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Glimpses
of the castle seen from different angles - click on
the pictures to see new ones
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The
Castle and its owners
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Glorup
earliest mention is in 1390, but we know nothing about the building at that
time, or if there was one. Some thinks the name refers to a village. We only
know that there was a Povl Nielsen of Glothorp
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The
first description of the castle is from the renaissance, where Christopher
Valckendorf build a 4-winged house in 2 storeys with 4 towers and a moat. An
impressive building, of which the builder, the seneschal of Denmark, also boasts
in an inscription on a tablet in Svindinge church from 1599. From this building
only the foundation with the cellar and a sandstone tablet with a horse and the
Valckendorf arms is left. Nowadays the tablet is placed over a door in the old
riding-house.
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The
Valckendorfs owned Glorup from 1400 to 1661, where they were forced to sell
Glorup after the destructions of the Swedish wars. The next hundred years Glorup
was owned by several families, of which only a few lived there. In 1723 member
of the Privy Council Chr. Ludvig Scheel v. Plessen inherited Glorup, and in the
years 1743-1744 he rebuild the house, one storey disappeared and a magnificent
mansard was put on all four wings. The house was plastered and whitewashed. The
form-language of the time was baroque.
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the death of v. Plessen in 1762 Glorup was bought by count Adam Gottlob
Moltke of Bregentved, and at the same time he bought the neighbour manor
house Rygaard, price 120.000 rigsdaler, (equiv. £12.000) . He had won
60.000 in the lottery and his second wife brought a similar marriage
portion, which helped. Moltke was an interested and prominent farmer and
he brought the manor on its feet again, helped by the rising prices in
Europe since 1750 on agricultural products. |
Count
Moltke was rather fond of his new acquisition, but the house was already
old-fashioned, so he let the foremost architect of the time, N. H. Jardin,
and his architectural designer Christian Josef Zuber look over Glorup with
an intention of modernizing the house. The four wings with the big mansard
was kept almost unchanged. The western front in the inner yard was raised
with an extra storey and the main gate got a new superstructure, crowned
by a lantern. On the attic is an inscription which tells us, that A. G.
Moltke renewed the building in 1765. The walls were still white, but
window-frames, cornices and relief-columns was partly painted yellow.
There came a broad flight of
steps up to the main entrance, and similar steps at the north and south
side of the house. Inside the house was created a series of beautiful
interiors, specially the dining room in gold and white and the hall with
the double stairs
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In
1793 Glorup, Rygaard and Anhof was entailed as the estate of Molktenborg.
This lasted until the first world war, where entails were barred by law.
The Moltke family still owns Glorup and Rygaard. The family name was
changed in 1843 to Moltke-Huitfeldt as the last male Huitfeldt died, and
the family was married into the Moltke family.
The
Glorup we see today is in almost all respects as it was in 1765. The home
farm was moved away from the main building in the 1860th . A
late gothic chapel was build to the north of the manor in 1898, with a
catholic interior and a sepulchral chapel. |
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Hans
Christian Andersen and Glorup
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In
1845 Hans Chr. Andersen who for many years was a frequent guest in Glorup
writes about his daily life there: "Up
at 8 o'clock, drink coffee, potter about and write until 10 o'clock, then
a walk along the long avenue, through the gate and along the lane to Holuf
Farm, look at the Belt, walk back, read, tidy, sews, and at 12 lunch with
a glass of port. Rest for a while, a new walk, same route, but a little
longer, write and read to around 4, dress and go to dinner between 4 and
5. Now come the most boring time until 8 o'clock.
From 8 to 10 I bear
the whole conversation." He was probably a little depressed that
day, there were often other guests, and they often visited, or he visited
the local vicar or doctor in the afternoon. Things were a little more
lively than he describes here.
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In
1848 a least Glorup was full of life. 3. Battalion was in cantonment at
and around Glorup, in the manor itself 8 officers, 2 doctors and 2
volunteers was billeted. The housekeeper miss Ibsen was very busy
providing for the Danish soldiers. Later in the year Swedish soldiers and
officers was billeted also and every evening the regimental band was
playing.
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The
war caused Hans Chr. Andersen a lot of anxiety, but the greater was the joy of
the victory in 1850. The soldiers from Glorup, 200 men, should have a
celebration party. Hans Chr. Andersen organized the party. A
triumphal arch was erected at the main road and another outside the manor. The
main steps was decorated with flags and greenery and a tent was pitched in the
garden. In the tent there were coats of arms with the names of the battles:
Fredericia, Isted, Mysunde, Frederiksstad, and on the pillars that supported the
roof, coats of arms with the generals names. On the island was festoons with
coloured lamps and a little 2-masted boat sailed in the lake. Cannons was fired.
Each man got a bottle of wine, soup, steak, game and 2 kinds of cake. The
regimental band from Nyborg played and there was 4 songs, one of them by Hans
Chr. Andersen. It was a very successful party, it lasted from 1 p.m. to 3 a.m.
But the next day Hans Chr. Andersen got a nail in his foot and thought he was
dying of blood-poisoning
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Count
Adam Gottlob Moltke and his wife celebrated their silver-wedding on the 20th
of June 1853. Svindinge church, owned by the manor, was restored and renewed and
the silver-wedding started with a celebration service during which the youngest
son was confirmed. A big party was thrown for all under the estate, 1000-1500
people. Again a tent in the garden, on the island a decoration with the names of
the count and countess and canons was fired. This time it was the band from the
chasseurs who played. The ball was opened by the count who began the dancing
with a farmer's wife and the countess with a farmer.
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A
smaller party was held 8th of august 1867 when the
suspension-bridge was opened. The towers with the count's coat of arms was
decorated with flags and festoons. A chorus sang a song and the count and
countess walked over the bridge.
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Helga Wilson
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