Højriis Castle: A Historicist Manor Complex in Denmark
Site at a Glance
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Denmark
- Primary era
- Modern
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Danish
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Castle
On this page4 sections
History
Højriis Castle is a manor complex on the island of Mors in north-western Denmark. Its history reaches back to the early fifteenth century, while the present castle took shape in a later rebuilding.
Medieval estate
Johan Skarpenberg, a knight serving Queen Margrethe I, held Højriis from 1397 to 1413. Margrethe was Denmark’s queen and became a leading ruler in Scandinavia in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Børglum Monastery, a medieval religious institution in northern Jutland, owned the estate from 1413 to 1434 and again from 1440 to 1465.
Later history
The present castle dates to the second half of the nineteenth century. During the twentieth century, difficult conditions for Danish manors accompanied Højriis’s decline into disrepair. The estate remained uninhabited from 1865 until private owners acquired it in 1994. Restoration work was under way after the acquisition.
Remains
The castle is a three-winged manor complex surrounded by moats and designed in the Historicist style, an approach that adapts forms from earlier architectural styles. Its north-west wing and tower were designed by Danish architect Hans Jørgen Holm and built in 1859. Danish architect August Klein designed the north-east and south-west wings, which were built in 1876, when the castle was completed. The estate extends across 434 hectares.
