So last Sunday I visited Frederiksborg Castle, which was about an hour away and was built in the 1600. On the way there, our guide was talking about the things we were passing, like the aquarium, a section of the bay that was completely frozen over and that some "vikings" were swimming in (I'm not sure if it was just an old viking that that she associated or she actually meant they were vikings haha, nut that's what she said!), and a 2000 year old tree! I mean, there were lots of other things too, but I was definitely most excited about the 2000 year old tree.
A section was under construction (like most of Copenhagen haha), but it was still beautiful! It had just snowed the night before, so it was even more majestic.
There were hundreds of these painted shields of two orders given to people who had done remarkable things for Denmark.
One of the orders, that of the highest honor, was given to only Danish citizens until the 1900's was the Order of Elephants. Apparently, it was originally associated with the Virgin Mary (from the early 1500's) as a sign of innocence and purity. However,during the Reformation in the 1536, when the country separated from the Catholic Church and converted to Lutheranism, Mary was obviously not a figure the monarchy wanted to fraternize with. So, they switch to an elephant, because the animal represents similar characteristics (who knew?).
This was the church attached to the castle. There are huge paintings on the walls of scenes from the New Testament (you can kind of see one of them below, but they were too large to get a nice picture of up close).
On the columns there were beautiful images of characters from the Old Testament (I'm fairly certain this was labeled as Abel, but I can't remember). Obviously the giant paintings were beautiful (as is the rest of the church), but I really loved these images. They were similar to simple, black and white drawings, yet clearly took ages to complete. I just thought they were really special!
This is a terrible picture of the giant organ in the back of the church. To make it actually play, someone has to be behind here and pull on strings associated with different keys. So, there has to be two people working together during each service!
More shields! This one was dedicated to Nelson Mandela. Apparently there was one for Eisenhower too, but I couldn't find it.
This is the special Kings room. These paintings (and the ones around the church) are apparently very well known and used to draw people in from all over the world. The tour guide said that many Mormons come just to look at the beautiful paintings. So they're really famous! This is a really terrible picture of Jeasus coming into Jerusalem.
During 17th Century, most European monarchies felt the need to compete with the extravagance of Louie the eight (is that the right number?), so this hall was built and decorated with all white molding and huge windows and beautiful landscape paintings, so that when people walked down the hall to the room where they would meet the king, it felt like they were walking in the clouds (so I don't actually remember if that's exactly what they were going for, or if it was heaven like, or what, but clouds are nice, right? Close enough)
Kings are either named Christian or Frederik(they alternate between the two, except for their current leader, Queen Margrethe II, whose father had to change the law to allow a female head of the monarchy since the 1300s). But, this is King Christian the V, who must have been ruling Denmark when this section of the castle was built.
He set up this room with images of his family, then with paintings depicting battles he won above it. There were plenty of battles he lost, but of course he only put paintings of ones that were successful. There is also a painting of each of the discovered continent, representing Denmark's extensive trade allies.
So this is a painting (another terrible picture, it was really dark and I didn't want to use the flash so many of these were odd) of a 19-year-old king. I believe he was one of the first absolute monarchs, or had some sort involvement with the church's power in Denmark. I was paying attention and it was a great tour, but I don't actually remember all the details I thought I would haha).
I remember this one though! This was a bed that some member of the royalty slept in in the 1600's. Notice how short it is? It's not that people were actually that short, but because people slept sleeping up! There are several theories as to why they did this, but one had to do with their fear of death, or rather being taken by death to early. It's similar to the story that most have heard about the bells in the graves, so if someone was buried alive, they could be rescued, but they thought that when sleeping on their backs, they looked too much like a death person. Thus, if Death came to their compartments during the night, he could take them before their time! I'm not sure how legitimate the theory is, but it's definitely interesting! (Our tour guide was this adorable women in the red, by the way).
This is the coronation painting of Queen Margrethe. She ascended to the throne in the 1972. I thought it was very interesting how this painting style was so different that that of the other royal portraits. It was beautiful, but a distinctly different style.
I have not read Shakespeare's Hamlet, but apparently there is a Danish king in it, and whenever he speaks, a horn blows, I guess to announce it? But, apparently that is because King Christian IV (who I've mentioned in previous posts as having very expensive tastes and enjoying his parties) built this structures for musicians and would instruct them to play when he was about to speak.
This is a picture of a table with a mirror face, reflecting the incredibly ornate ceiling.
No idea who this was, but I've always loved this flapper-like style.
This is Queen Margrethe's father. He lead Denmark during both World Wars, and during the Nazi occupation of the city, he would ride to the city everyday to keep the spirits of his people up (the tour guide also added in a comment about how the Swedish king fled and allowed his people to suffer on their own, which I thought was a funny little snide remark to add in).
Notice the elephant metal? I am still so fascinated on how often the animal showed up! I had a professor (Dr. Mosser) who called them "charismatic-mega-fauna," referring to the huge almost emotion response to the news that they were become extinct and the push for protection, when so many of much smaller, lesser know species (such as most frogs, or even a huge number of amphibians in general) are disappearing without any notice. Of course, elephants are my favorite animal, so I'm not one to talk, but it's still an interesting point!
Queen Margrethe wore this in the 1970's.
A painting of her shortly after receiving the throne.
Again, I was really fascinated by all the different styles of art! I expect all of them to be fairly traditional, like the one in the green, but this one (even though you can't really tell) is definitely more impressionistic, with fine strokes of all different colors.
And this one of a former prime minister? Again, you can't tell here, but the entire painting had a bright, lime green hue.
Then, this is a painted donated to the museum, depicting Danish soldier's participation in international activities. Each of the soldiers have the same face, representing the unitry and common goal of the UN, and the partial brick wall implies the instability of certain international relations (I'm pretty sure this was in reference to their involvement with Afghanistan a few years back, but I cannot remember for sure
This was worn by the Queen in 2007, when she was 60-some years old. The tour guide was careful to point out what a nice figure she had at her age.
So this is the Queen, her oldest son, Frederik, and his oldest son, Christian, who are the next in line for the throne. Apparently, Frederik did not seem too inclined to take the throne when he was younger, but as he has "matured" (tour guide's words), he's grown into the role. The way the Danish view their monarchy is very interesting. It is the oldest monarchy in Europe (the Queen can trace her linage something like 1000 years back), and have had a constitutional monarchy since the 1840s (the king [one of the many Frederiks] was watching the French Revolution, and obviously did not want to be beheaded, so voluntarily gave up most of his power). Currently, while the Queen technically must sign all bills in law, she doesn't actually have any input into their passing. She is not even supposed to directly say what the people should do during certain political climates. Apparently, however, she is able to sneak her opinions in her speeches, so Danes ususally know what she thinks of the situation. The thing I guess that surprises me the most is how much the truly care. She essentially has the power of a figurehead, yet the tour guide referred to her as almost a mother of all Danes. I think part of it has to do with how clever she is, and that she genuinely is good at being the Queen (she is kind, smart, diplomatic, etc), and that there is a lot of pride in the incredibly long history of Denmark in general. One other point was that especially now, as the country begins to diversify and gain more people who were not born in Denmark, it provides a sort of common ground. Everyone may have different opinions on certain issues, but Queen Margrethe is everyone's queen. Also, interestingly, although Greenland has its own parliament and laws, they still are technically the Queens subjects.
(There is a windmill in the background, but you can't really see it)
Also, a few hours ago, I had dinner with Lone, who is my "visiting family." Since I don't live in a host family, I get to meet up with her, just to help me really interact with more Danish people. She is absolutely lovely and really enjoyed talking with her! We talked for a good 2 hours, and I definitely learned a lot, but I can't actually come up with specific points to talk about haha. Oh well!!
On Thursday we are going on our short study tour! My Sustainability in Europe class will be spending 3 days on the island of Ærø, which apparently has one of the largest solar energy plants and has an "eco-village," that basically lives "off the grid." It'll be interesting and I'll definitely write more about it when I get home!!
I hope everything is going well with you all!!
Hej hej!
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