Frijsenborg

Facts

High times at the manor

By Marie Aaberg Andersen, Cand.phil. i historie fra Aarhus Universitet (2 stories)

One of Denmark's most remarkable manors is located at Frijsenborg near Hammel in East Jutland. The impressive main building was designed between 1859 and 1867 by one of Denmark's leading architects, Ferdinand Meldahl, for Count C. E. Krag-Juel-Vind-Frijs. The Frijsenborg manor, the result of the conversion of a more modest Baroque-period house, was built in a period when Danish estates enjoyed great wealth and influence. Their prosperity caused a boom in the building of manors on a scale unseen since the heyday of the nobility in the Renaissance. Architects of the era found inspiration for conversions and new buildings from the architecture of the Renaissance. Frijsenborg manor epitomises this Renaissance Revival.

Not a public place

Selected entry

Uncrowned king of the landed gentry

Story written by Marie Aaberg Andersen

Time / Periode 1850 1900

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" The Frijsenborg estate is best known for the prominent role played by its owner, Count C. E. Krag-Juel-Vind Frijs, in the political arena in the late 19th century. The Danish Constitution of 1849 ushered in the abolition of enfeoffment; the system whereby the Crown could award land and privileges such as title and rank in return for services. But political and economic conditions in the late 1800s still favoured the landed gentry. A signficant driver for their power and influence were the so-called "estate-owner governments" led by C. E. Krag-Juel-Vind Frijs. With the count as prime minister, in 1866, one such government succeeded in reforming the Danish Consitution. With that, the conservative estate owners were assured political control of society for the next generation. "