Denmark Day 2

When I thought about what I wanted to do in Denmark, the first answer that came to my mind was seeing the Carl Bloch paintings.  I was surprised how little he’s known outside the LDS church because he’s one of my favorite Christian artists, but luckily for me his work is in a gorgeously-situated castle named Frederiksborg Slot that’s become a national museum. 

It required taking another S-train to Hillerød, which was surprisingly complicated at the station.  The fact that we actually had to ask several locals for assistance in finding the right platform reinforced how easily navigable Denmark is otherwise.  The short train ride was also a nice chance to glimpse a bit of the Danish countryside.  Totally flat compared to Norway, but some lovely homes on lakes and the weather was perfect!

Frederiksborg Slot has a moat with a lake in the back and larger grounds than we were able to explore on foot.  As we entered the courtyard, the clock struck the hour and started to play a recognizable hymn ("Praise to the Lord, the Almighty").

courtyard of Hillerød

We entered and the first major stop on the tour was the upper level of the castle’s chapel.  The tall walls were lined with shields for all the orders they’ve given and displaying the family crest.  A local pointed out a few notable recent ones (notable to her, at least) and I saw the one given to the father of the crown prince’s wife (he married an Australian in 2004).  There was an American, after all:  Dwight D. Eisenhower was given one, probably for his role in the War, as was Winston Churchill.  These were near current heads of states, which made for a fun trivia game as we tried to recognize them.  Leaving the chapel I practically stumbled upon what I’d been seeking:  the Bloch paintings were in the King’s oratory.  The room only permitted a scant amount of natural light so some of his works of night scenes were very difficult to see.  As I said, most people don’t know him so the other tourists only paused briefly, allowing me all the time I wanted by myself.  Most of the paintings were very familiar and it was great to finally see them in person, but a few were new to me.  They appeared to be arranged in somewhat chronological order and practically covered every wall in the room.

The King's Oratory, aka Carl Bloch central

I later learned that these pieces that meant so much to me were actually the result of fire and beer.  In 1859, there was a major fire in the castle that destroyed parts of it, including this room.  JC Jacobsen, a beer baron, financed the restoration and its conversion into a museum of Danish history.  When it came time to restore the oratory’s paintings, he decided that rather than replicate the Belgian paintings that had been there, he’d go local and hire a Danish artist.  You just never know what good can come from bad things.

Walking through the rest of the castle helped me learn a bit more about Denmark’s history (pre-fire).  The “Great Hall” truly lived up to its name, with intricate carvings and huge paintings of past leaders.

The Great Hall

I also enjoyed seeing an intricate model of the known universe at the time—just to hedge their bets, they had a version with the sun at the center as well as the Earth.  I’d learned that most of Denmark’s kings were named either Christian or Frederick, but was surprised to learn a bit more about one in particular based on his portrait. Christian IV, or C4 (maybe his rapper name?), had both an earring and a rat tail!  With attitude like that, it’s no wonder that his son Frederick III went on to establish an absolute monarchy.  With so many rooms, I started to gloss over the later years of Danish history but there were bright and shiny objects in every room.  Plus, why stay inside on such a gorgeous day!

We left the castle famished and ate the food we’d brought on the castle grounds.  I had fun exploring the Baroque gardens and climbing higher to see the hidden delights amongst the hedges.  This included stumbling upon some cottages, and learning that the forest on the castle grounds was planted to rebuild the Danish Navy after their ships were captured by the British in 1807.  It was crazy to think they could lose their entire navy in a single war, but suddenly a painting we’d seen in the castle of a burning waterfront made a lot more sense.  When we had our fill, we wandered back through the town to grab some pastries on our way back to Copenhagen. 

Back in the central part of the city, we decided it was time for a canal tour.  Such a perfect way to see the older parts of the city!  We rested our feet as we glided under low bridges and learned a little more about the city while passing famous landmarks like the Little Mermaid statue.  Seeing it in the late afternoon light made the city look even lovelier.

View from the canal

Indeed, she's little

We wrapped up our day with a vegetarian buffet at a restaurant named Riz Raz with the duel objectives of getting our money’s worth and compensating for all the cheese and pastries I was enjoying.  I think I succeeded on both counts.  On the way home, we made a slight detour to Kongens Have, the park surrounding the castle with the crown jewels where they were showing the Euro Cup matches on giant screens.  It was fun to watch the locals enjoying the match, and we arrived just in time to see Sweden’s goal against France. Another action-packed day!