Kalø Castle Ruins

Rønde, Denmark

Kalø Castle was founded in 1313 by the Danish king Erik Menved in order to establish a stronghold in northern Jutland to counter the ongoing rebellions by the local nobility and peasants against the crown. The castle was successful and from the 15th century and onwards the castle had a more peaceful role as the local administrative center. King Christian II held the future Swedish king Gustav Vasa captive at Kalø during 1518-1519, until he escaped.

When king Frederick III converted the elective monarchy into an absolute monarchy by the revolution of 1660 in Denmark, the castle lost its function. In 1661, Frederick III gave Kalø to Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve, who in the following year (1662), tore down the now abandoned castle. The material was used to build his private palace in Copenhagen, now called the Charlottenborg Palace. Today the castle ruin is owned by the Danish State.

References:

Comments

Your name

Website (optional)


Address

Molsvej, Rønde, Denmark
See all sites in Rønde

Details

Founded: 1313
Category: Ruins in Denmark
Historical period: The First Kingdom (Denmark)

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Poskaer Stenhus (6,6 km)
Thorsager Church (7,5 km)


Viking Museum (20,6 km)
Aarhus Old Town (21,3 km)
Aarhus Cathedral (20,5 km)
Aarhus Theatre (20,6 km)
Church of Our Lady (20,7 km)
Moesgård Museum (25,6 km)
St. Morten’s Church (33,6 km)
Marselisborg Palace (23,1 km)
Sostrup Castle (33,2 km)

User Reviews

AK Fav Music (17 months ago)
Great płace with perfect view. You can Stay here longer for example for a picnic. The best thing is to be here when is a sunset. It is so lovely.
Toni Lexmond (2 years ago)
Loved these unique ruins and the fantastic light
Michael Marquard Otzen (2 years ago)
Fantastic location. It sits on an extended peace of land. It used to be inaccessible due to reconstruction, but now there are stairs so you can walk up inside the monument. You drive to a parking lot, which is located on the mainland and then there is a good 20 minutes walk from there to the caste site. On a clear day, you can see for miles around.
Miruna Mihalache (2 years ago)
If you are up for a long walk, this is a really nice place to visit, but be sure to bring water. There is a small restaurant at the beginning of the trail so you can buy from there. The road to the ruin is old and made out of big rocks so be careful if you bring strollers and wear comfortable shoes. You can't drive to the actual ruin, but they have a free parking lot. All in all, it takes about 1 hour and 30 min to walk to the castle, visit it and walk back.
Tina Bæk Hougaard Led (2 years ago)
A beautiful medieval castle ruin placed on a small peninsula with a stunning panorama view of Aarhus and Mols. Kalø Ruin is not easy accessible - it's a 500 m walk from the parking spot and the road is very bumpy, but the trip is SO WORTH IT! In clear weather you can see very far. Try it out - it is free and it is such a beautiful spot!
Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Cultural Landscape of Sintra, Portugal
Photo from Flickr, copyright Polybert49

Historic Site of the week

Cochem Castle

The original Cochem Castle, perched prominently on a hill above the Moselle River, served to collect tolls from passing ships. Modern research dates its origins to around 1100. Before its destruction by the French in 1689, the castle had a long and fascinating history. It changed hands numerous times and, like most castles, also changed its form over the centuries.

In 1151 King Konrad III ended a dispute over who should inherit Cochem Castle by laying siege to it and taking possession of it himself. That same year it became an official Imperial Castle (Reichsburg) subject to imperial authority. In 1282 it was Habsburg King Rudolf’s turn, when he conquered the Reichsburg Cochem and took it over. But just 12 years later, in 1294, the newest owner, King Adolf of Nassau pawned the castle, the town of Cochem and the surrounding region in order to finance his coronation. Adolf’s successor, Albrecht I, was unable to redeem the pledge and was forced to grant the castle to the archbishop in nearby Trier and the Electorate of Trier, which then administered the Reichsburg continuously, except for a brief interruption when Trier’s Archbishop Balduin of Luxembourg had to pawn the castle to a countess. But he got it back a year later.

The Electorate of Trier and its nobility became wealthy and powerful in large part due to the income from Cochem Castle and the rights to shipping tolls on the Moselle. Not until 1419 did the castle and its tolls come under the administration of civil bailiffs (Amtsmänner). While under the control of the bishops and electors in Trier from the 14th to the 16th century, the castle was expanded several times.

In 1688 the French invaded the Rhine and Moselle regions of the Palatinate, which included Cochem and its castle. French troops conquered the Reichsburg and then laid waste not only to the castle but also to Cochem and most of the other surrounding towns in a scorched-earth campaign. Between that time and the Congress of Vienna, the Palatinate and Cochem went back and forth between France and Prussia. In 1815 the western Palatinate and Cochem finally became part of Prussia once and for all.

Louis Jacques Ravené (1823-1879) did not live to see the completion of his renovated castle, but it was completed by his son Louis Auguste Ravené (1866-1944). Louis Auguste was only two years old when construction work at the old ruins above Cochem began in 1868, but most of the new castle took shape from 1874 to 1877, based on designs by Berlin architects. After the death of his father in 1879, Louis Auguste supervised the final stages of construction, mostly involving work on the castle’s interior. The castle was finally completed in 1890. Louis Auguste, like his father, a lover of art, filled the castle with an extensive art collection, most of which was lost during the Second World War.

In 1942, during the Nazi years, Ravené was forced to sell the family castle to the Prussian Ministry of Justice, which turned it into a law school run by the Nazi government. Following the end of the war, the castle became the property of the new state of Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate). In 1978 the city of Cochem bought the castle for 664,000 marks.

Map Top Sights Tags Historical Periods City Guides About Us Sign Up Upload new site
© 2020 SpottingHistory.com. All rights reserved.