Absalon's Castle
Under Christiansborg Palace lies the proof that Slotsholmen (Castle Islet) has been a key centre of power for the past 800 years. Here you can see the ruins of Absalon’s Castle and Copenhagen Castle.
Copenhagen was in an exposed location. Absalon’s Castle was built to keep the city safe. For two centuries, it stood watch over the city of Copenhagen.
Bishop Absalon
In 1157, Valdemar the Great became king of Denmark and appointed friends and family to key positions of power. Among these trusted men was his foster brother, Absalon, who was installed as bishop of Roskilde and awarded the city of Havn (Port), which occupied the site of present-day Copenhagen.
The city in itself was nothing special, but it was strategically significant, in part because it was perfectly positioned for controlling the trade passing through the Baltic Sea. This provided a lucrative source of revenue, which made the city an attractive target for pirates. To defend the city, Absalon expanded the castle on the small islet in between the islands of Amager and Zealand. From here, it was possible to monitor all movements through the Sound.
Constructed of limestone from Stevns
The ring wall around the castle was constructed of limestone that were shipped to Copenhagen from Stevns Klint, a cliff on the Danish island of Stevns. This gleaming white wall will have been visible from afar and undoubtedly made a majestic impression in its time. The ring wall encircled an interior site with a diameter of about 53 metres. In Absalon’s time, the wall was about five metres tall. It was designed as a so-called core-and-veneer wall with a thickness of 1.5 metres, consisting of an exterior shell, or veneer, with a core of boulders and lime mortar. The limestones that make up the exterior shell are carefully hewn ashlars with half-centimetre joints. The infill consists of boulders, limestone and field stones and was clearly not designed to look impressive, unlike the exterior of the wall.
Defensive castle
Copenhagen was in an exposed location. Although the purpose of Absalon’s Castle was to keep the city safe, Copenhagen was in fact conquered at least three times: in 1245 by King Eric Ploughpenny, in 1249 by the Lübeckers and in 1259 by Prince Jaromar of Rügen. In several places, the ring wall shows signs of repairs and fortifications. One important fortification was the addition of towers. The towers enhanced the defence by making it possible to fire on the enemy from multiple angles.
Today, we can see the remains of two towers. Of one of the towers, only the foundation has been preserved. The towers were built of medieval large bricks at a later time than the ring wall itself. This is most clearly evident in the second tower, where the large bricks are laid against the limestone wall. Named the Baker’s Tower, it was incorporated into the later Copenhagen Castle.
Absalon’s Castle stood before Copenhagen for 200 years. In 1368, a war broke out between the King of Denmark, Valdemar Atterdag, and his enemies. Several areas in Denmark were captured, including the castle by Copenhagen. The following year, the League of Hanseatic Cities decided to destroy the castle. For this task, they commissioned 34 stonemasons to make sure no stone was left standing.