Gl. Holtegaard is a former Manor house in

Rudersdal Municipality Rudersdal Municipality () is a part suburban, part rural municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') located on the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It covers an area of 73 km² and has a population of 57,342 (1. January 2025). The distance ...

north of

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 ...

, today operated as an

arts centre An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues fo ...

and a museum. It was built by the Danish

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

architect

Lauritz de Thurah Laurids Lauridsen de Thurah, known as Lauritz de Thurah (4 March 1706 – 5 September 1759), was a Danish architect and architectural writer. He became the most important Danish architect of the late baroque period. As an architectural write ...

(1706–1759), for his own use in 1757. Its original Baroque gardens were reconstructed in 2003.

History

In 1754,

acquired an agricultural property, a former tenant farn, in order to establish a suitable country house for himself outside Copenhagen. Simultaneously he was also building a town house for himself in

Amaliegade Amaliegade () is a street in central Copenhagen, Denmark, which makes up the longer of the two axes on which the Rococo district Frederiksstaden is centred. Amaliegade extends from Sankt Annæ Plads to Esplanaden, passing through the central pl ...

in Copenhagen's new

Frederiksstaden Frederiksstaden is a district in Copenhagen, Denmark. Constructed during the reign of Frederick V of Denmark, Frederick V in the second half of the 18th century, it is considered to be one of the most important rococo complexes in Europe and was in ...

district, the responsibility of which he had been assigned after the death of

Nicolai Eigtved Nicolai Eigtved (4 June 1701 – 7 June 1754), also known as Niels Eigtved, was a Denmark, Danish architect. He introduced and was the leading proponent of the French rococo or late baroque style in Danish architecture during the 1730s–1740s. ...

(1701–1754) the previous year. Prior to that, he had lived some years at his estate at

Børglum Abbey Børglum Abbey was an important Premonstratensian abbey of medieval Denmark, located in Børglum parish, in the commune of Hjørring, approximately five kilometers east of Løkken in north central Jutland (Region Nordjylland) from the 12th cent ...

to which he had retired when his Baroque style fell out of favour and most of the prestigious assignments in the capital went to Eigtved. To begin with he demolished the old farmhouse and laid out a large garden à la française with symmetrical plantings of fruit trees and flowering plants, bounded by lime tree avenues. When the new buildings were completed, it included farm buildings and a royal privileged inn. The house was completed in 1757. It was a single-story, three-winged building with a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...

topped by a flèche. Lauritz de Thurah had the two clocks specially cast for the building. The estate also included agricultural buildings and a royal privileged inn. However, de Thurah died just two years after his new house was completed. At the beginning of the 20th century, the estate was owned by Hans Niels Andersen (1852–1937), founder of the

East Asiatic Company The EAC Invest A/S, formerly known as the Santa Fe Group and East Asiatic Company ( or ''ØK'') is a multinational holding and investment company, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Originally founded by Hans Niels Andersen in 1887. It owned 5 subsid ...

. He conducted a thorough restoration of the main building with the assistance of the architect Vilhelm Holck (1856-1936). Holch also added a frontispiece to the main wing. In 1976

Søllerød Municipality Until 1 January 2007 Søllerød was a municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') in Copenhagen County on the east coast of the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipality covered an area of 39.77 km2, and had a total ...

, now part of

, acquired the main building and after a Europa Nostra-awarded adaption into an exhibition space from 1979–83, Gl. Holtegaard opened to the public in 1982. In 1994 Gl. Holtegaard was taken over by Gl. Holtegaard-Breda Fonden, a foundation which now owns and operates the site.

Gl. Holtegaard today

From the outside, the main building appears largely as it did when it was completed in 1757, save the frontispiece added in 1900. The Baroque gardens were reconstructed in 2004. The lime tree avenues are those originally planted by de Thurah. A group of

beech trees Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted species i ...

of an unusual

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

with palmately lobed leaves is also from his day. Gl. Holtegaard is mainly a venue for temporary exhibitions. It also houses a local historic archive and a collection of

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

findings from nearby

Vedbæk Vedbæk is a wealthy suburban neighbourhood on the coast north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It belongs to Rudersdal Municipality and has merged with the town of Hørsholm to the north. The area has been inhabited for at least 7,000 years, as evidenced ...

. The agricultural buildings and most of the land was sold off in 1897. It was acquired by Søllerød Municipality in 1934 and has since 1975 been used for a

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

among other things.

Vedbæk Finds

Gl. Holtegaard also houses the findings from the Vedbæk Finds archaeological site (''Bøgebakken gravplads''), a

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

cemetery of the Ertebølle culture. The cemetery is located in the northern part of the ''Maglemosen''

peat bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muske ...

, and was discovered in 1975 during excavation for the new Vedbæk School. It should not be confused with the earlier

Maglemosian culture Maglemosian ( 9000 – 6000 BC) is the name given to a culture of the early Mesolithic period in Northern Europe. In Scandinavia, the culture was succeeded by the Kongemose culture. Environment and location The name originates fr ...

, named for a different Maglemose near

Slagelse Slagelse () is a town on Zealand (Denmark), Zealand, Denmark. The town is the seat of Slagelse Municipality, and is the biggest town of the municipality. It is located 15 km east of Korsør, 16 km north-east of Skælskør, 33 km south-east of Ka ...

. An example of the findings of this culture cemetery include the bodies of a young woman with a necklace made of teeth, and her newborn baby. The child is cradled in the wing of a swan with a flint knife at its hip. The child's grave goods suggest that the culture involved

ascribed status Ascribed status is a term used in sociology that refers to the social status of a person that is assigned at birth or assumed involuntarily later in life. The status is a position that is neither earned by the person nor chosen for them. It is g ...

– the passing of power between generations. The brief statistical findings of the cemetery are as follows; 22 individual bodies (4 newborns), 17 of the adults buried could be aged - 8 died before reaching the age of 20. There were 9 men, 5 of them over the age of 50, and 8 women: 2 died before the age of 20, 3 living to over 40. Two women died in childbirth (including the young woman mention above) and were buried with their newborns beside them. Infant mortality rate is around 35%. Mortality rate is 50%. Reasons for these high death rates could be physiological or cultural. The Vedbæk Finds is a part of Rudersdal Museerne.

In popular culture

Gl. Holtegaard is used as a location in the films '' Tre piger fra Jylland'' (1957) and '' Soldaterkammerater på efterårsmanøvre (1961).

List of owners

* 1697 J.B. Clodi * 1719-1724 W.B. Clodi * 1724-1735 Rasmus Rasmussen *1735-1742 Karen Soelgaard * 1742-1755 Jørgen Lassen * 1755-1760

* 1760 Chr. Ditlev Reventlow * 1760-1776 Johan Eilitz * 1776-1794 Jacob Schnell * 1794-1799 Adam Gottlob Wiihm * 1799-1807 Knud Frederik Juel * 1807-1808 Johannes Mehldahl * 1808-1816 Mægler J.C.F. Gandil * 1816-1830 Ritmester Ernst David Recke * 1830-1834 Johannes Jung * 1834-1845 Louise Augusta Jung * 1845-1855 Carl Philip Holm * 1855-1866 Frantz Peter Hagen * 1866-1872 Frederik Gottschalck Knuth * 1872-1882 Lars Trolle * 1882-1900 Erhardt Kogsbølle * 1900-1911 Hans Niels Andersen * 1911-1943 Axel S. Dahl * 1943-1947 Holger Schrøder * 1947-1950 Asger Schmidt * 1950-1973 N.J.H. Suhr * 1973-1976 Søllerød Golf Club * 1976-1993

*1993- Gl. Holtegaard-Breda Fonden

References

Other sources

Gl. Holtegaard
FKD

External links

Gammel Holtegård Official website

Historisk baggrund
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gammel Holtegard 1757 establishments in Denmark Arts centres in Denmark Art museums and galleries in Denmark Listed buildings and structures in Rudersdal Municipality Houses in Rudersdal Municipality Houses completed in 1757 Manor houses in Denmark Baroque architecture in Denmark Museums in the Capital Region of Denmark Lauritz de Thurah buildings