Hotel Royal is a former hotel located at the corner of

Ved Stranden Ved Stranden ( lit. "At the Beach") is a canal side public space and street which runs along a short section of the Zealand side of Slotsholmen Canal in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It begins at Holmens Kanal, opposite the Church of Holmen, and ...

and Fortunstræde in central

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

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 ...

. The hotel existed from 1798 until 1876 and the building has later housed a newspaper publishing house and the

Danish Society of Engineers IDA, The Danish Society of Engineers, () is a Danish trade union and interest group for highly educated professionals with a background in technology, science or IT. It has the abbreviation IDA (''Ingeniørforeningen i Danmark''). IDA's headqua ...

. The listed, Neoclassical building is now home to

Nordic Council The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomo ...

's operations in Denmark. It fronts Slotsholmens Kanal and is located opposite

Christiansborg Palace Christiansborg Palace (, ) is a palace and government building on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the seat of the Danish Parliament (), the Danish Prime Minister's Office, and the Supreme Court of Denmark. Also ...

Slotsholmen Slotsholmen (English language, English: The Castle Islet) is an island in the harbour of Copenhagen, Denmark, and part of Copenhagen Indre By, Inner City. The name is taken from the successive castles and palaces located on the island since Absal ...

History

Origins

The first building at the site was a town house constructed by the nobleman Lave Brahe, who owned the estates

Vittskövle Vittskövle is a locality situated in Kristianstad Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norwa ...

and Krogholm in

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

. The building was later converted into an inn which was already on 6 April 1602 referred to as Fortunen (The Fortuna). From 1706 to 1720, Fortunen was owned by Frederik Rostgaard. He had studied Arabian in Germany, linguistics in the Netherlands and Old German, Old English and Greek in Oxford. He had later travelled to Paris, Italy and Malta, now mainly to collect valuable documents. On his return to Denmark, he had been appointed to ''gehejmearkivar'' in 1700. In 1725, he was accused of bribery and sentenced to loss of titles and expelled from Copenhagen. Fortunen's original buildings were demolished by a later owner, vine bottler Joachim Giesler, who replaced them by a new hotel building in 1748. He was a friend of king

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Given name Nobility = Anhalt-Harzgerode = * Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) = Austria = * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria fro ...

who had separate chambers installed on the first floor. The king also used the hotel for housing of guests in connection with larger celebrations at the royal palace. In the cellar was a tavern and vine store which had a gilded relief of

Dionysos In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Greek ...

above its entrance. Many people thought it depicted

Fortuna Fortuna (, equivalent to the Greek mythology, Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Religion in ancient Rome, Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular thr ...

and the establishment therefore became known as Den Gyldne Fortun (The Gilded Fortuna).

Hotel Royal

The building was completely destroyed in the

Copenhagen Fire of 1795 The Copenhagen Fire of 1795 (''Københavns brand 1795'') started on Friday, 5 June 1795, at or around 3 pm by the Navy's old base south east of Kongens Nytorv on Gammelholm, in the Navy's magazine for coal and timber, the so-called Dellehave. As t ...

. The owner Heinrich Wilhelm Løbel soon began the construction of a new and more elegant hotel building and the hotel reopened under the name Hotel Royal in 1798. It is believed that the architect was

Jørgen Henrich Rawert Jørgen Henrich Rawert was a (16 August 1751 – 14 July 1823) was a Danish architect. He created the masterplan for the rebuilding of Copenhagen after the Great Fire of 1795 in his capacity of a city architect and was also involved in many ...

. It served a celebrated "Parisian" cuisine in the ground floor facing Fortunstræde. The writer

Bernhard Severin Ingemann Bernhard Severin Ingemann (28 May 1789 – 24 February 1862) was a Danish novelist and poet. Biography Ingemann was born in Torkilstrup, on the island of Falster, Denmark. The son of a vicar, he was left fatherless in his youth. He atten ...

who lived at

Sorø Academy Sorø Academy ( Danish: ''Sorø Akademi'') is a boarding school and gymnasium located in the small town of Sorø, Denmark. It traces its history back to the 12th century when Bishop Absalon founded a monastery at the site, which was confiscated by ...

stayed in Hotel Royal during his visits to Copenhagen. The writer

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

for a while had his home in the hotel. The Swedish singer

Jenny Lind Johanna Maria Lind (Madame Goldschmidt) (6 October 18202 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in ...

stayed at the hotel in 1845. One day prior to her departure, on 21 October, she held a dinner there for her Copenhagen friends which included Hans Christian Andersen. Other notable guests include the German philosopher

Friedrich Schleiermacher Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (; ; 21 November 1768 – 12 February 1834) was a German Reformed Church, Reformed theology, theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Age o ...

who stayed there during his visit to Copenhagen in 1833 and prime minister

Carl Edvard Rotwitt Carl Edvard Rotwitt (2 March 1812 – 8 February 1860) was a Danish jurist and politician. He served as the Prime Minister of Denmark 1859–1860. He died while in office only 47 years old. Biography Rotwitt was born at Hillerød, Denmark ...

who had his home there at the time of his early death in 1866.

Later history

In 1876, the property was acquired by the publisher Jean Christian Ferslew. He had taken over his father's small printing business in 1857 and later developed it into a successful newspaper publishing house, ''De Ferslewske Blade''. It was said about him that published ''Dagens Nyheder'' for the estate owners, Nationaltidende for the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

of the

bel étage (Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ) is the architectural term for the principal floor of a ''palazzo''. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the house. ...

, Dagbladet for the middle class on the second floor and Aftenposten

Concierge A concierge () is an employee of a multi-tenant building, such as a hotel or apartment building, who receives and helps guests. The concept has been applied more generally to other hospitality settings and to personal concierges who manage the e ...

in the basement. He had his home on the first floor and also ran his publishing business from the building. Om 1886, he commissioned the architect Valdemar Ingemann to expand the building with an extra floor. The building became known as Domus Technica after it was purchased by the

(Ingeniør-Sammenslutningen) in June 1962. They undertook a major renovation of the building which was inaugurated as their new headquarters on 26 May 1967. The Engineers' Association relocated to a new purpose-built headquarters on

Kalvebod Brygge Kalvebod Brygge () is a waterfront area in the Vesterbro, Copenhagen, Vesterbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. The name also refers to a section of the Ring 2 (Copenhagen), Ring 2 ring road which follows the waterfront from Langebro in the north ...

in 1995.

Today

The building now houses

's operations in Copenhagen. The restaurant Fortunen is located in the basement. It is run by the owners of the Vesterbro café Dyrehaven on Sønder Boulevard and the night club Bakken in

Kødbyen Kødbyen (; also known as the Meat District or Meatpacking District, after the New York Meatpacking District) is a district of Vesterbro in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is situated between the railway lines going into Copenhagen Central Station and ...

References

External links

Source
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416063915/http://www.eremit.dk/ebog/bkh/3/bkh3_1.html , date=2016-04-16
Image

Source

Source

Ferslew family
1798 establishments in Denmark 1876 disestablishments in Europe Buildings in Copenhagen associated with Hans Christian Andersen Commercial buildings completed in 1798 Defunct hotels in Copenhagen