Open House: Frederik and Mary’s Future Home to go Public

The future home of Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary and their two children will be open to the public next year, so the public can view the recent renovations which have been taking place since 2004.

Frederik VIII’s Palace, formerly Brockdorf’s Manor, in Amalienborg will be open to the public from February 28 to May 30. The Palaces and Properties Agency announced the news earlier this week, with BT reporting that not all the rooms will be open. The private rooms of the family will not be available for viewing, only the areas which will be used in the future for public engagements.

Various exterior and interior renovations have had to be undertaken before the family could move in, as the Palace was in serious disrepair at the turn of the new millenium. The last occupant of the Palace was the late Queen Ingrid, who lived in the Palace until her November 2000 death. She and her husband, the late King Frederik IX, moved into the Palace in 1935-36, which was when the last renovations took place.

The exterior renovations comprise of work on the façades, roofs and windows. According to the PPA, the exterior work will form part of the overall façade renovations on the four Amalienborg palaces. DKK 23.3 million (almost 3.1 million Euro) was set aside in the renovation budget for the exterior work.

Interior renovations include work on the ceilings and floors, as the woodwork had begun to rot. It is also believed that the standard of the living conditions (bathrooms, electricity) was also not up to the modern, early-2000s standard. The remainder of the renovation budget provided by the Danish State, DKK 103 million (around 13.8 million Euro), was put towards the interior works.

According to BT, several contemporary Danish artists were commissioned to create new art for the Palace. Amongst those were Olafur Eliasson, John Kørner, Kathrine Ærtebjerg and Jesper Christiansen. The art will not be paid by the renovation budget, but by the funds donated by the Realdania Foundation, totaling DKK 22.7 million (approx. 3 million Euro). The foundation donated the money to “an art project with the primary purpose of acquiring new Danish art for the palace.” BT states that the majority of these new works will be available to see for visitors to the Palace between February and May next year, during the ‘open house’. The money provided by the foundation was also used to create new gardens behind Frederik VIII’s Palace, designed by landscape architect Jacob Fischer.

Click here to read more about Amalienborg at TRF.

Filed under Denmark
Tagged Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, Frederik VIII's Palace (Amalienborg), Palaces, Renovations, Residences.

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