Frederiksborg Castle: Christian IV's Renaissance Palace on the Lake

Frederiksborg Castle rises straight out of a lake in Hillerød, about 30 kilometres northwest of Copenhagen. Red brick, pale sandstone trim and green copper spires sit so close to the water that the whole palace seems to float.

It is the largest Renaissance residence in Scandinavia, and it was built in under a decade. Yet much of what you see today is a careful reconstruction, put back together after a fire almost destroyed it in 1859.

That double life, part original and part rebuilt from paintings, is what makes Frederiksborg so rewarding to explore. Here is how the castle came to be, what survived, and how to make the most of a visit.

From hunting estate to royal showpiece

The site began as a manor called Hillerødsholm, owned by the noble Gøye family. In 1550 the future Frederick II acquired it in an exchange with the naval hero Herluf Trolle and his wife Birgitte Gøye.

Frederick extended the old house and renamed it Frederiksborg, "Frederik's castle". It became the first Danish royal castle built inland and for pleasure rather than defence, a hunting lodge among the royal forests of North Zealand.

Several buildings from his time still stand. The Bath House in the park, finished in 1581 with three step-gabled wings, served as his summer hunting retreat and is still used by the royal family during hunts.

Christian IV and the Dutch Renaissance

Frederick's son Christian was born at Frederiksborg in 1577 and grew deeply attached to it. When he became king as Christian IV, he decided to replace his father's castle with something far grander.

The old building was demolished in 1599. The Flemish architect Hans van Steenwinckel the Elder drew up the plans, and after his death in 1601 his sons Hans and Lorenz carried the work forward.

The pace was remarkable. The King's Wing was finished in 1604, the Chapel Wing in 1606 and the Princess's Wing in 1608, with the low Terrace Wing following in 1609.

The style is often called Dutch or Flemish Renaissance, sometimes Northern Mannerism. Think stepped gables, sandstone bands against red brick, and a skyline crowded with towers and spires.

Symmetry was not the main goal. The decoration was meant to glorify the king, so the gate house and Terrace Wing are covered with figures drawn from mythology and astrology, and statues of famous emperors look down from the window gables.

The tallest tower crowns the Chapel Wing, its spire edged with four obelisks. Two slim octagonal towers watch over the lake, and copper-domed stair turrets climb the courtyard side of the King's Wing.

Three islets and a lake

Frederiksborg is spread across three islets in Slotssøen, the castle lake. The main palace fills the northern islet, while the middle islet holds a group of Renaissance buildings around the outer courtyard.

Here you will find the Audience House of 1616, with sweeping gables and bay windows, and Møntporten, a south-facing portal decorated with Venus, Mars and musicians that is counted among the finest in Denmark.

The forecourt is guarded by the Neptune Fountain. The original bronze by Adriaen de Vries was taken by Swedish troops in 1659 and now stands at Drottningholm Palace near Stockholm; the copy you see was made in 1888 with funding from the brewer J. C. Jacobsen.

Fire, rebuilding and a national museum

After Christian IV died in 1648, Frederiksborg became more of a ceremonial setting than a home. The Swedes occupied it in 1659 and carried off much of its art, and in 1720 the Treaty of Frederiksborg ending the Great Northern War between Sweden and Denmark-Norway was signed here.

In the 1850s Frederick VII lived at the castle again. On the night of 16 December 1859 a fire broke out from a chimney that was under repair, and with the lake frozen solid there was almost no water to fight it.

Within hours most of the interior was lost. The Chapel, the Audience Chamber and the Privy Passage escaped serious damage, and more than 300 paintings were carried out.

Rebuilding started in 1860, guided by old plans and by detailed paintings of the interiors made by Heinrich Hansen. The architect Ferdinand Meldahl led the work, funded by public subscription, the king and the state.

J. C. Jacobsen of Carlsberg went further. His support made it possible to found the Museum of National History in the castle, established in 1878 and opened to the public in 1882.

Today it holds the largest collection of portrait paintings in Denmark. The rooms trace Danish history from the Middle Ages to the present, mixing restored state rooms with galleries of kings, scientists and artists.

Inside the castle chapel

If you only see one room, make it the Chapel. Consecrated in 1617, it is the best-preserved part of Christian IV's palace and runs the full length of the west wing.

A two-storey gallery lines the nave, and pillars rise from it to a richly stuccoed vaulted ceiling. The altarpiece and pulpit are the work of Jacob Mores, a silversmith from Hamburg.

The real treasure is the Compenius organ. Built by Esaias Compenius in 1610 and installed by him in Hillerød shortly before his death in 1617, it is the oldest organ in Denmark, with 1,001 wooden pipes and its original hand-driven bellows.

From 1671 to 1840 Danish absolute monarchs were anointed here, with only Christian VII missing from the list. Since 1693 the Chapel has also served the Order of the Elephant and the Order of the Dannebrog.

Look at the walls and you will see the painted coats of arms of their knights. Among them are those of Nelson Mandela, the physicist Niels Bohr and the shipping magnate Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller.

The Chapel is still a working parish church, so services and concerts sometimes affect when you can visit.

The Great Hall, the Rose and the Audience Chamber

Directly above the Chapel lies the Great Hall, or Riddersalen. It burned in 1859, but Meldahl restored it using architectural paintings and surviving pieces of the gilded ceiling, finishing in 1880.

The tapestries on its walls are copies of originals woven in Karel van Mander's workshop in Delft, showing events from the life of Christian IV.

On the ground floor of the King's Wing, the Rose was once the dining room for the king and his court. It too was rebuilt from old pictures, with two rows of vaults resting on free-standing pillars.

The Audience Chamber, reaching onto the middle islet, escaped the fire largely unharmed. Lambert van Haven decorated it for Christian V in the 1680s, and it is considered the oldest preserved Baroque room in Denmark.

Its dome carries the king's motto, Pietate et Justitia, "Piety and Justice". Look for the deer chandelier carved around 1625, and the chair that once lifted the king up from the entrance below.

The Baroque garden

North of the castle, terraces step up the slope in a formal Baroque garden. Johan Cornelius Krieger designed it in 1720, but it fell into neglect later that century.

The garden was recreated in a modified form in the early 1990s. Clipped hedges frame a cascade that runs down the central axis, and the view back across the lake to the palace is one of the best in Denmark.

Beyond it lies a Romantic landscape garden with lawns and old trees. A tour boat also runs on the lake in season, giving you the castle from the water.

Visiting Frederiksborg Castle

Hillerød is easy to reach from Copenhagen. S-trains run on the Nordbanen line to Hillerød station, and from there it is a walk of about 15 to 20 minutes through the town centre to the castle.

Allow at least half a day. The museum covers about 70 rooms across three floors of the King's Wing and the Princess's Wing, plus the Chapel, the Rose and the Audience Chamber.

Frederiksborg Castle tickets, prices and opening hours change with the season, so check the museum's official website before you travel rather than relying on older guides.

Combining Frederiksborg with Kronborg and Roskilde

Kronborg, a fortress built to command the Øresund, makes a natural contrast. Many visitors pair Frederiksborg with Kronborg Castle in Helsingør. The Lille Nord line links Hillerød and Helsingør directly, so you can travel from Frederiksborg Castle to Kronborg Castle in one day.

To round out the royal story, add Roskilde Cathedral, where Christian IV and many other Danish monarchs are buried.

A palace rebuilt from memory

Frederiksborg is not a perfectly preserved Renaissance palace, and it does not pretend to be. Much of it is a nineteenth-century act of national memory, rebuilt from drawings and paintings.

That is part of its appeal. Standing in the Chapel, one of the few rooms the fire spared, you can see what Christian IV built; walking through the restored halls, you see how Denmark chose to remember him.

For more castles, churches and modern landmarks across the country, browse our Denmark architecture guide.