Voergaard Slot

Ghosts and Legends

In the cramped dungeons, the air is thick with the past horror and torment and fear-inducing stories of a merciless lady of the manor. Terrifying tales of the greedy Ingeborg Skeel, who murdered the castle’s master builder by shoving him into the moat.

Ingeborg’s despicable deeds still seal her fate. Her tormented soul cannot find peace in the grave and she still haunts Voergaard Slot to this day.

Rosedonten

Voergaard’s most infamous dungeon – Rosedonten – is situated in the oldest part of the castle. The size of the ‘room’ means that an adult man can neither stand up straight nor lie stretched out. There are no light or air holes. 

There is a shaft from the dungeon to a room two floors above, where it is possible to hear what is being said down there.

The wild boar skin

In a display case at the castle lies the skin of a wild boar brought down in the castle grounds during the 18th century. As the wild boar was brought down on the border between Voergaard and Hundslund, a minor feud arose, resulting in a sharing of the spoils. Voergaard got the skin. According to legend, the wild boar skin must never be removed from Voergaard Slot or the entire castle will come crashing down to the ground.

Ingeborg Skeel

There is no doubt that Denmark’s most famous ghost, Ingeborg Skeel, is a regular visitor to Voergaard Slot. There are countless reports of mysterious happenings and sightings of a white lady making her way around the castle at night.

Ingeborg Skeel was an enterprising and highly skilled business woman and therefore despised by a large percentage of the local population. The stories about her evil misdoings are many. She is rumoured to have drowned architect Philip Brandin in the moat to prevent him from building another castle like Voergaard again.

After Ingeborg’s death in 1604, she haunted the castle to such an extent that a priest was called in to perform an exorcism and lay her spirit to rest in a nearby marsh. Despite what we hear about her, Ingeborg is known to have donated a lot of money to poor houses and erected a hospital and a school for the poor people of Sæby.

The bloodstain which cannot be washed off

In the north-eastern tower room, there is a stain on the floor, which is purported to originate from someone killed on that spot. That it is innocent blood that has been shed is evident from the fact that the stain cannot be removed.

The stain was all but forgotten for many years, but when the room was renovated in 1997, the stain reappeared as many years’ varnish was sanded off. No matter how much the floor is sanded, the stain always reappears after a few days.

Rare French Art Collection

Voergaard Slot is brimming with art treasures. With everything from Napoleon’s dinner service to valuable Ming vases, Denmark’s largest private art collection is wide ranging.

Voergaard is not a museum. It is decorated and furnished just as it was by the last owner, Count Oberbech-Clausen. It was he who created the large collection of furniture, antiques, paintings, porcelain and silverware from his possessions in France, including treasures from Louis XIV, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette’s personal effects as well as works by Rubens, Raphael, Goya and El Greco.

The castle’s many rooms are an exciting study of how affluent manor houses were furnished through the ages. Come and see for yourself.

Denmark's Most Beautiful Manor

In 2018, Voergaard was awarded and celebrated as Denmark's most beautiful manor in a voting initiated by Historical Houses. About Voergaard, Historical Houses write: "Voergaard is an outstanding Renaissance building from the 16th century surrounded by Denmark's widest moat and metre-thick walls. The sandstone portal facing east, which you meet when you cross the moat, is the country's most brilliant manor gate, shaped as a triumphal arch and decorated with diadem heads, Doric columns, lions' heads and Frederik 2nd's monogram." The trophy was a tree with a plaquette with the inscription "Denmark's most beautiful manor.”

Experience Voergaard

Voergaard is incredibly beautiful and worth experiencing both in- and outside. You can join one of the guided group tours around the castle. Entrance to the castle park with Denmark's widest moat is free.
 
Every year in July, Voergaard in the Middle Ages comes to life. Experience a swarm of footmen, maids, monks, soldiers, craftsmen and tradespeople at the Medieval Days. People are ferried across the moat to the ferry inn, buy healing water from maidens at the source and enjoy the beautiful song of the monks. Musicians and jugglers entertain and soldiers are trained in single combat. The big trebuchet is fired and the formidable knights fight each other with lances in impressive tournaments. Read more at Medieval Days at Voergaard.