Christiansborg Palace, on the islet of Slotsholmen
in central Copenhagen, is the seat of the Danish Parliament, the Danish Prime
Minister's Office and the Danish Supreme Court. Also, several parts of the
palace are used by the monarchy, including the Royal Reception Rooms, the
Palace Chapel and the Royal Stables. The oldest surviving part of the Palace
are the riding house and stables for the Royal White Horses.
The palace is house of Denmark's three supreme
powers: the executive power, the legislative power, and the judicial power. It
is the only building in the world that houses all three of a country's branches
of government. Christiansborg Palace is owned by the Danish state, and is run
by the Palaces and Properties Agency. We couldn't get into the Parliament since
Sunday are the big elections in Denmark and unfortunately the Royal family were
not at home so we couldn't drop in for lunch. Darn it.
The present building, the third to be built on the
site, is the last in a series of successive castles and palaces constructed on
the same site since the erection of the first castle in 1167. Since the early
fifteenth century, the various buildings have served as the base of the central
administration; until 1794 as the principal residence of the Danish kings and
after 1849 as the seat of parliament.
The palace today bears witness to three eras of
Danish architecture, as the result of two serious fires. The first fire
occurred in 1794 and the second in 1884. The main part of the current palace,
finished in 1928, is in the historicist Neo-baroque style. The chapel dates to
1826 and is in a neoclassical style. The showgrounds were built 1738-46, in a
baroque style.
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