Koldinghus Castle on the East coast of Jutland in the town of Kolding, it was for many years an important castle in Denmark serving both as border defence against the Duchy of Schleswig and as a royal residence.
Officially founded in 1268 by Danish king Erik V it is not unlikely that the site had been fortified earlier times. Names such as Arenborg, Ørneborg and Middelorg has also refered to the site.
During the troubled times of the early 14th century there were a number of rebellions and the nobility forced the king to demolish a number of castles in Jutland to restrict his power however the castle in Kolding was saved due to its role as border protection. In 1451 it was renamed as Koldinghus. But the castle had with more closer integration of the Duchy of Schleswig and Denmark lost much of its military value and the moat was given up.
In 1710-1712 when pox raged in Copenhagen the royal family took up residence in Koldinghus. As the fortification was no longer considered adequate the king decided instead to turn the castle into a proper baroque residence which meant a radical change such as the many big windows and a park.
The castle burned down in 1808 when Spanish troops were billetted in Denmark as part of Napoleon´s support to the Danish planned invasion of southern Sweden to retake provinces lost in . The Spanish troops unused to the Danish cold weather heated up the stoves so much that fire caught on into the roof beams next to the chimneys. The main focus in the night of March 29th 1808 was saving the men in the castle rather than the castle itself and thus the castle was severely damaged and it was assessed it was too costly to restore and with the Duchy of Schleswig at that time being much closer tied to Denmark had little use as border garrison.
For a long time the castle was left in ruin but during the 19th century some attempts were made to rebuild parts of it. But in the 1930s rebuilding reall picked up and the castle can now be visited.
Playing with History 