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.

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Address

Molsvej, Rønde, Denmark
See all sites in Rønde

Details

Founded: 1313
Category: Miscellaneous historic sites in Denmark
Historical period: The First Kingdom (Denmark)

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

AK Fav Music (4 years 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 (5 years ago)
Loved these unique ruins and the fantastic light
Michael Marquard Otzen (5 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 (5 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 (5 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!
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The castle, often besieged (notably by Simon de Montfort in 1211 and 1212), resisted assault and was only taken once, in 1486, thanks to treachery during the war between two branches of the Foix family.

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Since 1930, the castle has housed the collections of the Ariège départemental museum. Sections on prehistory, Gallo-Roman and mediaeval archaeology tell the history of Ariège from ancient times. Currently, the museum is rearranging exhibits to concentrate on the history of the castle site so as to recreate the life of Foix at the time of the Counts.