Trøjborg

Trøjborg
	Trøjborg with bridge and archway
Alternative name (s):	Trøjborg Slotsruin
Creation time :	Early 14th century
Conservation status:	ruin
Geographical location	55 ° 1 '17 " N , 8 ° 45' 14.5" E Coordinates: 55 ° 1 '17 " N , 8 ° 45' 14.5" E

The Trøjborg ( German Troiburg ) is the ruin of a moated castle west of Visby in Denmark .

history

The building is surrounded by two moats (the inner one is a moat) and was built on an artificial elevation in the first half of the 14th century. It is about 30 by 30 meters.

The first known owner of the castle was Johann von Limbek († 1355). In its day the castle consisted of a brick tower and a lower building within the moat. In 1407 the facility was sold by Claus Limbek to Queen Margarethe . The queen, in turn, pledged the castle to the diocese of Ribe . The castle and the lands belonging to it remained in his lien until the Reformation . In 1536 it fell back to the Crown without the latter having to redeem the pledge. It was located as a royal enclave in the Duchy of Schleswig .

In 1566 the general Daniel Rantzau received the castle as a fief of Friedrich II as a reward for his work against Sweden in the Three Crowns War . After his death in 1569, his brother Peter Rantzau , who also married the bride Katharina von Damme , who had been left behind , took over the castle. In 1579 he was able to acquire it as property. He had the medieval castle demolished and a new brick-built castle built in the Dutch Renaissance style in its place . The renaissance castle was a four-wing complex with a small courtyard. Stair towers in the corners connected the floors. It resembled the ducal palaces Schloss Hansburg in Hadersleben and the Tönninger Schloss and may also be the work of their master builder Hercules von Obernberg . A reconstruction in the baroque style took place in 1740.

The castle was owned by the aristocrats until 1776, when the bourgeois Gerhard Holst bought it. After his son's death, it was auctioned off to a merchant in 1829. In 1851 his widow sold it to the politician Knud Lausten Knudsen, who had already made a contribution to improving the education of the rural population by founding the first adult education center , Rødding Højskole. He intended to set up a Danish seminary there. Since he could not pay for the necessary renovation work, he tried in vain to sell the castle to the state. Demolition of the once so proud building began in 1854.

During the demolition work, the bridge over the ditch allegedly collapsed, so that the workers could no longer get over to the castle. Therefore, the foundations of the Trøjborg with the south wall and the also still preserved ditch system, which will be overcome with a new bridge to the ruins, still stand today . Only the portal with the inscription was rebuilt. The castle ruins, surrounded by tall trees, are a popular destination for tourists. Apart from a simple rest area, there is no tourist infrastructure on site.