Details
Founded: 1490Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Denmark
Historical period: Kalmar Union (Denmark)
User Reviews
Gammel Estrup Manor as we know it today was built in 1490, but excavations have revealed evidence of earlier constructions also mentioned in texts under the name Essendrup dating back to 1340.
The construction of Gammel Estrup was started by the contentious Lave Brock. But it was his great-grandson, Eske Brock who most people today think of in connection with the manor. Eske Brock was a nobleman and close friend of King Christian IV to whom he also served as a minister. Through Brock's detailed diaries we know a great deal about the King's life.
From 1930 the manor has served as a museum, showing the development of Danish nobility through the ages. The surrounding buildings support the museum, the nearby apple plantation and a horticulture research center.
References:The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.
The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick.