Aalborghus Castle

Distance: 133.51 Km

kongeligeslotte.dk |

Aalborghus Castle is situated in beautiful green surroundings by the harbor front. All year round, it is possible to take a walk in the beautiful castle park and visit the underground passages. - Also the dungeon.

Denmark's last civil war "The Count's Feud" was hard on many of the country's castles, and Aalborg's old stone and wood fortifications were no exception. At the end of the rebellion, only a ruin remained where a royal castle had once stood.

King Christian III therefore chose to move the fortification from its location at the city's southern border to a more appropriate location right up the Limfjord. The new fortress was to be able to withstand shelling from cannons, which the old castle had yielded to.

New and better fortress

The new location by the Limfjord, together with the construction of a deep moat and cannon rounds at the corners of the castle, was to ensure that the fortress could be defended against both the enemy from the lake, as well as enemies coming in from Aalborg's south side. With this, the king also secured himself against rebellion from the citizens of the city, so that the story of "The Count's feud" could not be repeated. The castle was completed and ready for occupancy in the early 1550s.

There are doubts as to whether Aalborghus was defended by round sections on all four corners, but remains of round sections have certainly been found on the north-western and south-eastern corners of the fortress. Unfortunately, neither traces of these nor the water-filled moat are seen today. On the other hand, the old ravine terrain stands out clearly. Of the original castle, only the east wing remains today. The current north wing towards the harbor was built by Christian IV in the 1630s, and the detached building to the south dates from 1808-09.

Changing functions

The prevailing view is that the castle was already declared unsuitable as a fortification by Rigsmarsk Otte Krumpen during an inspection in 1555. The reason for this was to be found in the fact that it would be too easy for the enemy to cut off the castle's water supply at Peder Barkes Å. However, accounts from 1591 show that maintenance repairs were carried out on the roundabouts of the castle.

Therefore, it is doubtful that the closure of Aalborghus Castle as a fortification should have been total. The castle later became the headquarters of the king's sheriff in North Jutland and after the introduction of autocracy also for the county governors - a function the castle also has today, where it is used by the State Administration.

Access to the castle

There is no public access to the buildings, but you can move around the courtyard and the surrounding complex, where the original ramparts are visible. It is possible to visit the casemates and the dungeon during the summer.

Pedestrians have access to the castle courtyard and the park at 8-21 all year round.
In the period 1 May - 1 October, there is access to the dungeon at 8-15 Monday-Friday and to the underground passages every day at 8-21.

The casemates

Among other things, the casemates were built as corridors that formed quick access roads from the castle courtyard to the external fortifications. These times have also been in use during other times of unrest - here we mean World War II.

Here the German soldiers used the casemates to test their gas masks. On these occasions, all the valves into the holes were completely shut off, after which tear gas bombs were thrown at the soldiers. The soldiers whose gas masks were defective had to lie fallow in the courtyard until the effects of the gas subsided.

The dungeon

The dungeon has no doubt been a nice place to stay. The damp and claustrophobic space is decorated without windows, and only with small drilled air holes in the heavy door that led into the dungeon itself. It was used as an alternative to the dungeon under the city's western city gate.

It is also possible to visit the casemates and the dungeon during the summer.

Read more about Aalborghus Castle on their website...