Giesegaard

Giesegaard is a manor house and estate located in Ringsted Municipality in Denmark. The estate is owned by Michael Brockenhuus-Schack and has been owned by members of the Schack/Brockenhuus-Schack family since 1736. The oldest part of the main building was built in 1751 for countess Anna Sophie Schack but it was later heightened with an extra storey in 1847 and adapted in 1873 and again in 1904. It now appears as a two-storey, white-plastered building with two octagonal towers and black-glazed tile roofs. The estate covers 3,115 hectares of land.
History.
1668–1719: The Giesegaard family.
A village named Skivede was until the 1670s located where Giesegaard stands today. It belonged to the crown until 1668 when Frederick IV ceded it to Frederik Gieses in exchange for land elsewhere. Giese was originally from Husum. He also acquired other land in the area before establishing the manor of Giesegaard in 1683. After his death in 1693 Giesegaard was taken over by his widow Margrethe Elisabeth Schönbach and son Christoffer Joachim Giese.
1719–1736: Scavenius and Gabel.
Christoffer Joachim Giese died in 1719 and his mother had to cedethe estate to her debitor Christian Scavenius. In 1720, he sold it to Christian Carl Gabel. He had been appointed to Chief Secretary of War ("overkrigssekretær"). He expanded the estate considerably through the acquisition of more land. In 1823, he fell out of favour at the court and was dismissed. He ran into economic difficulties and was, in 1726, the same year thatr he was appointed to prefect of Ribe County, forced to obtain a loan from countess Anna Sophie Schack.
1736–present: The Schack family.
In 1736, Anna Sophie Schack took over Giesegaard when Gabel was unable to pay his debts. She founded Stamhuset Gieasegaard in her will with the effect that the land could not be sold or divided between heirs. The land was heavily mortgaged and Stamhuset Gieasegaard could therefore not be established until 1766.
Christian Frederik Schack, the son of Otto Didrik Schack and Anna Ernestine Frederikke født Gabel, inherited the estate in 1760. Knud Bille Schack, inherited Stamhuset Gieasegaard in 1790. He died on a journey to Karlsruhe in 1821 and GGieasegaard was then passed on to his nephew, Henrik Adolph Brockenhuus-Schack, who was created a count the following year.
Brockenhuus-Schac's son Knud Bille Brockenhuus-Schack inherited Gieasegaard in 1847. His son, Adolph Ludvig Brockenhuus-Schack, became the owner of Gieasegaard in 1892.
Stamhuset Giesegaard was dissolved in 1922 as a result of "lansafløsningloven" of 1919. Æarge areas of land was also ceded to the state and divided into smallholdings. Frederik Knud Bille Brockenhuus-Schack inherited the remaining part of the estate in 1924.
Architecture.
A one-storey main building was built for countess Anna Sophie Schack in 1750–51. It was heightened with an extra storey in 1843. Both sides of the building feature a triangular pediment. The building was in 1873 adapted to the Renaissance Revival style by Theodor Zeltner. He constructed two copper-clad towers, changed the roof and added sandstone decorations. The building was restored under supervision of the architect G. Tvede in 1904. Most of the decorations were removed and the walls were dressed. Most of the associated farm buildings are from 1902
Today.
Gieasegaard covers 3115 hectares of which 1,013 hectares is farmland and 1,499 us woodland.´Ub April 2017, DR estimated the value of the estate to DKK 330 million.
Cultural references.
Gieasegaard has been used as a location in the feature films "Komtessen" (1961), "Mazurka på sengekanten" (1970)
"Rektor på sengekanten" (1972) and "Pigen og drømmeslottet" (1974).