The Crown Jewels

Kronregalierne

De Danske Kronregalier De Danske Kronregalier

In the cellar of Rosenborg Castle, behind two sets of bronze doors, lies the Skatkammer — the Treasury. Here are kept the regalia of the kings and queens of Denmark: the Crown of Christian IV, fashioned in 1596 in heavy gold and enamels showing the virtues of a monarch; the lighter, starker Crown of Christian V, made in 1671 for the new absolutist coronation rite; the coronation sword, the ampulla of holy oil, the gold sceptre and the gold orb.

Alongside them rest the Crown Jewels of the queen — the brilliants, emeralds and rubies set into four parures by goldsmith Jørgen Nybye in the early 19th century. Each set can be reconfigured as a tiara, a necklace, earrings and brooches. They are still worn at New Year galas by the consort of the reigning monarch, who alone has the right to use them — they leave the cellar only for the night, and never the country.

I Rosenborg Slots kælder, bag to sæt bronzedøre, ligger Skatkammeret. Her opbevares regalierne for Danmarks konger og dronninger: Christian 4.s krone, fremstillet i 1596 i tungt guld og emaljer, der viser monarkens dyder; den lettere og strengere Christian 5.s krone, fremstillet i 1671 til den nye enevoldskroningsritus; kroningssværdet, salveampullen, guldscepteret og guldæblet.

Ved siden af ligger dronningens kronregalier — brillanterne, smaragderne og rubinerne, som guldsmed Jørgen Nybye omkring 1840 indfattede i fire stel. Hvert sæt kan ombygges til en tiara, et halssmykke, øreringe og brocher. De bæres stadig ved nytårskure af monarkens gemalinde, der alene har ret til at bære dem — de forlader kun kælderen for natten og aldrig landet.

The Tapestries of the Great Hall

Riddersalens gobeliner

Bjørn Nørgaards historie-gobeliner Bjørn Nørgaards historie-gobeliner

The most ambitious work of Danish royal patronage in the modern age hangs in the Great Hall of Christiansborg: seventeen monumental tapestries designed by the painter Bjørn Nørgaard and woven at the Manufacture des Gobelins in Paris. Commissioned in 1990 as a gift from the people of Denmark to Queen Margrethe II on her 50th birthday, they were inaugurated in the year 2000.

Together they tell a thousand years of Danish history — from the Vikings to the future — in a vivid, contemporary idiom that owes equally to medieval illumination and to the comic strip. They are, in every sense, the Bayeux Tapestry of the modern Danish kingdom.

Det mest ambitiøse danske kongelige mæcenatværk i nyere tid hænger i Christiansborgs Riddersal: sytten monumentale gobeliner tegnet af maleren Bjørn Nørgaard og vævet på Manufacture des Gobelins i Paris. Bestilt i 1990 som gave fra det danske folk til dronning Margrethe 2. på hendes 50-års fødselsdag og indviet i år 2000.

Tilsammen fortæller de tusind års danmarkshistorie — fra vikingerne til fremtiden — i et levende, samtidigt formsprog, der står lige meget i gæld til middelalderens illuminationer og til tegneseriens billedsprog. De er, i enhver forstand, det moderne Danmarks Bayeux-tapet.

Flora Danica

The Danish flora, plate by plate Den danske flora, tallerken for tallerken

Begun in 1790 as a diplomatic gift from Christian VII to Catherine the Great of Russia — a project so ambitious that Catherine died before the service was finished — the Flora Danica dinner service is still produced today by Royal Copenhagen. Each piece is hand-painted with a different plant from the great botanical atlas Flora Danica, the inventory of every wild plant of the realm. The original 1802 service remains at Rosenborg.

Alongside it are kept the royal table silver of the Oldenburg kings, including the great state cutlery of Frederik IV and the silver wine-coolers used at every royal banquet from the Restoration of 1660 until tonight.

Påbegyndt i 1790 som diplomatisk gave fra Christian 7. til Katarina den Store af Rusland — et projekt så omfattende, at Katarina døde, inden stellet var færdigt — produceres Flora Danica-spisestellet stadig af Royal Copenhagen. Hver enkelt genstand er håndmalet med en plante fra det store botaniske atlas Flora Danica, fortegnelsen over hver vild plante i riget. Det oprindelige stel fra 1802 står stadig på Rosenborg.

Ved siden af opbevares Oldenborg-kongernes bordsølv, herunder Frederik 4.s store statsbestik og de sølv-vinkølere, som har stået på hvert kongeligt bord fra Restaurationen 1660 til i aften.