Egeskov Castle
Egeskov Castle is one of the best preserved Renaissance island palaces across Europe. Surrounded on every side with water, Egeskov is like an inspiration to everyone.
Situated next to a fairy-tale castle lake, Egeskov is located in the southern province of Funen, which is actually the island in Denmark.
Egeskov is well known for its small dolls houses. The great Renaissance palace offers its visitors a wide range of surprises. It's hard to believe that Egeskov but you can see all sorts of collections, such as that of vintage cars, vintage motorcycles, airplanes and even emergency vehicles. What creates the perfect first impression as you approach the castle are the lovely gardens surrounding it.
Most of them were planted and arranged more than 300 years ago and are currently holders of not one but many international awards that attest to the beauty and class of these parks. The gardens of Egeskov will captivate you with its pleasant harmony between trees, shrubs, hedges, labyrinths and beautiful meadows.
The palace itself brings you 600 years of history. It was built in 1405, but the stronghold of this place was back in the 13th century and bore the same name. In its present form Egeskov Castle was erected in 1554 by Frands Brockenhuus.
Originally the palace was erected on wooden bases, because of a legend that tells, the raising of the impressive mansion was to be done by cutting across the davena forest. In fact, here comes the name of the castle and Egeskov literally means "oak forest". It is surrounded by a small lake, which reaches a maximum depth of 5 meters. Once the castle was able to penetrate only a drop-down wooden bridge.
Egeskov Castle consists of two massive main buildings that are connected by a thick double wall. Once this had been a major feature of the defensive fortress. This one meter thick wall had a secret staircase. Already in 16th century Egeskov was equipped with a solid steel scaffold, which was taken from Hvedholm Castle, which was once owned by Egeskov and is located about 10 miles west.
The beautiful construction of Egeskov Castle includes a total of 66 rooms, 200 windows and glass installations which come to a total of 2062.
On the first floor of the castle you can see the so called, Titania's Palace or lower house of the dolls, which is one of the attractions for visitors. This incredibly beautiful model is the work of English painter and officer Sir Nevile Wilkinson. His inspiration comes from his little daughter who was satisfied that the court of Egeskov lived with small fairies and deserved to have their true home.
For 15 years the artist worked on this piece of art, which contains about 3000 components of many small treasures collected from around the world. Anywhere within the interior of Egeskov Castle you will feel that money has not been spared. Everything is in the spirit of generous comfort, and everywhere you can see treasures such as tapestries, wooden statues, many works of art and impressive artistic paintings.
The beautiful park around Egeskov extends about 50 acres and is composed of several distinct gardens. You can start your tour at the Renaissance gardens, which will impress with its beautiful fountains and nice lanes. The garden, which is considered one of the largest in Europe, contains 104 different species. Among the other gardens in the Egeskov Castle are the English, Water, herbal, vegetable and Rural gardens.
