Rosenborg Castle : Treasury and Crowned Jewels

Written on August 6th and 7th, 2011.  This is one of the many blog posts I have in the works for a long time and finally I have figured out the best way to post all these past adventures really easily. 
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On August 6th I planned on going to Amelienborg Castle, where the royal family lives. But I have never been there and when I noticed on the train to Copenhagen that I forgot to pack my Copenhagen map, I needed to come up with a back up plan. I knew the general area as where Amalienborg Castle was and I knew which S-train and which metro train to take to get to this general area. But after I walked out of the metro station I will be on my own. So I deciede I would give myself an hour to walk around and try to find Amelienborg Castle. If I could not find it within that hour I would change plans and go to Rosenborg Castle instead because I knew where that castle was.

 Well after an hour of looking I saw some great canal scenary, (which I later found out is called Nyhavn) nice restuarants near the canal and a guy that looked a lot like 'Captain Jack Sparrow' but no castle. So I walked back to the metro station and made my way to Nørreport and Rosenberg Castle.  

When comparing the size of Rosenborg Castle to Christiansborg Castle, Christiansborg is much larger. But Rosenborg has much more history in it because the castle has not been damage by fire. I guess I went to the castle during a busy tourist time but that actually worked well for me. Since I was by myself, I would offer to take a couple's or family's picture in exchange of them taking mine. Every time I get a picture taken of me in front of the castle or statue I think how happy my Mom will be.

(Back story: When I was younger and I traveled some where I would bring back tons of pictures. My Mom always said 'You take lots of pictures but there are no pictures of YOU while you were there.' So now I make an effort to get pictures of me in front of a castle. Thanks Mom!)

You can enter the castle grounds for free but if you want to go inside the treasury or castle you much purchase a ticket (75kr = $13) also if you want to take any photos you have to pay an extra 20kr ($4). I wanted pictures so I went ahead paid 95kr. I must say when I went in the ticket office the man behind the counter was really busy and another guy was getting so frustrated by all the people not understanding that their bags must be put in the lockers. He kept saying 'No that bag must go in the locker'.

Once inside the castle grounds the first thing that caught my eye was the ARMED Danish soldiers guard the entrance to the treasury.

I decided to go to the castle basement first this is where the royal jewels are kept first. When I entered the area where the jewels are kept the first thing I thought was 'Crap it is really dark down here this lighting is going to make taking pictures difficult.' And I was right every time I took a picture with the flash the reflection of the flash would bounce off the glass and ruin the picture and when I tried to take pictures with no flash the picture did not turn out that well. So I pose a challenge to my photographer sister JA, when you come to visit I want to see if you can use your skills to take some great pictures of the royal jewels. Well noticing that taking photos was not working out I decided I was going to switch my camera settings to video recorder and take videos of the jewels instead. I think that idea worked out well since photo flash was giving me so many issues. The treasury is split into 9 sections, three of those sections are behind a five inch thick safe door.

Section A is the first section I walked into and it contains the ceremonial arms and large wooden barrels of the Rosenborg wine. Section B is where the objects made of ivory and amber were kept.

Section C is a small room behind a locked glass door and behind this door was hundreds of Rosenborg wine bottles on a wine rack. After a few failed attempts of taking photos I just moved on to Section D.

In Section D, the most notable item in this section was King Christian IV's riding trapping from his coronation in 1596.  Section E also had riding trappings but from the wedding of Prince Elect in 1634.

I have say the history behind all these jewelery peices is amazing. Some of these jewels date back to the 1600's and they look in decent shape.







After passing the safe door I reached Section F where many more jewels and King Christian III's Sword of State is stored.

Section G is where the royal batismal jewels are usually kept but the Crowned price and his wife had twin babies eariler this year and the jewels were used during the cemeromy and moved to another muesum for viewing. Also in this section was King Christian IV's crown used in 1596, this crown was used by King Christian IV and King Frederik III.

Section H had many interesting things in it. There was one cabinet full of rings and all these rings had large colored diamonds on them. Another cabinet stored these gorgeous elmerand earring and neaklace.

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I am working on my more blog posts. Thank you all your love and support.

Rosenborg Castle : Rooms of the Castle

On August 6th, 2011 I went to the Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen, I have already posted a blog post about the Treasury and Crowned jewels. After looking at all the beautiful jewels in the Treasury I made my way to the rooms in Rosenborg Castle. This blog post is going to be just a picture post.  I really hope you enjoy all my pictures. Thank you to all my friends and family for your love and support. 

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Rosenborg Castle

Christian IV's 'Winter Room' - Ceiling & paneling in Renaissance style.

Fireplace mantel in Christian IV's 'Winter Room'

Christian IV's Writing closet - Portraits of earlier kings.

Christian IV's toilet room - ceiling.

Christian IV's toilet - The glazed tiles are from Delft, and were placed in the castle in 1708.

Christian V's room - Decorated with late 17th century Flemish tapestries.  

Pictures in the stair case to the second floor

Frederik V's Room 'The Rose'

Frederik V's room "The rose" -- Paintings, furniture and other objects in the Rococo style of his time. 

Frederik IV's Corridor - Exhibits mainly from the time of the king.

Frederik IV's cabinet - Used by his sister Sophine Hedvig.

Christian VI room - Painting on the ceiling

Christian VII's room - Designed in 1782-1784 in the Neoclassic style to house the Royal Coin Collection. 

Christian VIII's room - Original ceiling from Christian IV's time. 

Royal seal on the ceiling of the Long Hall

Ceiling of the Long Hall

3 silver lions that guard the royal throne

The tapestries are made in Copenhagen and depicts battles from the Scanian War 1675-1679.

Rosenborg Castle

My parents adventure in Europe

I would think that most of my family already knows that my mother and father were with me in Denmark and that we made a trip to Rome. I figured if my parents are really going to make an effort to come all the way to Denmark there was no reason why we could not make a two hour flight to Rome.

On Sept 5th, my parents landed in Copenhagen, I think the main thing that my parents will remember was that I was late. I missed the early train I wanted to take and when I got to the airport my parents were standing in the airport with their luggage. I felt bad that I was late but all was well. Since we all had luggage we took the taxi to the apartment I rented while we were in Copenhagen.

The apartment I rented in North Copenhagen (Østebro) turned out to be the best idea ever. The apartment had three nice size beds, a nice kitchen, a washer and dryer in the basement and of course a bathroom and shower. I would think that the only complaint my parents and I had was that shower was REALLY small. The location of this apartment was great, it was a nice quiet area, with a grocery store only 1 block away and a great Chinese/Thai restaurant across the street.

Basically the first day my parents were in Copenhagen was very much a relax (I can't believe I am in Europe) type of day with one stipulation they had to stay awake until 8pm. I made my parents stay awake because they would suffer from jet lag the entire trip if I did not force them to stay awake this first day. But at 8pm both mom and dad were out like a light.


On Sept 6th, I only had two things scheduled for my mom and dad; a canal tour of Copenhagen and a visit to Tivoli. During the canal tour, besides being a little cold my parents really enjoyed seeing Copenhagen. Later that day I took my parents to Tivoli, we had a nice dinner and stayed in Tivoli after sunset to see the Nimb all lite up. Of course took plenty of pictures of my parents with the scenery in the background.

Nimb in Tivoli

Nyhavn, Copenhagen

Roskilde Cathedral

On Sept 7th, I took my parents through the Danish countryside to where I work. I timed it so that we would arrive at where I work just as lunch began so that my parents could be served a traditional Danish meal. That day at work the lunch ladies made frikkadellea a great traditional Danish dish. I introduced my parents to my supervisor and my co-workers. I showed my parents around the research center, my office, my lab bench and even my plants in my greenhouse. On this particular day was the farewell party for one of my colleagues (Br). So my parents got to also enjoy so great cake, afternoon snacks and wine. On our way back to Copenhagen we made a short stop at the Roskilde Cathedral. My plan was to show my parents the inside of this huge cathedral but there was actually a mass going on inside. I thought it was a bit odd to have mass on a Friday but oh well. I still got a couple pictures of my parents with the cathedral in the background.

Then on Sept 8 to 13 the three of us were in Rome and that adventure deserves it own blog post. (Coming Soon)

On Sept 13 when we arrived back in Copenhagen after our adventure in Rome we were all exhausted. The three of us went across the street to a great restaurant called Wokshop. It was good food and with a full stomach we all passed out. The next day (Sept 14th) the three if us just relaxed. Of course I went to Netto to get some food but it felt good to relax.

King Tutankhamun

On Sept 15, I took my parents to the King Tutankhamun exhibit in Malmo, Sweden. It was a good exhibit and my parents both seemed to enjoy it.

Sept 16th was another relaxing day mixed with a bit of packing and organizing. We did make a short trip to Rosenborg Castle and walked around the King's grounds. Just like me, my parents were amazed the castle, I mean you just don't see those in the US. Later that night my mom found a NFL game on the television and was getting a kick out of the Danish announcers.

On Sept 17th, after 12 days with my parents it was time to say goodbye. At the airport we said our goodbyes and gave each other hugs.

Overall my parents had a great Europe trip and I am really glad that they could make the trip over the ocean.

Christiansborg Castle: The Ruins

So as I mentioned in the previous blog post, the Ruins underneath the Castle deserves its own blog because there was so much history down there and I took lots of pictures. I really enjoyed learning all the unique history and looking at all the artifacts.  


During the year of 1000 a small town called Havn (Haven), today knows as Copenhagen, grew into a small trading center at the coast of the Sound. King Valdemar the Great gave the town to Bishop Absalon of Roskilde, who in 1167 raised a castle at the shores before the town as a defense against pirates. Havn was a ferry station between the provinces of Sealand and Scania as well as a trading center and a fishing hamlet. During the Middle Ages the sound was tilled with shoals of herring, sometimes in so large numbers that it was possible to scoop up the herring from the sea. 

Denmark was marked by troubles and going through a time with several kings in the middle of the 1100s. It did not come to an end until Valdemar the Great became the only king of the country in 1157. Then Valdemar and his allied began to build castles up and down the country in order to invigorate the power of the kingdom.

In the ruins it is possible to see the remains of two buildings: Bishop Absalon's Castle and Copenhagen Castle. The Castle of Bishop Absalon of Roskilde was built in 1167 and destroyed in 1369, after which Copenhagen Castle was built.

Both buildings consisted of a ring wall. Inside the wall were the Castles' buildings and from the high ring wall it was possible to fight down the enemy.


The toilet of the time was a "secret"; it only consisted of a drain, which ended right below the ring wall. The drain to the left belonged to a house inside Absalon's Castle. The drain to the right is the bottom of a shaft, which have been leading up to a toilet on a floor higher up in the tower.

The ring wall continues behind the tower. This means that the tower on Absalon's Castle is a later extension to the ring wall.  The ring wall is built of limestone, while the tower is built of rocks. It was not until the end of the 12th century that bricks became a common building material. The tower of the ring wall became part of Copenhagen Castle as Bagertårnet (the Baker's Tower). This can be seen on the outside of the tower, where new bricks have been added. 

Absalon's Castle was built of limestone, which together with other kinds of unhewn stones was a natural building material in the medieval Denmark. The limestone for the building of Absalon's Castle came from Stevns Klint, where blocks were sawed out by stone cutters, while the chalk still was humid and soft.

Most of the castles had a ring wall with embrasure. Each man had a place by the embrasure and was responsible from an area outside the ring wall to fire at. Inside the Castle's wall machicolations made it possible to pour down boiling oil or tar over the enemy. n 1306 the Norwegian navel forces attack the Castle but they are unsuccessful. Absalon's Castle was attacked several times by the Wends, a Slavonic people who lived at the southern coasts of the Baltic Sea. The Wends worshipped a four-headed God named Svantevit to whom they sacrificed in a large temple in Arkona on the island of Rugen.

In 1368 during the reign of Valdemar Atterdag, Copenhagen was conquered by the united enemies of the king led by the Hanseatic towns of northern Germany. After a siege of one and a half month, the castle had to surrender.  One of the ultimate objectives of the war was 'simply to destroy and ruin the house in Copenhagen."  This objective was reached in 1369, when 47 Hanseatic stone cutters destroyed the castle and left it in ruins.

After the destruction of Absalon's Catsle, the importance of defending Copenhagen still existed. Consequently, the Bishop of Roskilde built a new castle, which was taken over by the Danish King Erik of Pommerania in 1417. Since that time, the castle has been known as Copenhagen Castle. The large tower of the Copenhagen Castle, the Blue Tower, was built in the 15th century. It was a tower of defense, but later on it became famous as a state prison. Both poor and rich people could end up in the dudgeons of the Tower.  The Tower was constructed up against the ring wall. 

From 1417 Copenhagen Castle served as the residence of the Danish Kings wen they visited Copenhagen. Only after the introduction of the absolute monarchy, it became the kings' permanent residence.  Leonora Christina is probably the most famous prisoner, who has been locked up in the Blue Tower.  Nevertheless, she was not imprisoned in a dungeon, she had a room on one of the floors upstairs. She was a prisoner from 1663 to 1685.  Leonora Christina was the daughter of King Christian the Fourth but spent close to 22 years in the Blue Tower, a prison at Copenhagen Castle. Her husband, Corfitz Ulfeldt took part in Sweden's attack on Denmark in 1658. The new King Frederik III, accused Leonora Christina and her husband of treason.

In May 1685, Leonora Christina was finally released from the Blue Tower by King Christian the Fifth. She was 64 years old but had not forgotten that she was a princess. She demanded to leave the Blue Tower in style and waited in her cell until a carriage was sent.

In 1731, Copenhagen Castle was torn down in order to be replaced by the first Christiansborg Palace. For the new Palace, conduit pipes were established through the ruins of the two former buildings. The ruin of the Blue Tower has no longer its original size, as some of the stones were used for the construction of the first Christiansborg. In 1728 Copenhagen was on fire, and consequently, it was necessary to reuse the building materials.

The crypt of Viborg cathedral, built ca. 1150 gives an idea of the kind of romanesque architecture represent by the church stones.

Stoves like this one have been placed at Copenhagen Castle, the first and the second Christiansborg. Every winter small fires broke out in the poorly cleaned and superheated stove pipes.  It is considered to be the cause of both fires of the Palace in 1794 and 1884.  The fire buckets were found at the loft of the present Christiansborg Palace. The buckets are dated back to 1742 and 1781 respectively.  They have probably been used for fighting both fires of the Palace.

The cause of both fires was presumable the result of a sooten-up, superheated stovepipe.  In 1794 the palace had no fire walls and behind the walls there was a system of canals and stovepipes. Through this system of canals and pipes the fire spread quickly from floor to floor. 

In the October 3, 1884 (second fire) many valuables were saved from the flames of the second Christianborg Palace, but the main building burned out. The royal family did not live at the Palace but even so King Christian the Ninth and his sons participated personally in the rescue operations.  The fire broke out under Riddersalen (the Great Hall) in a stove and it spread through a similar system of pipes and canals like the fire of the first Palace.  The firemen did not know the system very well, so despite firewalls, irons doors, fire engines and hydrants, the Palace burned down in one day.

Originally this stone was a part of the decoration, probably from the first Christiansborg's Great Hall. Later it was turned over and chipped as a cornerstone for the projection of the front on the second Christiansborg. 

The left half of the pilaster capital from the facade facing the courtyard of the second Christiansborg. 

The upper part of a column in a flat relief on a wall, also known as a pilaster capital, originates from the decorations of the first Christiansborg. 

Today Christiansborg Palace houses several different institutions. In one of the wings of the Palace's main building resides the Folketing (the Parliament). The Royal Reception Rooms are located in the other wing.  Above the reception rooms, the Prime Ministry's Department is placed in an apartment, which originally should have been the residence of the royal family. Furthermore, the Supreme Court resides at the Palace. 

Thank you for all your love and support.

Christiansborg Castle

On Friday, May 19th (National Prayer Day in Denmark) I decided to make a trip to Copenhagen to see the Christiansborg Castle. This castle has a lot of history and is not to far from the Copenhagen central station.  For about 100 dk ($20) I was able to buy a ticket to see the three main sections of the Castle; the ruins, the official meeting rooms and the stables.  However because of the lack of time I did not go to the stables because I just spent too much time in both the ruins and the meeting rooms.  I did not mind much that I missed the stable tour cause I can see it again some other time, I am not worried.

When you walk up to the Christiansborg Castle, the large court yard with the fountain create a wide open area to really look at the entire castle.  When you get closer the castle you can see the detail. The statue in front of the castle is of King Christen IX (9th). 

King Christen IX, King of Denmark from 1869-1906

Looking up at the tower you can see the detail. I was later told that say day that the three crowns on top are for the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish crowns. Even though the King never had the Swedish crown he felt that he should have.

Even the small gateway stones on top had great detail in them.  This stone with the crown craved on top shows the royal seal: Three lions with nine hearts.  When I first arrived to Denmark I always wondered 'what is up with all these red hearts everywhere?'  Now I understand.

What surprised me and confused me at first was the 'front door' and what was behind the front door.  When I think castles - I imagine a huge elaborate front door with some great hall behind it with paintings on the wall and great chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.  But behind this front door was a hall to another side of the castle with some statues etc inside the hall.

When you walk in this front hall there are two large statues or memorials on either side. On one side there was a plague with surround by Danish flags and three states of influential people.

On the bottom right of this picture is the entrance to the ruin exhibit. But since I have so many pictures and lots of history to share about the ruins, I am making another blog post all about the ruins exhibit.

1659 -- 1909
eleventh February
Copenhagen citizens put this memorial in remembrance of their fathers' bravery and unity which rescued the city from destruction and saved Denmark's rich

On the other side of the hall there was large memorial or statue .. I am not sure what you would call it.

In the middle there is some writing in Danish and the royal seal. I have tried a few times to translate what is written but I am not quite sure. I plan on asking one of my many native Danish friends if they can translate it for me.

After some looking I was able to find the entrance to where the meeting rooms are. The front door and the ruins in the middle of the castle where as the entrance to the meeting rooms that are open for public viewing are on the on left portion of the castle.  The entrance was mostly marble with these beautiful statues.

Now after I pass the threshold I have to turn off my camera. no cameras or video cameras allowed.

I must the rooms in this portion of the castle were amazing. The detail in the flooring, the curtains, the paintings every square inch of the place was amazing.  I took the informational tour and learned so much about each room and some of the paintings.  Even though I could not take pictures inside the meeting rooms, I was able to purchase postcards of certain meeting rooms.  When I got to work the following week, I was able to scan the postcards before I sent them off to family.

The royal throne room had a unique felt like wall paper that had the royal seal printed all over it. The two throne chairs were saved from the second Christianborg Castle fire.  In this picture you can not really tell but on the floor there was a unique star pattern in the middle of the room. The tour guide mentioned that when the Queen greets official guests while standing on this star.  Also not shown in this picture is the ceiling, on the ceiling right above the star pattern is a hand painted memorial showing how Denmark got is flag.   I have been told that during a battle (I cannot remember which one) a flag feel from the Heavens and became the Denmark National flag.

Another room I toured was the dinning room, which had a huge dinning table. It was large enough to fit 50 people. And the wood table was made out of an old wooden navy ship. I can not remember which navy ship.

Another room I toured was the Roman room. In this particular room there was amazing. There is not much to say about this room, I think this picture says it all. I really enjoyed every moment of my trip to Christiansborg castle.