The ''Gottorfer Codex'' (German) or ''det gottorpske kodeks'' (Danish) is a four volume work commissioned by Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp between 1649 and 1659 to depict the wide assortment of plants that grew in the ducal gardens at Gottorf Castle (''Gottorp'') in the

duchy of Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ( ...

. The work's 365 illustrated pages depict 1,180 plants painted in gouache on veal parchment by Hans Simon Holtzbecker from Hamburg. The number of illustrations per page range from one to ten. Work on the codex stopped after the death of Duke Frederick III in 1659. The codex has been the property of the Danish state since the Great Northern War (1700-1721) when Gottorf Castle and the duke's portion of the duchy of Schleswig were annexed to the Danish crown. The codex is currently owned by ''Royal Collection of Graphic Art'', a part of the

National Gallery of Denmark The National Gallery of Denmark ( da, Statens Museum for Kunst, also known as "SMK", literally State Museum for Art) is the Danish national gallery, located in the centre of Copenhagen. The museum collects, registers, maintains, researches and han ...

Digital version

In 2009, a digital version of the codex was created by the National Gallery of Denmark with financial support by the ''Foundation of State Museums in Schleswig-Holstein''.

External links

The museum at Gottorf Castle: Der Gottorfer CodexNational Archives of Denmark
1650s books Botany books Collection of the National Gallery of Denmark {{Botany-book-stub