page_title: Skipperhuset
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Skipperhuset / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Coloured drawing from Frederick IV's Atlas showing Frederick's boat on Lake Esrum (1725-1790) which was stationed in Skipperhuset at Fredensborg Palace, Fredensborg, Denmark
context_page_description: Skipperhuset refers to a small cluster of historic buildings including an 18th-century former royal boathouse located in Fredensborg Palace gardens on the southeastern shoreline of Lake Esrum at Fredensborg, Denmark. The buildings are now home to the Lake Esrum Boat Service and a restaurant.
context_section_description: Frederick IV's new Fredensborg Palace was completed in 1722. In 1725, he ordered a boat for use on Lake Esrum from the Royal Shipyard at Nyholm in Copenhagen. The assignment was personally handled by the shipyard's director Admiral Ole Judichær who designed the flat-bottomed boat in the style of a diminutive naval ship. It had two masts, was 15 metres long (23 Danish ells, 1 Danish ell = 63 cm), 3.5 m wide (six ells) and lavishly decorated with flags, pennons and small canons. The king's cabin was six and a half metres long (10 ells), had glazed sides and a royal purple-coloured textile canopy with the king's monogram in silver. The crew consisted of a naval lieutenant responsible for navigating the ship and eight rowers. The boathouse was built in 1725-26 to a design by Johan Cornelius Krieger who had also designed the palace.
  Frederick IV's boat was decommissioned in 1790 but was succeeded by other vessels. In 1866, the complex was converted into a washhouse. The royal laundry had previously been done in Copenhagen but the water in Lake Esrum had a very low content of iron and therefore resulted in less discolouring of white clothes and linen. The washhouse closed in 1954 and the buildings were then used as a storage until 1990-93 when they were renovated by the Agency for Palaces and Cultural Properties.
caption: Frederick IV's leisure boat, hand-coloured drawing from Frederick IV's Atlas, 1859
exif: {}