Farumgård is a former

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

overlooking Farum Lake at

Farum Farum is a town on the northeast of the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark, 20 km northwest of Copenhagen. The town has a population of 20,312 (1 January 2022).

, Furesø Municipality, in the north-western outskirts of

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 = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. It is located just east of Farum Church and the original Farum village. The land has been sold off and redeveloped, except for the 6 hectares park which is laid out in the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style.

History

Church and Crown land

The first known reference to Farumgård is from 1370 when it was a farm under the Bishop Seat in

Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand. With a population of 51,916 (), the city is a business and educational centre for the region and the 10th largest city in Denmark. It is governed by the administrative ...

. It was the administrative centre of their possessions around the villages of Farum, Lynge and

Lillerød Lillerød (sometimes named ''Allerød'') is a Danish town, seat of the Allerød Municipality, in the Region Hovedstaden. Its population 1 January 2022 was of 16,741.Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. The king generally put the estate at the disposal of lower-ranked officers and court officials, such as heralds,

coachmen A coachman is an employee who drives a coach or carriage, a horse-drawn vehicle designed for the conveyance of passengers. A coachman has also been called a coachee, coachy, whip, or hackman. The coachman's first concern is to remain in full c ...

and court apothecaries. One of them was in the 16th century granted the necessary means for building a new half-timbered main building.

Changing owners

In 1666, King Frederick III parted with the property when he ceded it to Hans Svane, who had laboured for the introduction of the

hereditary monarchy A hereditary monarchy is a form of government and succession of power in which the throne passes from one member of a ruling family to another member of the same family. A series of rulers from the same family would constitute a dynasty. It is h ...

in 1660, a favour he had already been generously rewarded for with appointments, titles and several other estates. Svane died just two years after he was granted Farumgaard and after that the estate changed hands numerous times.

20th century

Most of the land was sold off in lots in 1906. In 1910 the house and remaining land was acquired by Elisabeth Mozart Jensen, a wealthy widow, who owned it until her death in 1932. The property was then purchased by the German St. Ursula Sisters who ran it as a recovery home until 1960. In 1965 it passed back into private ownership and has remained in the same family since then.

Ongoing legal battle

From 1949 the gardens and lakeside path of Farumgård were open to public pedestrian access. This changed in to 2017 when, after an alleged altercation between a cyclist and a gardener, the owner Kresten Andersen Bergsøe blocked public access to the grounds of the property. This prompted the local council to report the owner to police for violating conservation and access laws, after which followed a public prosecution of the owner. In June 2018 the municipal court in Lyngby ruled in favour of the owner, on the grounds that the original 1949 agreement allowed him to block access on grounds of ''significant inconvenience''. The local council and public prosecutor decided in July 2018 to appeal this decision to a higher court. In June 2019, it was reported that the higher court refused to process the appeal.

Architecture

The current main building was completed in 1705. It was designed in 1705 by François Dieussart who was at the same time working on Sorgenfri House. It is a three-winged

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

-style building.

Park

The park covers 6 hectares and was in 1913 returned to its former Baroque style by Elisabeth Mozart Jensen who owned Farumgaard from 1910 until 1932. The park was protected in 1965 and is considered one of the finest examples of Danish Baroque gardens.

List of owners

* (1370–1536) Roskilde Bispestol * (1536–1666) Kronen * (1666–1668) Hans Svane * (1668–1675) Frederik Vittinghoff Scheel * (1675–1693) Adam Levin Knuth * (1693–1704) Povl Vinding * (1704–1716) Jens Rostgaard * (1716–1741) Else Iversdatter, gift Rostgaard * (1741–1743) Johan Lorentz Carstens * (1743–1759) Søren Jensen Elsegaard * (1759) Johan Piper * (1759–1768) Christian Ditlev Reventlow * (1768–1774) Frederik von der Maase * (1774–1776) Sophie Henriette von der Maase née

Moltke The House of Moltke is the name of an old German noble family. The family was originally from Mecklenburg, but apart from Germany, some of the family branches also resided throughout Scandinavia. Members of the family have been noted as pigfarme ...

* (1776–1782) Andreas Hauch * (1782–1785) Charles August Selby * (1785) Søren Kierulff * (1785–1788) Bertel Nielsen Bøgvad * (1788) Inger Münster, gift Bøgvad * (1788–1790) Jens Clementsen * (1790–1792) Carl Wilhelm Bang * (1792–1798) Jens Lowson * (1798–1806) Jacob Rosted * (1806–1829) Peder de Svanenskiold * (1829–1830) Arvingerne til Peder de Svanenskiold * (1830–1840) Frederik Frederiksen * (1840–1842) Ernst Bilsted * (1842–1871) Johan Henrik Fensmark * (1871–1882) Thalia Dorothea Louise Holck, gift Fensmark * (1882–1886) Ole Frederik Ernst Fensmark * (1886–1889) Jakob Frederik Scavenius * (1889–1891) Per Scavenius * (1891–1906) Einar Sehested * (1906–1910) Udstykningsselskabet A/S Farumgaard * (1910–1932) Elisabeth Mozart Jensen * (1932– ) St. Ursula Stiftelse * (1965–2002) Finn Riis–Hansen * (1965–2002) Ruth Kongshaug Henriksen, gift 1) Andersen, 2) Riis–Hansen * (2002–2003) Anne Mette Andersen, gift Bergsøe * (2003–present) Kresten Andersen Bergsøe

References

External links

Images
on photo-gallery.dk
Farumgård
on Flicker {{DEFAULTSORT:Farumgard Manor houses in Denmark Houses completed in 1705 1705 establishments in Denmark Farum