Gjorslev is a cruciform medieval castle located 17 km south-east of

Køge Køge (, older spelling ''Kjøge'') is a seaport on the coast of Køge Bugt (''Bay of Køge'') 39 km southwest of Copenhagen. It is the principal town and seat of Køge Municipality, Region Sjælland, Denmark. In 2022, the urban area had a ...

, on the Stevns Peninsula, Stevns Municipality, some forty kilometres south 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 = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. Originally owned by the Bishop of Roskilde, it is considered one of the most well-preserved examples of

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

secular architecture in Denmark.

History

Early history

Gjorslev was built in about 1400 by Peder Jensen Lodehat, Bishop of Roskilde. It remained in the possession of the Roskilde bishops until the

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 ...

which led to its confiscation in 1537. It was sold in 1540 and was then in the possession of changing owners until 1678 when it came under the Crown once again.

Lindencrone

Om 1843, Christen Lindencrone purchased the estate. He had made a fortune as a

supercargo A supercargo (from Spanish ''sobrecargo'') is a person employed on board a vessel by the owner of cargo carried on the ship. The duties of a supercargo are defined by admiralty law and include managing the cargo owner's trade, selling the merchand ...

on ships owned by the Danish Asiatic Company. In 1756, he was raised to the peerage under the name Lindencrone. He also constructed the

Lindencrone Mansion The Lindencrone Mansion (Danish language, Danish: Lindencrones Palæ) is a historic building located on the corner of Bredgade and Sankt Annæ Plads in central Copenhagen, Denmark. Completed in 1753, it is one of many town mansions which were built ...

at the corner of

Sankt Annæ Plads Sankt Annæ Plads (English: St. Ann's Square) is a public square which marks the border between the Nyhavn area and Frederiksstaden neighborhoods of central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is a long narrow rectangle which extends inland from the waterfron ...

and Bredgade in Copenhagen. Limestone from his estate on Stevns was used in the construction of his town mansion. The Gjorslev estate was after Lindencrone's death passed to his son Johan Frederik Lindencrone.

Scavenius family

In 1793, Jacob Brønnum Scavenius purchased the estate. His widow kept the estate for five years after her husband's death. In 1825, it passed to their son Peder Brønnum Scavenius. It was after his death owned by his son Jacob Frederik Brønnum Scavenius until 1915 and then by his grandson (1915–1923) Frederik Scavenius until 1922.

Tesdorpf family

In 1925, Adolph Tesdorpf purchased the estate. It has remained in the possession of the

Tesdorpf family The Tesdorpf family is a political and merchant Hanseaten family from Lübeck and Hamburg Germany. The Tesdorpfs were an old Patrician family in Lübeck before became the mayor of Lübeck in 1715. Peter Hinrich Tesdorpf founded , the first wine ...

since then. In 2018, (2018- ) Jens Edward Tesdorpf pyrchased the estate from his father. In 202021, he gave up milk production on the estate.

Architecture

Gjorslev is surrounded by moats and built to a cruciform design in the

style. The building materials are a combination of local limestone from the Cliffs of Stevns and large bricks (Danish "monk stones"). The central tower is just under 30 m tall and has seven storeys. The south arm of the cross is slightly longer than the other three. A lower north wing was added in 1638. Access to the main building was originally through the cellar from an entrance below the bishop's chapel which was located on the east side of the southern cross arm. From the vaulted cellar below the tower, a flight of stairs led to the domed hall in its ground floor. This arrangement was altered by

Ewert Janssen Ewert Janssen or Evert Janssen (died c. 1692) was a Danish architect who became a royal masterbuilder in 1668. His greatest achievement was Charlottenborg Palace in Copenhagen. Life and achievements Ewert Janssen, along with Ernst Brandenburge ...

between 1665 and 1676. The chapel was demolished and the entrance moved to the eastern cross arm which was also given a new facade and an internal staircase in the Baroque style. The design of the roof was adapted in 1748 when the original

crow-stepped gable A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in ...

with blank arches were replaced by

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

s and a pyramidal roof on the tower. The last time the building was altered was in 1843 when a long south wing was added. The castle stands at the end of a street known as "Broad Street" which is lined by red timbered farm buildings from 1713.

Estate

Gjorslev Beech Forest (''Gjorslev Bøgeskov'') belongs to the estate. The forest contains a small lake, Møllesøen ("The Mill Lake"), which has a rich bird life. An observation tower has been built at the site. The forest also contains 55 burial mounds of which the longest, Fruehøj, is 51 metre long. Access to the forest is from Traktørstedet Gjorslev Bøgeskov, a restaurant.

List of owners

* (?–1294) Rane Jonsen * (?–1536) Roskilde Bispestol * (1536–1540) Kronen * (1540–1552) Peder Svave * (1552–?) Else Mouritzdatter Svave * (?–1606) Elsebe Pedersdatter Svave, gift Juel * (1606–1612) Peder Vincentsen Juel * (1612–1619) Ellen Vincentsdatter Juel, gift Bille * (1619–1630) Vincents Jensen Bille * (1630–1646)

Just Høg Just Høg (8 September 1584 – 25 May 1646) was a Danish statesman and landowner. He served as the first '' Hofmeister'' of Sorø Academy from 1629 to 1640 and then as Chancellor of the Realm from 1640 to 1646. He was the owner of Ghorslev Mano ...

* (1646–1664) Stygge Høg * (1664–1675) Joachim Irgens von Westervick * (1675–1678) Cornelia Bichers, gift Irgens * (1678) Handelshuset Schardinell * (1678–1743) Kronen * (1743–1772) Christen Lindencrone * (1772–1793) Johan Frederik de Lindencrone * (1793–1820) Jacob Brønnum Scavenius * (1820–1825) Karine Lucie Debes, gift Scavenius * (1825–1868) Peder Brønnum Scavenius * (1868–1915) Jacob Frederik Brønnum Scavenius * (1915–1923) Frederik Scavenius * (1923–1925) Else Haxthausen, gift Scavenius * (1925–1929) Adolph Tesdorpf * (1929–1940) Agnete Tesdorpf née Brun * (1940–1970) Edward Tesdorpf * (1970–2018) Peter Henrik Tesdorpf * (2018- ) Jens Edward Tesdorpf

References

External links

Official website
(in Danish)

{{Castles in Denmark Houses completed in 1588 Castles in Denmark Listed buildings and structures in Stevns Municipality Manor houses in Stevns Municipality Gothic architecture in Denmark Castles in Region Zealand Limestone buildings in Denmark Buildings and structures associated with the Scavenius family Buildings and structures associated with the Tesdorpf family