Danish governmen ...

. The estate remained in his family's hands until 1812 but was then sold on several occasions. It was about to be demolished in 1842 when Christian VIII bought it and charged Jørgen Hansen Koch with its comprehensive renovation. A mezzanine was added and the layout of the first-floor rooms was changed. Fitting Jardin's decorative style, Norwegian marble fireplaces are to be found in three of the larger rooms. A sign above the entrance reads: "Honesto inter labores otio sacrum" or "Reserved for honest rest between periods of work."

Recent history

In 1854, Bernstorff Palace was placed at the disposal of Crown Prince Christian, later King Christian IX, who adopted it as his preferred summer residence. Indeed, it was to become a popular retreat for the royal couple and their extended family during the king's long reign. Visitors included Tsar Alexander III of Russia and Edward VII of the United Kingdom. In 1888, after the Nordic Exhibition, Queen Louise bought the timbered Swedish pavilion and had it fitted out as guest quarters. On Christian IX's death in 1906,

Prince Valdemar of Denmark Prince Valdemar of Denmark (27 October 1858 – 14 January 1939) was a member of the Danish royal family. He was the third son and youngest child of Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. He had a lifelong naval career. Early l ...

inherited the palace, continuing to use it as a summer residence until his death in 1939. Afterwards, it was used by the

as an academy for non-commissioned officers. On 1 May 2009, after an agreement with Gitte Jensen and Kirsten Nielsen, Bernstorff Palace opened as a hotel and conference centre.

The palace gardens

The palace's extensive gardens were laid out in the Romantic landscape style which had just been introduced to Denmark in the 1760s. In addition to the lawns and woods, they include a rose garden, an orchard and a tea house. It is believed that Jardin, who designed the palace, was also responsible for the design of the gardens, especially as his plans refer to the emergence of landscape gardens as a new trend in Denmark. The Bernstorffs, who took great interest in the gardens, planted apricots, peaches, grapes, rare apple and pear trees, cherries and plums in their kitchen garden, together with rare varieties of cucumbers, artichokes, lettuces and melons from France and the Netherlands. They also acquired a host of rare trees and bushes for the gardens including

chestnuts The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelated ...

, acacias,

holly ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

, tulip trees,

plane trees ''Platanus'' is a genus consisting of a small number of tree species native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae. All mature members of ''Platanus'' are tall, reaching in height. All except f ...

medlar ''Mespilus germanica'', known as the medlar or common medlar, is a large shrub or small tree in the rose family Rosaceae. The fruit of this tree, also called medlar, has been cultivated since Roman times, is usually available in winter and ea ...

s, azaleas,

barberries ''Berberis'' (), commonly known as barberry, is a large genus of deciduous and evergreen shrubs from tall, found throughout temperate and subtropical regions of the world (apart from Australia). Species diversity is greatest in South America an ...

, quinces and lilacs, many of them completely new to Denmark at the time. Most of these exotic varieties had withered away by the time Christian IX bought the estate in 1854. He charged Rudolph Rothe, the royal garden inspector, to replace them with Danish oak and beech which can still be seen today. The beautiful Swedish Villa in the gardens was built in 1888 in the classic Swedish timbered style for the Nordic Exhibition. Run by the Swedish Villa Foundation, it is used for art exhibitions, concerts and as a café.Svenske Villa i Bernstoffparken. From Gentofte kommune
. In Danish. Retrieved 24 January 2010.

References

External links