Rosenborg

HISTORY OF ROSENBORG CASTLE 137 side. A drawing in the British Museum(l) depicts the tower in course of erection. I have succeeded in finding the ac­ counts for the brickwork and masonry. In its original form this part was composed so that the winding stair itself only began on the first floor, two outer sets of steps, one on each side, leading up to it, so that the king’s guests need not go into the ground floor, from which the private winding stair of wood formed the means of com­ munication between the floors. The guests were received in the magnificently ornamented gallery between the tower and the main building, and from there passed either into the first floor apartments or up to the long hall („The Ball Room“ ). In the ground floor of the tower was a vaulted plate-room. In 1758 the outer steps, which had become dilapidated, were removed, and the winding stair was continued down to the ground floor, from which one now ascends. This is briefly the history of Rosenborg Castle. In it, King Christian the Fourth himself plays the chief part, be­ cause during the whole of the first period (1606—1624) he was his own architect, and in that imaginative and practical manner that reveals the born genius on this domain, suc­ ceeded at every phase of the work in creating an harmo­ nious — and finally an extremely beautiful whole. Not only do we now know that Rosenborg was begun as a small, unpretentious castle in a large garden, and that it was con- (1) Reproduced in D. F. Slothouwer, Bouwkunst der nederlandsche Renaissance in Denemarken, 1924, pi. facing p. 136.