My husband grew up in Hillerod, a Danish city with a population of no more than 50,000 located in North Zealand. Hillerod is teeming with deciduous trees, pine and fir trees as well as an assortment of flora and fauna. I can only imagine how beautiful the fields look like in spring or summer. As it is in winter, it has a charm that has captured my heart.
One of the best tourist attractions in Hillerod is the Fredericksborg Slot or Fredericksborg Castle. One good thing about this castle is that it is open to the public and has a museum that displays busts made from sandstone, antique relics, furnitures, paintings and other royalty memorabilia.
The castle was built to serve as residence for King Christian IV. The museum houses several portraits of the King and his family as well as paintings of the evolution of the castle. The castle is surrounded by a lake and across the lake lies a baroque garden.
The oldest parts of the castle date back to the 1560 structure which was built by then Frederick II. The name Fredericksborg was his namesake. Most of what we saw when we visited the castle however were constructed during the time of Christian IV between 1602-1620. The Fredericksborkg Castle looks like it's smaller counterpart in Copenhagen, the Rosenborg Castle.
Walls, windows, floors, ceilings - all adorned with medieval and renaissance art. Jawdropping! The church has been used as the knight's chapel for the Order of the Elephant and the Order of the Dannebrog. The church or kirke in Dansk houses the royal family's art collection. The paintings are framed in exquisite woodwork. The church is still being used as a local church today.
If you happen to visit Denmark one of these days, make sure to schedule a trip to Hillerod and visit the Fredericksborg Castle especially if you are a royalty nut. :-) It will be worth the trip for sure. Hillerod is about 40 minutes away from Copenhagen if you take the S-train Line E (Koge to Hillerod).
Prominent philantrhropist J.C Jacobsen of the Carlsberg Brewery funded the museum of national history that now occupies Fredericksborg Castle. There is a room in museum which displays different portraits of Jacobsen.
Tourist Tip: For a day of castles, you can also visit Fredensborg Castle and the Kronborg Castle in Elsinore. I would suggest to visit Kronborg first and then Fredensborg and allot at least 3 hours for Fredericksborg Castle and the museum. The museum is open every day all year and closes at 3PM from November to March and closes at 5PM from April to October.
I hope you liked this little tour of the Fredericksborg Slot. I will write about Fredensborg and Rosenborg in my next posts. Let me know what your favorite castle is by leaving a comment below. Who knows I might be able to visit it too one day...
