Bregentved
Encyclopedia
Bregentved is a manor house
located near Haslev
on the Danish
island of Zealand. It has been owned by the Moltke
family since the middle of the 18th century.
passed the estate to Roskilde Abbey
. From the end of the 14th century the property was owned by a succession of aristocratic families, including that of Krognos in the 16th century, until 1718 when it was acquired by King Frederick IV
.
granted the Bregentved estate to Adam Gottlob Moltke
, one of his closest companions who was at the same time made lord chamberlain
and a count. Over the next few years, Moltke adapted the two remaining wings with the assistance of the architects G.D. Anthon and Nicolai Eigtved
. Moltke also commissioned Eigtved to built him a large mansion in Copenhagen, the south-western of the four Amalienborg Palace
s, which was completed in 1754.
At Bregentved, Moltke introduced several agricultural reforms to the management of the estate with inspiration from Holstein
.
A. G. Moltke died at Bregentved on 25 September 1792, passing his estates to his oldest son, Joachim Godske Moltke
, who ceded their mansion in Copenhagen to the royal family after the fire of Christiansborg Palace
in 1794. As a replacement, Adam Wilhelm Moltke
, who had just left office as the first Prime Minister under Denmark's new constitutional monarchy
, acquired a new mansion which became known as Moltke's Mansion
. After the harvests at Bregentved Manor and other family holdings, he would move his entire household to Copenhagen.
In the 1880s, Count Frederik Christian Moltke decided to modernize the house. He demolished the two Eigtved wings and replaced them with two new wings which were completed in 1891 to the design of the architect Axel Berg.
in copper and tile. The east wing has a three-bay risalit
with pilasters and a triangular pediment, and a two-bay corner risilit at each end with segmental pediments. The entrance tower also dates from Berg's expansion.
The north wing was built 1731-36 by Lauritz de Thurah
and has a black-tiled, hipped roof. It contains a chapel on the first floor which has sculptor Johann Friedrich Hännel.
to create a garden in the French formal garden style but it was adapted into a landscape garden
in 1835. Some features have been retained from Jardin's garden, including avenues, and traces of a parterre
surrounded by canals and a system of fountains, which was restored in 1994. Some vases and Frederik V's Obelisk (1770) by Johannes Wiedewelt
also date from this garden as does a copy of a statue by Giambologna
. The garden also features a statue of A. W. Moltke by Herman Wilhelm Bissen
in 1858-59.
60 million. Apart from agriculture and forrestry, the revenues derive from house rental, hiring-out of hunting areas, hiring-out of storage facilities and machine pool services.
There is no public access to the house but the park is open to the public on Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Admission is free of charge.
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
located near Haslev
Haslev
Haslev, a town in Faxe municipality, lies in the southern part of Zealand, Denmark. About from Copenhagen, it has a population of 11,088 .Haslev is popularly known as the school town with the green surroundings...
on the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
island of Zealand. It has been owned by the Moltke
Moltke
Moltke may refer to:People:* Helmuth von Moltke the Elder , Chief of the Prussian, and then German, General Staff* Helmuth von Moltke the Younger , Chief of the German General Staff* Kuno von Moltke , German general...
family since the middle of the 18th century.
Early history
The first known reference to Bregentved is from 1319 when King Eric VI of DenmarkEric VI of Denmark
Eric VI Menved was King of Denmark and a son of Eric V and Agnes of Brandenburg.He became king in 1286 at age 12, when his father was murdered 20 November by unknown assailants...
passed the estate to Roskilde Abbey
Roskilde Abbey
Roskilde Abbey or Our Lady's Abbey, Roskilde was a monastery of nuns dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin in Roskilde in Denmark...
. From the end of the 14th century the property was owned by a succession of aristocratic families, including that of Krognos in the 16th century, until 1718 when it was acquired by King Frederick IV
Frederick IV of Denmark
Frederick IV was the king of Denmark and Norway from 1699 until his death. Frederick was the son of King Christian V of Denmark and Norway and Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel .-Foreign affairs:...
.
Moltke era
In 1746, King Frederick VFrederick V of Denmark
Frederick V was king of Denmark and Norway from 1746, son of Christian VI of Denmark and Sophia Magdalen of Brandenburg-Kulmbach.-Early life:...
granted the Bregentved estate to Adam Gottlob Moltke
Adam Gottlob Moltke
Count Adam Gottlob Moltke , Danish courtier, statesman and diplomat, born at Riesenhof in Mecklenburg.-Early life:...
, one of his closest companions who was at the same time made lord chamberlain
Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the Great Officers of State....
and a count. Over the next few years, Moltke adapted the two remaining wings with the assistance of the architects G.D. Anthon and Nicolai Eigtved
Nicolai Eigtved
Nicolai Eigtved, also known as Niels Eigtved, , Danish architect, introduced and was the leading proponent of the French rococo style in Danish architecture during the 1730s-1740s. He designed and built some of the most prominent buildings of his time, a number of which still stand to this day...
. Moltke also commissioned Eigtved to built him a large mansion in Copenhagen, the south-western of the four Amalienborg Palace
Amalienborg Palace
Amalienborg Palace is the winter home of the Danish royal family, and is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. It consists of four identical classicizing palace façades with rococo interiors around an octagonal courtyard ; in the centre of the square is a monumental equestrian statue of Amalienborg's...
s, which was completed in 1754.
At Bregentved, Moltke introduced several agricultural reforms to the management of the estate with inspiration from Holstein
Holstein
Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany....
.
A. G. Moltke died at Bregentved on 25 September 1792, passing his estates to his oldest son, Joachim Godske Moltke
Joachim Godske Moltke
Joachim Godske Moltke was Prime Minister of Denmark. He was also father of Prime Minister Adam Wilhelm Moltke and the son of Danish diplomat Adam Gottlob Moltke....
, who ceded their mansion in Copenhagen to the royal family after the fire of Christiansborg Palace
Christiansborg Palace (1st)
The first Christiansborg Palace was built in Copenhagen by Christian VI of Denmark as a new main residence for the Danish monarch to replace the antiquated Copenhagen Castle which had assumed a monstrous appearance and started to crumble after several extensions...
in 1794. As a replacement, Adam Wilhelm Moltke
Adam Wilhelm Moltke
Count Adam Wilhelm Moltke was Prime Minister of Denmark from 1848 to 1852. He was the first Danish Prime Minister in the Danish constitutional monarchy outlined in 1848 and signed as the Danish Constitution on 5 June 1849 by Frederik VII of Denmark.Adam Wilhelm Moltke was the grandson of Adam...
, who had just left office as the first Prime Minister under Denmark's new constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
, acquired a new mansion which became known as Moltke's Mansion
Moltke's Mansion
The Moltke's Mansion is a town mansion on the corner of Bredgade and Dronningens Tværgade in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of several town mansions in Frederiksstaden, although it actually predates the neighbourhood by half a century...
. After the harvests at Bregentved Manor and other family holdings, he would move his entire household to Copenhagen.
In the 1880s, Count Frederik Christian Moltke decided to modernize the house. He demolished the two Eigtved wings and replaced them with two new wings which were completed in 1891 to the design of the architect Axel Berg.
Architecture
The east and south wings of the present three-winged building date from Axel Berg's 1891 rebuilding and stand on Eigtved's foundations. They are designed in the Neo-Rococo style and are topped by a Mansard roofMansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
in copper and tile. The east wing has a three-bay risalit
Risalit
A risalit, from the Italian risalto for "projection", is a German term which refers to a part of a building that juts out, usually over the full height of the building. In English the French term avant-corps is sometimes used. It is common in façades in the baroque period.A corner risalit is where...
with pilasters and a triangular pediment, and a two-bay corner risilit at each end with segmental pediments. The entrance tower also dates from Berg's expansion.
The north wing was built 1731-36 by Lauritz de Thurah
Lauritz de Thurah
Laurids Lauridsen de Thurah, known as Lauritz de Thurah , was a Danish architect and architectural writer. He became the most important Danish architect of the late baroque period...
and has a black-tiled, hipped roof. It contains a chapel on the first floor which has sculptor Johann Friedrich Hännel.
Gardens
In the 1760s, A. G. Moltke commissioned Nicolas-Henri JardinNicolas-Henri Jardin
Nicolas-Henri Jardin , neoclassical architect, was born in St. Germain des Noyers, Dept. Seine-et-Marne, France, and worked seventeen years in Denmark as an architect to the royal court...
to create a garden in the French formal garden style but it was adapted into a landscape garden
Landscape garden
The term landscape garden is often used to describe the English garden design style characteristic of the eighteenth century, that swept the Continent replacing the formal Renaissance garden and Garden à la française models. The work of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown is particularly influential.The...
in 1835. Some features have been retained from Jardin's garden, including avenues, and traces of a parterre
Parterre
A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...
surrounded by canals and a system of fountains, which was restored in 1994. Some vases and Frederik V's Obelisk (1770) by Johannes Wiedewelt
Johannes Wiedewelt
Johannes Wiedewelt , Danish neoclassical sculptor, was born in Copenhagen to royal sculptor to the Danish Court, Just Wiedewelt, and his wife Birgitte Lauridsdatter...
also date from this garden as does a copy of a statue by Giambologna
Giambologna
Giambologna, born as Jean Boulogne, incorrectly known as Giovanni da Bologna and Giovanni Bologna , was a sculptor, known for his marble and bronze statuary in a late Renaissance or Mannerist style.- Biography :...
. The garden also features a statue of A. W. Moltke by Herman Wilhelm Bissen
Herman Wilhelm Bissen
Herman Wilhelm Bissen was a Danish sculptor.Bissen first studied painting in Copenhagen, then became a pupil of the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. In 1824, he travelled to Rome and met Christian Daniel Rauch in Berlin. Under the influence of Thorvaldsen, his style changed from romanticism to...
in 1858-59.
Bregentved today
Bregentved-Turebyholm covers 6,338 hectares of which just over half consist of agricultural land and the rest of forest. A total of 163 houses also belongs to the estate, including Turebylille, Holtegård, Eskilstrup, Rødehus, Sofiendal, Sprettingegård, Storelinde Overdrevsgård, Ulsegård and Statafgård. The estate maintains a staff of 40 and has a yearly turnover of approximately DKKDanish krone
The krone is the official currency of the Kingdom of Denmark consisting of Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. It is subdivided into 100 øre...
60 million. Apart from agriculture and forrestry, the revenues derive from house rental, hiring-out of hunting areas, hiring-out of storage facilities and machine pool services.
There is no public access to the house but the park is open to the public on Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Admission is free of charge.