Selsø Castle

Skibby, Denmark

Selsø Renaissance castle was built in 1576 by Corfitz Ulhlfeld and reconstructed in Baroque style in 1734. The castle stayed abandoned since 1829 and in periods used as a grain magazine. In 1972 the restoration of the castle was initiated. The result is that when you visit the castle today, it stands exactly as it did when it was abandoned in 1829 and started to deteriorate. There is, for example, no electricity, water or heating in the castle.

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Address

Selsøvej 30B, Skibby, Denmark
See all sites in Skibby

Details

Founded: 1576
Category: Castles and fortifications in Denmark
Historical period: Early Modern Denmark (Denmark)

More Information

beautifuldenmark.dk
www.visitfrederikssund.dk

Rating

3.8/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Eskilsø Abbey Ruins (4,2 km)
Jyllinge Old Church (6 km)
Selsø Church (0,4 km)


Frederiksborg Palace (28,1 km)
Roskilde Cathedral (11,8 km)
Roskilde Palace (11,9 km)
St. Lawrence's Church Ruins (11,9 km)
Viking Ship Museum (11 km)
Frilandsmuseet (30,5 km)
St. Nicholas' Church (33,3 km)
Fredensborg Palace (35,9 km)
St. Bendt's Church (35,8 km)

User Reviews

Rolf Kalmar Larsen (6 months ago)
Det er et rigtig spændende slot med et historisk islæt. I borggården ligger en middelalderbrønd, som dengang jeg var med til, at udgrave den, var Danmarks største.
Marianne Larsson (7 months ago)
Der foregår meget andet blandt andet halloven og jul.
Mike Kelly (10 months ago)
Interesting old country manor house which fell into disrepair for over a 100 years before being restored and turned into a museum. It has many fine baroque features but its eerie feeling of emptiness and abandon still resonates, which adds to the visitors' experience.
Thomas Ejsing (2 years ago)
Hmmm dont know what to say
Inge Riis McDonald (7 years ago)
Selsø slot was a great surprise and well worth a visit. It is located on the peninsula Hornsherred in Roskilde fjord, Sjælland. We discovered it on a day trip from Copenhagen and found it one of the highlights of our extended visit to Copenhagen. The castle has been uninhabited for almost 200 years, so there are no renovations or modern conveniences such as running water and electricity. It is preserved just as it was, though many years of ignorance and neglect has taken it's toll. A couple of the rooms have beautiful paintings - the best in Europe of it's kind. The castle is now in a state of preserved decay, a very charming way of showing the lifestyle of the nobility at the time. Don't miss the kitchen in the basement!! This place is most definitely worth a visit.
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Porta Nigra

The Porta Nigra (Latin for black gate) is the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. It is designated as part of the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier UNESCO World Heritage Site. The name Porta Nigra originated in the Middle Ages due to the darkened colour of its stone; the original Roman name has not been preserved. Locals commonly refer to the Porta Nigra simply as Porta.

The Porta Nigra was built in grey sandstone between 186 and 200 AD. The original gate consisted of two four-storied towers, projecting as near semicircles on the outer side. A narrow courtyard separated the two gate openings on either side. For unknown reasons, however, the construction of the gate remained unfinished. For example, the stones at the northern (outer) side of the gate were never abraded, and the protruding stones would have made it impossible to install movable gates. Nonetheless, the gate was used for several centuries until the end of the Roman era in Trier.

In Roman times, the Porta Nigra was part of a system of four city gates, one of which stood at each side of the roughly rectangular Roman city. The Porta Nigra guarded the northern entry to the Roman city, while the Porta Alba (White Gate) was built in the east, the Porta Media (Middle Gate) in the south, and the Porta Inclyta (Famous Gate) in the west, next to the Roman bridge across the Moselle. The gates stood at the ends of the two main streets of the Roman Trier, one of which led north-south and the other east-west. Of these gates, only the Porta Nigra still exists today.

In the early Middle Ages the Roman city gates were no longer used for their original function and their stones were taken and reused for other buildings. Also iron and lead braces were broken out of the walls of the Porta Nigra for reuse. Traces of this destruction are still clearly visible on the north side of the gate.

After 1028, the Greek monk Simeon lived as a hermit in the ruins of the Porta Nigra. After his death (1035) and sanctification, the Simeonstift monastery was built next to the Porta Nigra to honor him. Saving it from further destruction, the Porta Nigra was transformed into a church: The inner court of the gate was roofed and intermediate ceilings were inserted. The two middle storeys of the former gate were converted into church naves: the upper storey being for the monks and the lower storey for the general public. The ground floor with the large gates was sealed, and a large outside staircase was constructed alongside the south side (the town side) of the gate, up to the lower storey of the church. A small staircase led further up to the upper storey. The church rooms were accessible through former windows of the western tower of the Porta Nigra that were enlarged to become entrance doors (still visible today). The top floor of the western tower was used as church tower, the eastern tower was leveled, and an apse added at its east side. An additional gate - the much smaller Simeon Gate - was built adjacent to the East side of the Porta Nigra and served as a city gate in medieval times.

In 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the church in the Porta Nigra and the monastery beside it, along with the vast majority of Trier"s numerous churches and monasteries. On his visit to Trier in 1804, Napoleon ordered that the Porta Nigra be converted back to its Roman form. Only the apse was kept; but the eastern tower was not rebuilt to its original height. Local legend has it that Napoleon originally wanted to completely tear down the church, but locals convinced him that the church had actually been a Gaulish festival hall before being turned into a church. Another version of the story is that they told him about its Roman origins, persuading him to convert the gate back to its original form.

In 1986 the Porta Nigra was designated a World Heritage Site, along with other Roman monuments in Trier and its surroundings. The modern appearance of the Porta Nigra goes back almost unchanged to the reconstruction ordered by Napoleon. At the south side of the Porta Nigra, remains of Roman columns line the last 100 m of the street leading to the gate. Positioned where they had stood in Roman times, they give a slight impression of the aspect of the original Roman street that was lined with colonnades. The Porta Nigra, including the upper floors, is open to visitors.

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