Tags:   Dragør Denmark Old Town Stationplads Bus Station

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Excerpt from Wikipedia:

Egeskov Castle (Danish: Egeskov Slot) is located near Kværndrup, in the south of the island of Funen, Denmark. The castle is Europe's best preserved Renaissance water castle.

Egeskov was first mentioned in 1405. The castle structure was erected by Frands Brockenhuus in 1554.

Due to the troubles caused by the civil war known as the Count's Feud, general civil unrest, and a civil war introducing the Protestant Reformation, most Danish noblemen built their homes as fortifications. The castle is constructed on oaken piles and located in a small lake with a maximum depth of 5 metres (16 ft). Originally, the only access was by means of a drawbridge. According to legend, it took an entire forest of oak trees to build the foundation, hence the name Egeskov (oak forest).

Outside, the castle is a Late Gothic building. Inside the original elements already show Renaissance design.

The castle consists of two long buildings connected by a thick double wall, allowing defenders to abandon one house and continue fighting from the other. The double wall is over one meter thick and contains secret staircases and a well. Defenders were able to attack an enemy's flanks from the two round corner towers. Other medieval defences include artillery ports, scalding holes and arrow slits. The bricks composing the castle are of an oversized medieval type sometimes called "monks bricks". The conical towers are constructed in a series of separate panels.

The architecture includes depressed and round-arched windows, round-arched blank arcading within the gables, and a double string course between the high cellar and the ground floor. The structure contains some of the early indoor plumbing design first used in Europe with vertical shafts for waste. The thick double wall also contains a water well which is accessed from the servants kitchen in the east house. Several of the large rooms have massive parallel exposed beams with some end carving.

Tags:   Egeskov Castle Denmark Kværndrup Egeskov Slot Auto_Focus Auto Focus Level 1

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King's New Square is laid out to link the medieval parts of the city to the newer districts. It was built by Christian V in 1680, and his equestrian statue stands in the centre of the square.

Tags:   Kongens Nytorv Copenhagen Denmark ArtofImages Level 1-Photography for Recreation

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Excerpt from audeladupaysage.com:

The small yellow houses of the city were built in the 18th century. They are a mixture of Danish and Dutch influences (many Dutchmen settled in the surrounding area in the 16th century to exploit farmlands).

Tags:   Thatched Roof Cottage Dragør Denmark Old Town

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Excerpt from Wikipedia:

The Old Church of Our Lady (Danish: Gammel Vor Frue Kirke) is an 11th-century brick church in Roskilde on the Danish island of Zealand.

According to Saxo Grammaticus, the church consecrated to Our Lady was built by Svend Nordmand who was bishop of Roskilde from 1073 to 1088. Around 1160, a convent for Benedictine nuns was established in connection with the church. It was however transferred to the Cistercians in the late 12th century. In 1177, Bishop Absalon allowed the locally acclaimed saint Margrethe af Højelse to be buried in the church. As a result, it was enriched by the many pilgrims who were attracted to visit it. The convent survived the Reformation, still hosting nuns in 1563. The convent was probably demolished in the early 1570s but the church, apart from the choir which was possibly destroyed by fire in 1599, remained intact.

Under Christian III (who reigned until 1559), it became a parish church for Kamstrup, Tjæreby, Skalstrup, Darup and Hastrup. Since 1907 when a new Church of Our Lady was built south of Roskilde, the church has seldom been used for services.

The church is located on the southern fringe of the old town of Roskilde, some 700 m (2,300 ft) from the cathedral. Constructed principally of travertine limestone and medieval brick (munkesten), the church consists of a Romanesque nave and northern aisle and a Late Romanesque extension to the west with a Gothic tower. The church underwent numerous alterations and extensions in the Middle Ages. The south aisle was fully rebuilt in 1887. The Old Church of Our Lady is Zealand's only surviving travertine basilica, that is one with a high central nave opening onto lateral aisles. It present appearance is the result of restoration work in the 1850s.

Tags:   Church of Our Lady Roskilde Denmark Places of Worship Gammel Vor Frue Kirke

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