Sandbjerg

Facts

Manor near Als Sound

By Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen , Lektor, dr. phil., Aarhus Universitet (26 stories)

Sandbjerg Manor near Sønderborg was built by Duke Hans the Younger in 1572. He also built the dam facing Als Sound and the lake. In 1673, Conrad Reventlow moved in and it became the Reventlow count's estate in 1685. Sandbjerg belonged to the Reventlow family until 1930. It was bought by Knud Dahl, husband of author Karen Blixen's sister Ellen. She gave Sandbjerg to the University of Aarhus in 1954 and it is now a course centre. The palace was built by master builder Christian August Bohlsman for count Conrad Georg Reventlow in 1788.

Partly a public place

Selected entry

The anonymous brother

Story written by Carsten Porskrog Rasmussen

Time / Periode 1780 1800

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Middle children are said to have a tough life. It must be hard having a famous family if you are nothing special yourself. Conrad Georg Reventlow had both problems. His big brother, Christian Ditlev Frederik Reventlow, championed the agricultural reform, and his younger brother, Johan Ludvig Reventlow, pioneered the Danish school system. His own career was a fiasco and his brothers felt he was second-best. In fact, Conrad Georg Reventlow carried out more extensive agricultural reforms on his own estate than either of his brothers did on theirs. In 1787-88, he sold the copyhold farms to the farmers and parcelled out the estate. That gave him a regular income and the money to build the new palace with a beautiful view of Als Sound.