{"id":1013,"date":"2025-03-14T12:21:37","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T12:21:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klitgaarden.dk\/?page_id=1013"},"modified":"2026-01-22T07:14:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T07:14:22","slug":"historien-om-klitgaarden","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/klitgaarden.dk\/en\/historien-om-klitgaarden\/","title":{"rendered":"The story of Klitgaarden"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nTHE STORY OF KLITGAARDEN\n<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>
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\nThe royal Danish holiday home\n<\/h1>
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The royal Danish family's holiday home, Klitgaarden, was built in 1914 by King Christian X as a private residence for the royal family, which included the younger Queen Alexandrine and the couple's two sons. The royal family had been visiting Skagen for several years, as Queen Alexandrine particularly felt at home there. The artist colony, which included figures such as P.S. Kr\u00f8yer, Holger Drachmann, and Anne and Michael Ancher, had also helped put Skagen on the cultural map.<\/p>

The royal family spent spring, summer, and autumn at Klitgaarden for 25 years. After the king died in 1947, the villa, known as the Royal Villa in Skagen, was used by Queen Alexandrine. Following her death, Crown Prince Knud took over the villa. Klitgaarden remained in the family's ownership until the summer of 1997, when the heirs of Crown Prince Knud and Crown Princess Caroline Mathilde sold the property to Klitgaarden Foundation.<\/p>

Karen Krause-Jensen, the then municipal director of Skagen, initiated the fundraising efforts to transform Klitgaarden into a cultural retreat. Notable figures such as Danish author Klaus Rifbjerg, lawyer Niels Gangsted-Rasmussen, and Art Museum Louisiana founder Knud W. Jensen supported the initiative. After several years of intense work, Klitgaarden was successfully reconstructed and restored as a working retreat for artists and scientists with the inauguration in 2000.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>

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\nArchitecture and interior\n<\/h1>
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The architectural style of Klitgaarden strikes a balance between grandeur and understated simplicity. It conveys a sense of dignity suitable for a royal family without being ostentatious. There are no spires or towers; instead, the design emphasises functional architecture that departs from the dominant historicism of the era. The building reflects the character of Skagen with its yellow facades, red tile roof, and whitewashed chimneys. The main structure features two wings that discreetly welcome visitors from the exterior while primarily opening to the sea from the interior, suggesting the building's role in safeguarding the privacy of the royal Danish family.<\/p>

Klitgaarden architecturally balances between towering pomp and withdrawn simplicity. Between being worthy of a royal family without being flashy. There are no spires or towers here, only well-thought-out, functional architecture that did away with the dominant historicism of the time, coloured after the style of Skagen with its yellow houses, red bricks and whitewashed chimneys. The main building with its two short wings invites you in discreetly from the outside, but opens mostly to the sea from the inside \u2013 as if to indicate that the building protected the privacy of the Royal Family.<\/p>

The interior design and furnishings of Klitgaarden draw inspiration from the English Arts & Crafts movement led by William Morris. This movement emphasised quality materials and visible craftsmanship. Design elements such as bars serve both as structural support and decorative features on chairs, sofa backs, ceiling friezes, and panels. The aesthetic is graphic yet straightforward, exuding a sense of humility that befits a royal residence. Architect Ulrik Plesner, influenced by his time in England and the Arts & Crafts movement, designed the house's furniture, which the local cabinetmaker B\u00f8dker crafted. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

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\nRenovation of Klitgaarden, 2025\n<\/h1>
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When Klitgaarden opened its doors as a retreat in 2000, it underwent significant renovations, including new sewage systems, central heating, and a new roof. The layout was also improved, providing 14 rooms for the retreat's users. The King's former bedroom, complete with a balcony, has been transformed into a meeting room, while the Crown Prince's room, which accommodates two beds, remains the only double room in the villa.<\/p>\n

Now, a quarter of a century later, the building shows signs of wear and tear and needs maintenance both inside and out. Externally, the facades, windows, exterior doors, balcony, gutters, fences, and sheds require updating. Internally, the masonry has cracks that need repairing, and the painted surfaces, bathrooms, floors, woodwork, and work furniture need renovation to meet contemporary standards.<\/p>\n

The renovation is expected to be completed by the end of 2025 with fantastic donations from the Aage and Johanne Louis-Hansen Foundation, the AP M\u00f8ller and Wife Chastine McKinney M\u00f8ller Foundation for General Purposes, the Augustinus Foundation, the philanthropic association Realdania, the Obelske Family Foundation, the Spar Nord Foundation, the Sportgoods Foundation and the Danish Agency for Palaces and Culture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HISTORIEN OM KLITGAARDEN Kongefamiliens feriebolig Klitgaarden blev opf\u00f8rt i 1914 af Kong Christian X som privat feriebolig for kongefamilien, der talte den noget yngre Dronning Alexandrine og parrets to s\u00f8nner. Kongeparret havde bes\u00f8gt Skagen igennem flere \u00e5r, da dronning Alexandrine f\u00f8lte sig s\u00e6rligt hjemme her, og kunstnerkolonien med P.S. Kr\u00f8yer, Holger Drachmann og Anne og […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_breakdance_hide_in_design_set":false,"_breakdance_tags":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1013","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klitgaarden.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klitgaarden.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klitgaarden.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klitgaarden.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klitgaarden.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1013"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/klitgaarden.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1714,"href":"https:\/\/klitgaarden.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1013\/revisions\/1714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klitgaarden.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}