The Orangery at Gisselfeld

The world exhibition in London in 1851 sent a wave of inspiration through Europe with its impressive glasshouse "Crystal Palace". In the second half of the 19th century several glasshouses were built in the big coties of Eueope. In Denmark the tendency was marked. Copenhagen's fourth and present Botanical Gardens was laid out in 1872-1874 - it had a spectacular greenhouse complex in cast iron, glass and wood.

Gisselfeld, manor at Zealand (history about G. see blog Church and Manor )

Greve Danneskiold Samsøe acceeded as director at Gisselfeld in 1869. His wife was from England, and his heart was for flowers and plants. He started a great modernization at the estate, fx. the two wooden bridges leading across the moat to the castle were replaced by walled bridges, Peder Oxe's old defense wall and the Bråby Gate were broken down and the Paradehuset was in 1876 built after a sketch by architect Herholdt.

The Paradehuset is built up upon a long wall, which reflect and absorbs the sunbeams. The glass clad main facade is facing shouth and leans with with its supporting iron constructions up against this wall. The house as a whole is protected.

Paradehuset today: 
In the orangery is the plant collection of Gisselfeld and a sale of plants and pots, primarily the emphasis is placed on historical plants, which all grew in Denmark when the house was built.

In the earlier orchid room are now plants for sale. The selection varies acc.to season and it includes:
little myrtles
scenting geraniums ( 25 various types)
unusual begonies
exotic orchids
winter-flowering camelias
white and blue Agapanthus
olive trees with fruit
several spiceherbs, medical herbs and perennials.

In the old pot room is a selection of handmade pots, antique as well as new and other things like:

reprints of 1800s botanical maps
little books about medical herbs and historical plants from fx New York Botanical Garden
handpainted botanique porcelain from France
scented candles with plant-scent from all over the world

baskets from the Mediterranea like Syria and France 
and maps and envelopes in gift boxes.

History in short:
An orangery is a building from the 17th to the 19th centuries in a classicising architectural form. The orangery was similar to a greenhouse or conservatory. A place where citrus trees were often wintered, though not expected to flower and fruit. The orangery originated from the Renaissance gardens of Italy, when glass-making technology enabled sufficient expanses of clear glass to be produced. Orangeries became symbols of status among the wealthy. The glazed roof, which afforded sunlight to plants that were not dormant, was a development of the early nineteenth century. Today it is a rare thing to fine an orangery and they are mostly in othe old castle gardens.

As early as 1545 an orangery was built in Padua, Italy.The first orangeries were not as well thought-out or as ornate as our modern versions; most had no heating and in the very cold nights had to have open fires to keep them warm. In England, John Parkinson introduced the orangery to the readers of his Paradisus in Sole (1628), under the heading "Oranges". The trees might be planted against a brick wall and enclosed in winter with a plank shed covered with "cerecloth", a waxed precursor of tarpaulin. "For that purpose, some keepe them in great square boxes, and lift them to and fro by iron hooks on the sides, or cause them to be rowled by trundels, or small wheeles under them, to place them in a house or close gallery" — which must have been thought handsomer than the alternative.

The Orangerie at the palace of the Louvre 1617, inspired imitations that culminated in Europe's largest orangery, Louis XIV's 3000 orange trees at Versailles, whose dimensions of 508 by 42 feet (13 m) were not eclipsed until, from the development of the modern greenhouse in the 1840s, were quickly overshadowed by the architecture in glass of Joseph Paxton, who was notable for his design of the Crystal Palace, and his "great conservatory" at Chatsworth House, which was an orangery and glass house of monumental proportions.

The orangery, however, was not just a greenhouse but a symbol of prestige and wealth and a feature of the garden, in the same way as a summerhouse or a "Grecian temple". Owners would conduct their guests there on tours of the garden to admire not only the fruits within but the architecture without. Often the orangery would contain fountains, grottos, and an area in which to entertain in inclement weather.












photo Gisselfeld, Zealand, Paradehuset, June 2012: grethe bachmann