Christiansborg Palace
Christiansborg Palace is a palace and government building on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the seat of the Danish Parliament, the Danish Prime Minister's Office, and the Supreme Court of Denmark. Also, several parts of the palace are used by the Danish monarch, including the Royal Reception Rooms, the Palace Chapel and the Royal Stables.
The palace is thus home to the three supreme powers: the executive power, the legislative power, and the judicial power. It is the only building in the world that houses all three of a country's branches of government. The name Christiansborg is thus also frequently used as a metonym for the Danish political system, and colloquially it is often referred to as Rigsborgen or simply Borgen.
The present building, the third with this name, is the last in a series of successive castles and palaces constructed on the same site since the erection of the first castle in 1167. Since the early fifteenth century, the various buildings have served as the base of the central administration; until 1794 as the principal residence of the Danish kings and after 1849 as the seat of parliament.
The palace today bears witness to three eras of Danish architecture, as the result of two serious fires. The first fire occurred in 1794 and the second in 1884. The main part of the current palace, finished in 1928, is in the historicist Neo-baroque style. The chapel dates back to 1826 and is in a neoclassical style. The showgrounds were built from 1738 to 1746, in a baroque style.
Christiansborg Palace is owned by the Danish Government, and is run by the Palaces and Properties Agency. Several parts of the palace are open to the public.
History
Absalon's Castle
The first castle on the site was Absalon's Castle, built in 1167 by the bishop Absalon. According to the Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus, Bishop Absalon of Roskilde built a castle in 1167 on a small island outside Copenhagen Harbour. The castle was made up by a curtain wall, encircling an enclosed courtyard with several buildings, such as the bishop's palace, a chapel and several minor buildings.At the death of Absalon in 1201, possession of the castle and city of Copenhagen passed to the bishops of Roskilde. A few decades later, however, a bitter feud erupted between crown and church, and for almost two centuries the ownership of the castle and city was contested between kings and bishops. Furthermore, the castle was frequently under attack, for example by Wend pirates and the Hanseatic cities, and during the years 1249 to 1259 it was occupied and plundered.
In 1370, King Valdemar IV of Denmark was defeated in a conflict with the Hanseatic League, who ordered the castle to be demolished. They sent 40 stonemasons to demolish the castle stone by stone. The castle had long been a terrible nuisance to the Hanseatic cities' trade in the Sound, and the time had now come to remove it.
Copenhagen Castle
During the years after the demolition of Bishop Absalon's castle by the Hansa League in 1369, the ruins on the island were covered with earthworks, on which a new stronghold, Copenhagen Castle, was built. This was completed in the late 14th century. The castle had a curtain wall and was surrounded by a moat and with a large, solid tower as an entrance gate.The castle was still the property of the Bishop of Roskilde until King Eric VII usurped the rights to the castle in 1417. From then on the castle in Copenhagen was occupied by the king. In the middle of the 15th century, the castle became the principal residence of the Danish kings and the centre of government.
The castle was rebuilt several times. In the 1720s, Frederick IV entirely rebuilt the castle, but it became so heavy that the walls began to give way and to crack. It became therefore evident to Christian VI, Frederik IV's successor, immediately after his accession to the throne in 1730, that an entirely new castle had to be built.
The demolition of the overextended and antiquated Copenhagen Castle was commenced in 1731 to make room for the first Christiansborg. The ruins of Absalon's castle and Copenhagen Castle were excavated at the start of the 20th century and can be seen today in the subterranean excavations under the present palace.
First Christiansborg
King Christian VI commissioned architect Elias David Häusser to build the first Christiansborg Palace, and in 1733 work started on a magnificent baroque palace. By 1738, work on the main palace had progressed so far that it was possible to start on the other buildings included in the total project. The palace included show grounds and chapel. Most of the palace complex was completed in 1745 and was the largest palace in northern Europe at the time.The palace and church were ruined by a fire in 1794, but the showgrounds were saved.
Second Christiansborg
While the royal family lived in temporary accommodations at Amalienborg Palace, the master builder of Altona, architect Christian Frederik Hansen, was called to Copenhagen to resurrect the palace. Hansen started building the second Christiansborg in 1803 in a French Empire style. By the time the palace was finished in 1828, King Frederick VI had decided he did not want to live there after all, and he only used the palace for entertainment. King Frederick VII was the only monarch to live in the palace. This was between 1852 and 1863.After the introduction of the constitutional monarchy with the Constitution of 1849, the south wing of the palace became the meeting place of the two houses of the first Danish Parliament.
The second Christiansborg burned down in 1884. The showgrounds, including the Riding School, court theatre and Hansen's chapel were saved. The ruins remained in place for the following 23 years due to political fighting.
Third Christiansborg
won an architecture competition to decide who would design the third Christiansborg, which was built from 1907 to 1928. The palace was to contain premises for the royal family, the legislature and the judiciary, and was built in Neo-baroque style in reinforced concrete with granite-covered façades. Fragments from C.F. Hansen's palace were preserved in the north façade facing Prince George's Yard. The original roof was tiled, but after a national collection, the tiles were replaced with copper in 1937–1938. A weather vane with two crowns was later added to the tower, and at 106 meters became the tallest tower in the city.During the digging work, they came across the ruins of Absalon's Castle and Copenhagen Castle. It was decided to make them publicly accessible, and the ruins under the current palace, and the historical exhibition opened to the public in 1924.
Christiansborg Palace today
The palace is roughly divided in the middle, with the Parliament located in the southern wing and the Royal Reception Rooms, the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister's Office in the northern wing.Several parts of the palace are open to the public after published schedule with guided tours available, for a substantial fee. It is centrally located in Copenhagen's Indre By district.
Royal Reception Rooms
The Royal Reception Rooms at Christiansborg Palace are located on the ground floor and first floor in the northern half of the palace. The Rooms are used for official functions of the monarch such as banquets, state dinners, the New Year's levée, diplomatic accreditations, audiences and meetings of the council of state.The Reception Rooms are richly adorned with furniture and works of art rescued from the two earlier palaces, as well as decorations by some of the best Danish artists, such as Nikolaj Abraham Abildgaard, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, Laurits Tuxen, Joakim Skovgaard and Bjørn Nørgaard.
To reach the Royal Reception Rooms one goes through the Queen's Gate, and through the Hall of the Halberdiers to the King's Stairway. At the foot of the stairs are the Audience Chamber and the State Council Room. The King holds an audience every other Monday and attends Council with the government as required – usually on Wednesdays. The King in Council signs new Acts after their adoption in Parliament. The Audience Chamber and the State Council Room are the only Royal Reception Rooms that are closed to the public.
The King's Stairway gives access to the Tower Hall. The Tower Hall displays a series of tapestries with motifs from Danish folk songs, woven after cartoons painted by Joakim Skovgaard.
Facing the Palace Square is the oval Throne Room where foreign ambassadors present their credentials to King Frederik X. The Throne Room gives access to the balcony where the Danish monarchs are proclaimed. The Throne Room is decorated with a large ceiling painting by Kræsten Iversen, depicting how the Danish flag, Dannebrog, fell from the sky in Estonia in 1219.
The Royal Reception Rooms also include the Fredensborg Hall, with Laurits Tuxen's painting of King Christian IX and his whole family together at Fredensborg Palace, and parts of the Queen's Library.
The Great Hall is the largest and most spectacular of the Royal Reception Rooms. The Hall is 40 metres long with a ceiling height of 10 metres, and a gallery runs all the way around the room. The Hall seats 400 guests and is used for banquets, state dinners and receptions.
The Great Hall was renovated on the occasion of Queen Margrethe II's 60th birthday when artist Bjørn Nørgaard's 17 tapestries recounting the history of Denmark were hung on the walls. The tapestries were a gift from the Danish business community on the occasion of Queen Margrethe II's 50th birthday.
The Alexander Hall is named for Bertel Thorvaldsen's marble frieze "Alexander the Great Enters Babylon". The frieze was made for the second Christiansborg Palace, and parts of it survived the fire. It was later restored and mounted in this room. The Hall is used for smaller receptions and official dinners, often in connection with state visits.