Vilhelmsborg 3.44

Vilhelmsborg is the National Equestrian Centre of Denmark and a listed building in Aarhus Municipality. The main manor building was completed in 1842 and was listed by the Danish Heritage Agency on 3 March 1945. The manor lies 10 km. south of Aarhus, by Beder-Malling in Mårslet Parish, and is today owned by Aarhus Municipality along with 288 hectares of adjoining land.In the 19th century H. C. Andersen lived on the Vilhelmsborg estate on several occasions and some of his fairy tales are said to have been inspired by the view of Mols from his window. Johan Skjoldborg also frequented the estate and his novel Gyldholm depicts the hardships of farm hands by the end of the 19th century.HistoryThe Vilhelmsborg estate lays on the site of the former farm Skumstrupgård and the small village of Skumstrup. The farm was elevated to the status of manor at the end of the 15th century and over time it gradually absorbed the lands and farms surrounding it until the village of Skumstrup ceased to exist. In 1660 Gabriel Marselis was given the farms Moesgård, Havreballegård, Stadsgård and Skumstrupgård as payment for debts incurred by the crown during the Second Northern War. In 1673 Marselis' son, Vilhelm Güldencrone, inherited Skumstrupgård and had it elevated to a barony. The name Vilhelmsborg means "Vilhelm's Castle" in reference to Vilhelm Güldencrone and the manor stayed in the Güldencrone family for generations, into the 20th century. In 1919 political reforms altered many of the inherited titles and their privileged positions resulting in the Güldencrone family leaving the estate and selling it in 1923.