The Amalienborg Museum

The history of Amalienborg

Frederiksstaden and its prehistory

Frederiksstaden is a part of Copenhagen, founded in 1749. It includes the area from Nyhavn to the Citadel and is bordered with Store Kongensgade and the Harbour..

The history begins around 1600 when the area lay outside the city ramparts of Copenhagen and, therefore, was in the ”countryside”. Christian IV, who was crowned in 1596, quickly began to deal with the largest problem in Copenhagen – a lack of space. During the years up to 1606 the King bought land to the North East of the medieval city. In this way he came to own all land within present day Øster Voldgade, the Citadel and the Harbour. The first thing he did was to lay out a large garden for himself – Kongens Have (Rosenborg Castle Garden) – where he simultaneously began building what was later to become Rosenborg Castle.

During the 1630’s and 1640’s the area was fortified with large ramparts and moats, considerable parts of which are preserved in the Botanical Gardens and Østre Anlæg. The Citadel was not completed until the reign of his son and successor Frederik III. However, there was not much construction carried out within the ramparts. Nyboder was founded in 1631 and in 1640 construction of the twelve-sided St Annæ Rotunda Church was begun. It was never completed and subsequently torn down in 1663.

In 1660 Frederik III’s Queen Sophie Amalie had land purchased in the area between present day Bredgade and the coastal line. This was in order to build a summer palace as a replacement for ”Dronningens Enghave” which had been destroyed during the Swedish siege of Copenhagen in 1658-60. The Queen’s new property stretched from a planned canal at present day Fredericiagade to the North along Bredgade to the West, at the Garnisons Church to the South and along the coast to the East. Here, the country seat Sophie Amalienborg was built in 1667-73. It took the shape of a large Italian villa, a ”casino”, with a three-story central part, with a ”belvedere” and long one-storey wings. The palace had its back to present day Fredericiagade and the central part of the palace was approximately where one of the Amalienborg Palaces is today.

Sophie Amalie died in 1685 and did not live to see the tragic end of the palace. For the celebration of Christian V’s birthday in 1689 a wooden structure, containing a theatre and an opera hall was built close to the palace. The birthday performance was a great success and the King arranged for a repeat for an audience of young members of the aristocracy and the high bourgeoisie. Bonfires, fireworks and illuminations started a fire in the building, the doors could only be opened inwards, and after a few hours the opera house and palace lay in ruins. 180 people lost their lives, including 100 children.

Christian V had for several years played with the idea of building a new Royal palace and asked the Swedish court architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger for a palace design. In 1694, Tessin delivered a magnificent design for a grand quadrangular palace, approximately 150 by 120 metres. Unfortunately, it was too expensive and Christian V died in 1699. The Great Northern War began in 1700 and the temporary rapprochement between Denmark and Sweden was over. Tessin was instead given the task of rebuilding the Palace of Stockholm after the fire in 1697.

The garden of Sophie Amalienborg was still at the site but it was almost halved in size when Frederik IV established a military drill ground on the Northern part in 1729. The landmark year was to be 1748, when Frederik V was to celebrate his dynasty’s, the Oldenburg line, possession of the Danish throne for 300 years. In August 1749 the King decided that the jubilee should be celebrated with the founding of a new part of the city, Frederiksstaden.

The plots in the new city were handed over free of charge to the new owners with 30 years tax exemption. They only had to build on the plots according to certain over-all plans and guidelines. In October 1749 the designs by Nicolai Eigtved were ready. Through the Spring of 1750, the eager citizens signed up for construction and the building work could proceed.

However, the most important element in Frederiksstaden was to be the large central eight-sided square where the two axises of the town, Amaliegade and Frederiksgade with the Frederikschurch, were to meet. Around the square four identical palaces, ”hotels”, designed by Eigtved, were to be built.

The four entrepreneurs were Baron Joachim Brockdorff, Privy Councillor G.F. Levetzau, Privy Councillor Severin Løvenskiold and the King’s confidant, Count A.G. Moltke. The building of all four Palaces began in 1750 and Moltke’s Palace was completed in 1754. Løvenskiold had to sell his Palace to Dowager Countess Anna Sophie Schack, although she did not plan to live there. The Palaces of Levetzau and Brockdorff were not completed until 1760.

The Amalienborg Palaces are the most beautiful examples of Danish Rococo as it was interpreted by the court architect Nicolai Eigtved. Eigtved had studied in Dresden, Saxony, Poland and Brandenburg and there he became acquainted with the new style, which can be recognised in much of his work. He died unexpectedly in 1754 and Amalienborg was completed by Lauritz de Thurah who, although younger, was deeply rooted in the older baroque style.

It was planned to erect an equestrian statue centrally on the square, depicting Frederik V, the absolute Monarch. He was to be dressed in the classical way with armour holding a laurel wreath and riding towards the church receiving the homage of his subjects. In 1752, the assignment was given to the French sculptor Jacques-François-Joseph Saly. It was to be a present from the Asiatic Company. However, the statue was only unveiled in 1771, six years after the death of Frederik V. The long production time was a hard strain on the sponsor as the statue was to cost more than half a million rix-dollars or the same as 10 Amalienborg Palaces. The result, however, was one of the finest equestrian statues in Europe.

What else happened to the Palaces after the construction of Frederiksstaden? In 1767 Brockdorff’s Palace became an Army Officer’s School and was radically rebuilt. The great hall was made into a fencing hall and its ceiling was lowered. The top floor, the mezzanine, was made into dormitories.

The turning point came in 1794 with the fire at Christiansborg which made the Royal family homeless. Christian VII obtained Moltke’s Palace for himself; his son Frederik (VI) acquired Schack’s Palace. The Crown Princess was happy with the move – she thought she looked less petite in the smaller halls at Amalienborg. In order to create a passage between the two Palaces, the architect C.F. Harsdorff erected the Colonnade in the same year. It was made as a closed passage resting on Ionic columns. As everyone believed that Christiansborg would be rebuilt soon and that the Royal family’s stay at Amalienborg would be temporary, the Colonnade was made in wood. It is still standing – but plastered to make it look like stone.

A third Palace, Levetzau’s Palace, was acquired by the King’s half brother, Prince Frederik.

The second Christiansborg was only completed in 1828 but Frederik VI refused to leave Schack’s Palace. This was repeated when the third Christiansborg was finished in 1918 with living-quarters for Christian X, who nevertheless preferred to stay at Amalienborg.

Moltke’s Palace – Christian VII’s Palace
Moltke’s Palace is the grandest of the four Amalienborg Palaces. Eigtved created a masterpiece of Danish architecture through a synthesis of the best from French and German rococo. When Eigtved died in 1754 the interior was completed by the French architect Nicolas-Henri Jardin who created the neoclassist dining hall, at the time the most modern room in Europe! Christian VII lived here from 1794 to his death in 1808 and it was never used as royal living-quarters again. It was used by Frederik VI’s staff and between 1852 and 1885 it housed the Foreign Ministry. Only after 1885 it came to function as representational Palace and guest Palace.

Levetzau’s Palace – Christian VIII’s Palace
Levetzau died in 1756 and never lived at the Palace. However, his widow Sophie Hedvig Rantzau lived there until her death in 1775. After the fire at Christiansborg in 1794 the Palace was bought by Prince Frederik, the heir presumptive. He hired the architect, sculptor and painter Nicolai Abildgaard to thoroughly modernise the Palace. Abilgaard’s interiors are mostly preserved in the bel-etage. After the death of Prince Frederik it became living-quarters for his son Christian VIII (King 1839-48) and for his widow Caroline Amalie (died 1881). In 1898, it was made into a residence for Prince Christian (X) and Alexandrine. It was used as a Royal residence up until the deaths of Christian X in 1947 and Alexandrine in 1952. Then it was made available to Prince Knud, although he never lived there. In 1986, parts of the Palace were made into apartments for Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim and it is still used by both Princes for ceremonial functions. Furthermore, the Queen’s Reference Library has been moved into the South Western pavillion of the Palace whereas the ground floor (the parterre), since 1994, has been occupied by the Amalienborg Museum, which constitutes a part of the Cronological Collections of the Danish Kings at Rosenborg.

Schack’s Palace – Christian IX’s Palace
The first inhabitant of the Palace was Count Hans Schack who married Ulrica Moltke, daughter of A.G. Moltke, in 1757. The young couple received help from Moltke to complete the Palace. Several artists worked initially at Moltke’s own Palace and then continued at his daughter’s Palace at Moltke’s expense. These include the stucco artist Fossati, several of his works are preserved. Schack later got into financial difficulties and decided to rent out the Palace in 1773. In 1786 he sold it to his son, who also rented it out. Therefore, it was a somewhat run down Palace when Crown Prince Frederik (VI) took over in 1794. C.F. Harsdorff was given the task of renovating the Palace ; amongst other things, he renewed the interior of the Great Hall. Frederik VI died in 1839 and his Queen, Marie, lived at the Palace until her death in 1852. In 1854 the Supreme Court moved into the bel-etage of the Palace. The ground floor became the residence of General Bülow, the hero of 1848, and after 1858 no less than five people lived here.

In 1863, the Palace was transferred to King Christian IX. He lived here until his death in 1906 when the new King Frederik VIII decided that the residence was to remain untouched. Their many children could assemble here and remember their parents. Only in 1948 was the residence split up after having been meticulously measured and examined.

In 1967, it became the residence for the successor to the throne Crown Princess Margrethe and Hnerik, the Prince Consort. They continued to live here after 1972 when she became Queen of Denmark.

Brockdorff’s Palace – Frederik VIII’s Palace
The Palace was rebuilt as an Army Officer’s Academy in 1767. Captain Engineer Carl Christian Pflueg commented that no building would be more unsuitable as an educational institution than this one. The Ground floor was made into living-quarters for the officers. The bel-eatge was used for teaching and the ceiling in the Great Hall was lowered in order to make more space for dormitories on the mezzanine level. In 1788, the Army officers were replaced with Naval cadets. They had to move out in 1826 when the successor the throne Frederik (VII) was engaged to Wilhelmine, a daughter of Frederik VI. Jørgen Hansen Koch, a student of C.F. Hansen, the leading architect of time, remade the Palace in the late classisist style with a thorough refurbishment. The marriage only lasted until 1834. In 1839-67 Christian VIII’s brother-in-law, the Commander of Copenhagen Count Vilhelm of Hesse lived here. In 1869, the newly married Crown Prince Frederik (VIII) moved in. He lived here until his death in 1912 and his widow Lovisa lived here until her death in 1926. Then Crown Prince Frederik (IX) became the new resident in 1935 at the time of his marriage to Ingrid. Frederik IX lived here until his death in 1972 and Ingrid until she died in 2000.

The Palace has been throrougly restored and since 2010 has served as a residence for Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary.