Meilgaard Castle: A Historic Estate and Archaeological Site in Denmark
Site at a Glance
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Denmark
- Primary era
- Modern
- Eras represented
- Stone Age, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Danish
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Castle
On this page7 sections
History
Meilgaard Castle is a historic estate in Glesborg Parish on Denmark’s Djursland peninsula, between Fjellerup Strand and Bønnerup Strand. The castle dates to 1573, was expanded in 1873, and its main building was enlarged and substantially rebuilt between 1888 and 1891. The estate is also associated with a shell midden, an accumulation of discarded material that can include food remains, and is considered one of Denmark’s major archaeological sites.
Estate and castle
The estate first appears in the record under the name Medelgård in 1345, when its ownership changed. Its initial function was as a farm. Ownership passed among many families over the following centuries. The Danish government held the estate from 1823 to 1839, and in 1868 Baron Christian Iuel-Brockdorff, a titled member of the European nobility, acquired it. Michael Frederik Iuel has owned the estate since 1986. The current owners are Michael Iuel and his wife, Princess Désirée of Schaumburg-Lippe.
Prehistoric midden and excavation
In 1848, the National Museum of Denmark organized an excavation of the Meilgaard midden, led by Danish archaeologist Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae and geologist and chemist Johan Georg Forchhammer. The oyster-shell deposits were associated with an Ertebølle settlement. The Ertebølle culture was a late Mesolithic culture of southern Scandinavia, and the Mesolithic was the middle period of the Stone Age. The settlement dates to approximately 5300–3950 BCE. The excavation was the first scientific investigation of its kind in the world.
Fire and reconstruction
A fire badly damaged the castle on 26 February 2003. Reconstruction followed between 2004 and 2006.
Remains
Estate and buildings
The estate covers about 2,070 hectares (20.73 square kilometres), including 543 hectares of farmland and 1,220 hectares of forest. Part of the property has been converted into five private apartments, and a former farm building is now used as a restaurant.
Meilgaard shell midden
The midden lies in Nederskov, a coastal forest just north of the castle. Its oyster shells were identified as food waste from human activity, rather than a natural accumulation.
