Fredensborg Palace

Fredensborg Palace (Danish: Fredensborg Slot; pronounced [ˈfʁeˀðn̩sˌpɒˀ ˈslʌt]) is a palace located on the eastern shore of Lake Esrum (Danish, Esrum Sø) in Fredensborg on the island of Zealand (Sjælland) in Denmark. It is the Danish royal family’s spring and autumn residence, and is often the site of important state visits and events in the royal family. It is the most used of the royal family’s residences.

At the end of the Great Northern War King Frederick IV asked architect Johan Cornelius Krieger, royal gardener to the court at Rosenborg Castle, to build him a small pleasure palace on the site of a farmyard named Østrup. Krieger built the French-inspired baroque palace 1720–1726, and the King himself took an active part in the planning of the building and grounds, and followed construction closely. The man responsible for the actual construction was General Building Master Johan Conrad Ernst, who was also responsible for the construction of Frederiksberg Palace.

While the building was still under construction Denmark–Norway and Sweden negotiated a peace treaty, which was signed on 3 July 1720, on the site of the unfinished palace. The treaty determined the fate of Skåne, which since that time has been a part of Sweden, and ended Denmark’s eleven-year participation in the Great Northern War. To commemorate the signing of the peace accord the palace was named Fredens Borg (lit. "Peace's Castle").

The palace complex consisted of a small, almost square, 1+1⁄2-storey-high main palace with dome and lanterns. It is positioned exactly at the centre of what is known as a "hunting star" (Danish, jagtstjerne), a number of straight intersecting paths in a game hunting reserve. During a hunt it was permissible to shoot freely straight down the long paths, which radiated out from the centre. The dome hall measured 15 x 15 m (49 ft), and had a height of 27 m (89 ft). The sumptuous room featured stucco by C.E. Brenno and a plafond by Hendrick Krock.

In front of the main building was placed an octagonal courtyard encircled by the single-storey servants' wings, called Red Wing. It is the only red building at Fredensborg Palace, and it has open half-timbers under a red tile roof.

East of the octagon were the riding ring and the long stables building.

Further to the east and adjacent to the main palace was an Orangery and the one-storey building called Margrave House. The Orangery, which was equipped with huge glasshouse windows, was connected to the main building by a small secret passage, so that the royal family and the courtiers could walk to the chapel without getting their feet wet.

The palace chapel stood in the middle of the two buildings, and has an exaggerated copper spire, a pilaster-decorated façade facing the riding ring, and a heavily carved gable featuring a bust of Frederik IV in relief carved by Didrick Gercken.