Sorø Museum is a

local history museum A local museum or local history museum is a type of museum that shows the historical development of a place/region (local history) using exhibits. These museums usually maintain a collection of historic three-dimensional objects which are exh ...

Sorø Sorø () is a town in Sorø municipality in Region Sjælland on the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in east Denmark. The population is 7,999 (2022).

, Denmark. It is housed within an old inn from 1624, one of the oldest buildings in the town.

History

King Christian IV ordered the establishment of the inn on 13 January 1624 so that visitors to his new

Knight academy Knight academies were first established in Western European states in the late 16th century. They prepared aristocratic youth for state and military service. It added to the hitherto rudimentary education of the aristocratic youth natural science, ...

, which had opened the previous year, would not have to stay within the school grounds. Construction began the same year and was completed in 1625. The building later served as residences for professors at the Academy. The site also included a

slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

. It has been a museum since 1923.

Architecture

The original building towards the street is 15 bays long and in two storeys. A number of details are typical of the Renaissance. Architect Frederik Carl Christian Hansen (1858–1823) designed an expansion of the building in 1899–1900 with two lateral wings, in one storey and with large gabled dormers, which project from its rear side. Another building to the rear of the one facing the street, also 15 bays long but only one storey high, also dates back to the 17th century in its original form but underwent alterations in the 18th century and again later. The cobbling between the two buildings and along the street is the last remains of the old pavements of Sorø's main street.

Exhibitions

The museum houses chronological exhibitions about Sorø and the surrounding countryside. Administratively, it is part of Museum of West Zealand (''Museum Vestsjælland'').

Joachim Burser Physic Garden

The Joachim Burser Physic Garden is located to the rear of the museum . It is a 17th-century style physic garden recreated by the local Society of Horological History in collaboration with the museum. It is named after German-Danish botanist and physician Joachim Burser (1583-1639) who was called to Denmark by Christian IV in 1625 where he was appointed as professor at Sorø Academy and served as the second apothecary in the town of Sorø. All plants now grown in the garden are found in his register of plants and typical of the physic gardens of the period.

References

External links