page_title: Corselitze
section_title: Classen and his trust
hierarchical_section_title: Corselitze / History / Classen and his trust
context_page_description: Corselitze, or Korselitse, is a manor house on the island of Falster in the south-east of Denmark. The Neoclassical house was built in 1777 by Johan Frederik Classen who at the time of his death founded Det Classenske Fideicommis which owns the estate today.
context_section_description: The cavalry district was dissolved in 1766 and split up into 10 manors which were sold by auction. Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel bought Corselitze and nearby Carlsfelt, probably acting as a straw man for his friend and colleague Major general Johan Frederik Classen who took over the properties two years later. Classen was a wealthy industrialist with close ties to the king and the political elite. He had just reacquired Frederiksværk, a foundry in the north of Zealand, which he had co-founded and then sold to the king in 1761.
  After Classen's death in 1792 the property, along with the rest of his estate, was passed on to the Classenske Fideikommis, a philanthropic trust which he created and still owns today. In 1947 the trust also acquired Fuglsang and Priorskov on the neighbouring island of Lolland.
caption: Johan Frederik Classen
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