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Built in 1645, the church of Madonna del Pilone was constructed by wish of the Queen Regent Christine Marie of France to remember the miraculous rescue from the previous year of a girl from the river. The miracle was attributed to the intervention of an image of the Virgin of the Annunciation, which was placed on a votive pillar. The painting became such an item of devotion, that this church was built at the site, enlarged in 1779, and furnished with a baptistery in 1807. Repeated reconstructions have altered the interior, and the church retains only some of the original decoration consisting of the stuccoes attributed to Giovanni Andrea Casella and the cupola frescoes by Bartolomeo Guidobono. The main altar houses the miraculous icon dating from 1587, now thoroughly restored.
The miracle for which the church was built recalls that the riverbank nearby once housed a number of mills. A flour miller's daughter fell into the river at dusk. Her Mother, hearing her cries, but unable to see where she was to rescue her, knelt before a nearby shrine built next to the mill, depicting the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin. Legend holds a miraculous shaft of light illuminated the spot where her daughter was, and allowed her to be rescued by neighbors. News of the miracle led to the erection of a church by 1645, which became a Parish church March 2, 1807. The picture of the Madonna behind the main altar recalls the event.
References:Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.