Frederiksborg Castle has a rich history. It is where Danish kings were crowned. It is where you will find the portrait of the hetman who, at the head of the Polish army, fought against the Swedes. It is the one that was rebuilt after the great fire by a well-known beer producer.

From a hunting lodge to a castle

About forty kilometres north of Copenhagen, in the town of Hillerød, stands a castle that was once the suburban residence of Danish kings. This is Frederiksborg. Its existence was first mentioned in the 13th century, when a castle stood on the Slotssøen lake, which had a hunting character. It became the foundation of the later Hillerødsholm.

In 1560, King Frederick II of Denmark acquired the land. He had the manor extended into a hunting lodge. Frederick II enjoyed visiting Hillerød, indulging in his great passion - hunting. In 1577, his son, the future King Christian IV, was born here. And it was he who played the most important role in expanding the castle. He was, moreover, a great lover and patron of the arts. He earned the money for these purposes, among other things, from the customs duties he collected in the Sound, or even from the manufactories he established.

King Christian IV spared no expense in funding various buildings. Thanks to his funding, the Copenhagen Stock Exchange Building, Rosenborg Castle, Holy Trinity Church and the Church on the Island were built. The estate closest to him, however, was Hillerødsholm. From 1599, he began to expand it, first by ordering the demolition of the old hunting lodge and then by erecting a building worthy of his father's name. For Fredirksborg was named precisely in his honour. And one of those working for the king was Hans van Steenwinkel.

The castle stood on three small islands. It was built mainly of red brick in combination with sandstone. During construction, the bailey structure was partially preserved, but the central and northern parts were rebuilt. A stone bridge leading to the inner castle courtyard was also built. The work culminated in 1622 with the erection of a richly decorated fountain with a statue of Neptune in front of the main entrance to the chateau, symbolising the king's domination over the waters of the north. The figures for the statue were made in Prague. Their author was the Dutch sculptor Adrian de Vries.

Interestingly, Christian IV ordered horse studs to be erected in Fredirksborg. In Vytautas Prussia's 'Breeding of Horses' we read:

"The Danish King Christian IV (1588-1648), according to G. Engelhardt von Löhneisen, established 16 studs where Turkish, Egyptian, Moroccan, Polish, English, Lüneburg, Schaumburg and Friesian stallions were used. Mares at specific studs were selected according to coat colour and covered with stallions suitable for their type and coat colour. The king was particularly fond of grey and buff horses'.

Fredriksborg became one of the architectural masterpieces of the Dutch Renaissance. But also an important place for the royal family. It was in the chapel there that sovereigns were crowned and married in from 1671, i.e. after the death of their great patron, King Christian IV, until 1840. The chapel itself and the other rooms are characterised by both beauty and splendour.

"The walls of the vestibule, from which the staircase leads to the magnificent castle chapel, are covered with the coat-of-arms shields of all those fortunate guests whom the king had decorated with orders. Indeed a peculiar collection of 'greeting cards'. In addition to the chapel with its beautiful ivory ornaments and silver altar and pulpit, the most magnificent is the knights' hall and picture gallery housing the Danish dynasty as well as its related branches," noted the Daily News.

In the 18th century, the castle was the site of important political events, such as the signing of the peace between Denmark and Sweden. The peace ending the Northern War (1720). In the same century, sizeable and beautiful gardens were laid out here in the Old French style, with terraces, straight avenues and carefully trimmed hedges. The last king to reside at Fredriksborg was Frederick VII Oldenburg. There may have been others, but this ruler led to tragedy....

Fire and reconstruction

On the cold night of 16-17 December 1859, King Frederick VII ordered that a fire be lit in the fireplace, even though it was being repaired. The servants complied with the request. And as a result of this treacherous decision, a large fire occurred, which almost completely consumed Frederiksborg.

After the undoubted disaster, Danish merchants, led by Jacob Jacobsen, the one who founded the still famous Calrsberg brewery, started to raise funds to rebuild it.

"Having subsequently survived the calamity of the fire, it owes its revival to the great Danish benefactor Jacobson (founder of Copenhagen's beautiful Glipotheque), whose numerous busts and bas-reliefs, which are an expression of the nation's gratitude, testify most eloquently to the magnitude of his work," wrote the editor of the Daily News in an article on the castle.

The reconstruction was completed in February 1882. At the time, the master mason of the reconstruction was Christian Peder Wienberg, and the master carpenter, Johan Vilhelm Unmack. Around 150 workers were involved in the work on Frederiksborg every day. Under the auspices of the Carlsberg Foundation, founded by Jacobsen, a National Historical Museum was also organised on the castle grounds.

Like Czarnecki across the sea...

But there is also a Polish theme at Frederiksborg Castle. In one of the rooms there is a portrait of Hetman Stefan Czarnecki.

"The war prestige Czarniecki gained in the campaign is evidenced by the fact that to this day the figure of Czarniecki is listed among the Danish gallery of war heroes at Frederiksborg Castle. In this castle, an hour's drive from Copenhagen, which is a beautiful treasury of national mementos and memories of Denmark's past, we see our hetman with a mace in his hand, with the stern look of an old man with a long grey beard. This portrait, painted in 1660 by the Danish painter Broder Mathiesen, is located in one of the magnificent halls of the second floor, near the entrance to the famous Knights' Hall," we read in the notebook "Poles around the World" from 1933.

Why was the Hetman's portrait in this honourable place? Denmark, like Poland in the mid-17th century, was at war with the Swedes. The castle itself became the object on which Charles Gustav vented his anger after the failed siege of Copenhagen. Frederiksborg was destroyed by his troops and robbed of everything of value, including the fountain figures with Neptune. Today, there are copies of these at the site, as the originals are in Drottningholm, the royal residence on the outskirts of Stockholm.

Stefan Czarnecki in September 1658, with five thousand Polish soldiers, crossed the sea strait to aid the Danish army. This campaign ended in complete military triumph. The fortresses of Sønderborg and Hodersleben, among others, were recaptured from Swedish hands. And on 6 June 1660, the Danish-Swedish peace was signed in Copenhagen.

But that expedition also had a darker side. Deprived of horses and food, the Polish soldiers committed a number of thefts and other highly immoral actions. The Hetman tried to punish arbitrary soldiers. Jan Chryzostom Pasek wrote in his Memoirs :

"The punishment for excesses was no longer to be behead or execute, but to be tied up by the legs of the horse, and to be dragged around the town in everything, as one was caught in an excess, according to the decree, either two or three times around."

Nevertheless, that expedition of Stefan Czarnecki was commemorated in Denmark by that very portrait. In Poland, on the other hand, it was done in the third stanza of the national anthem. After all, in the Dąbrowski Mazurka we sing:

" As Czarniecki to Poznan

After the Swedish partition,

To save my homeland

I will return across the sea ".