The Eremitage Hunting Lodge in the Deer Park is one of Denmark’s most remarkable buildings, and the Royal Family use it today. However, wear and tear has left its mark on the small hunting lodge. The Agency for Palaces and Cultural Properties has therefore decided to carry through a radical restoration of the lodge’s well-preserved interior and finish the rise around the building. The restoration will be completed in 2013 and is financially supported by the Augustinus Foundation.
The purpose of the restoration is:
To bring out and clarify the original character of the building
The Eremitage Hunting Lodge is a very well-preserved example of late baroque and holds elements of the earliest rococo in Denmark. During the last couple of centuries only a few changes have been made to the interior on the first floor; often there are only few layers of paint on the original interior.
With help from a.o. the preservation department of the National Museum of Denmark the original surfaces of doors, walls and ceilings will be recreated close to the original expression that Lauritz de Thurah gave the rooms in the 1730’s.
To emphasize the lodge’s location in the hunting system
The Eremitage Hunting Lodge was built on the highest point of the plain. Here it would radiate the king’s power across the landscape. The lodge was the centre of a path system that was essential when hunting in the 15th and 16th century where the horsemen would run the bag off its legs before killing it. The renovation of the bastion gardens (?) contributes to defining the lodge more clearly in proportion to the landscape and the historical hunting system.
To preserve the historical layers in the lodge’s exterior, and strengthen the lodge’s connection to the terrain
The Eremitage Hunting Lodge was built in 1734-36 by court master builder Lauritz de Thurah for Christian VI. The lodge was originally placed on a bastion – a rise encircled by a wall – which was removed already I the early 1700’s. In 1891-1892 the architect Ferdinand Meldahl build a new bastion. However, this was never finished, and now the Agency for Palaces and Cultural Properties will complete the bastion.
