Koldinghus
Royal Castle In Kolding Burned Out In 1808 And Restored As A Museum With A Striking Modern Wooden Interior Inside The Ruined Brick Walls, With A Tower View Over The Town · Kolding, Region of Southern Denmark
Koldinghus is the royal castle of Kolding, standing on a hill above the small castle lake in the centre of this south-east Jutland town, roughly 2 hours by train from Copenhagen. A fortress stood here from the 1200s to guard the old border with the Duchy of Schleswig; later kings rebuilt it as a residence, and Christian IV added the tall Giants' Tower. In 1808, during the Napoleonic Wars, Spanish troops quartered in the castle as allies of France accidentally started a fire, and Koldinghus burned out. For more than a century it stood as a ruin. The restoration completed in the late 20th century, with a modern interior said to be designed by the architects Inger and Johannes Exner, did not rebuild the lost rooms: it put light wooden halls, stairs and walkways inside the scorched brick walls, so you see old and new side by side. Today it is a museum of history, art and silver, with a tower view over the town. The honest caveat: the rooms are not period-furnished, and visitors wanting a lived-in palace may find it spare.
Koldinghus, Markdanersgade, above the lake in central Kolding, Kolding, Region of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Open all year: usually daily in summer, and in the rest of the year on a pattern of most days with one closed weekday (often Monday) and a few holiday closures at Christmas and New Year - confirm the current schedule, which changes with the season and with exhibitions. Last entry is roughly 30 minutes before closing. By train, Kolding is on the main line from Copenhagen via Odense, roughly 2 hours, then a 10-15 minute walk uphill from the station through the pedestrian streets. By car it is about 220 km from Copenhagen over the Great Belt Bridge (toll), roughly 2 hours 15 minutes; about 1 hour 15 minutes from Aarhus. No booking is normally needed for individual visitors; groups and guided tours book ahead.