Liselund

Lore & Background

Antoine de Bosc de la Calmette, a Huguenot whose family moved from France to Holland, arrived in Denmark and was naturalized as Danish nobility in 1776. In 1783, he was appointed prefect of Møn and bought six hectares of land on the eastern coast. Inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau's philosophy of naturalism, he designed the park as a summer residence for his wife Lisa, away from their main home at Marienborg. The park was landscaped with drained, cleared, and leveled ground, planted with rare trees, and featured lakes and contrasts such as Devil's Ravine with its Devil's Bridge.

Reader's Guide

Liselund's significance lies in its embodiment of Romantic English gardening in Scandinavia, created as a personal and poetic gift. The park includes several exotic buildings—the Swiss House, Chinese Summerhouse, and Norwegian House—each designed for specific atmospheres. The old manor house, Liselund Gammel Slot, is a thatched French neoclassical building designed by Andreas Kirkerup, with interiors by Joseph Christian Lillie. The park also contains ornamental monuments dedicated to love and friendship, such as Shrivemonumentet. Hans Christian Andersen visited in 1829 and was inspired by the park's features. During World War II, Baron Niels Rosenkranz, who lived on the estate, led a Danish resistance group that rescued Jews. The park and manor are now administered by the National Museum of Denmark.

Did You Know?

• The park's name, Liselund, roughly translates to 'Lise's grove'.
• The Norwegian House has sham logs made of rounded planks nailed to timber-framed walls, not true log construction.
• A monument called Shrivemonumentet, dedicated to friendship, was placed in the park after its creation in the 1790s.
• Hans Christian Andersen's poem 'Klintekorset paa Møen' was inspired by a large wooden cross at the edge of the cliff.