Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Glücksburg Castle





Went to Glücksburg Castle with Sarah. Glück means Luck and/or Happiness. Really interesting and authentic.. several photos of Princess Mary and The Prince of Denmark. Opened to the public in 1925. Currently a 5 Euro entry per person.

Spent about 2 hours meandering through the rooms, halls and surrounds.

Just before leaving we found the dungeon with genuine torture equipment. Quite frightening.
- stretching rack
- thumb and leg screws
- seat of nails

The seat of nails looked the worst.. blacksmith fashion 2inch pegs with about a 3/8" base tapering to nothing at the point! Savage stuff. (rusty too, although I wondered if it was crusty old blood stain...)

Old furniture a real treat. 'Typical' castle wardrobes (bloody huge wooden boxes with some detailed inlay the work of a true craftsman. Several settee style couches and many old silver mirrors. Some exquisite oil paintings both portraiture and landscape.

Took many photos outside of the castle and grounds but photos inside are basically forbidden. I did manage to grab a couple of sneaky pics, especially of the kirche (the church or chapel).

The kirche is in pristine condition and the handcrafted wooden pulpit is similar to others I found in Holland. A curved stairway leads to the pulpit proper and is something of a cockpit for the congregation where the priest or minister would stand aloft, fairly eight feet above the seated heads of his congregation!

The old wooden pews are pretty much the same as most cathedral pews found in a Catholic church.. not much in the way of comfort. Oh, that's the pipe organ you can see there on the right. I know it's a castle but c'mon, this place seats like less than a hundred sinners.. oh, and (faultless) royalty! ;o)

We're leaving shortly - having stopped for a coffee and cheesecake at a cafè across the road - for Holnis. Holnaes is about 5k's up the road; there's a beach there, restaurant and a few other small attractions.

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