Rosenborg

HISTORY OF ROSENBORG CASTLE

129

o s e n b o r g

c a s t l e

„

k o n g e n s

h a v e

“,

COPENHAGEN, is one of the few Renaissance

i castles in Europe, that have stood intact ever since

they were completed. Of all the buildings of King Christian

the Fourth, it was perhaps the one that he loved most and

to which he commanded that he should be taken in the

winter of

1648,

when his last hour was approaching; he

died in the North Room on the ground floor, in the so-called

„Winter Apartment“, in which to this day the

„1615“

fire

place and the magnificent panelling with the many Dutch

paintings are still preserved. Here it was, too, that Christian

the Fourth

(1634)

received Count d'Avaux, the ambassador

of the King of France, and regaled the company with the

music of the court orchestra and choir, who played and

sang below, the king being able, by means of one of his

own contrivances, to admit and cut off the sound at will.

On the whole, Rosenborg was a place where life was plea

sant and, according to the possibilities of those days, snug.

I t was formerly believed, that Rosenborg had been built

to a collective plan (1610—1617) in the form as we now see

it — this date being altered later to 1608—1617 by Bering

Liisberg, the last historian of the edifice (1). In point of fact,

the work was, however, already commenced in 1606, and the

(1) Rosenborg og Lysthusene i Kongens Have, 1914 (out of print).