Pierre de Montfaucon built the Château de Saint-Mesmin around 1370. In the Middle Ages, the castle was surrounded by water moats. The Montfaucon family fortified the castle by adding the imposing keep crowned with a walkway. It is then accessed by a drawbridge.
This castle was besieged only once in the Middle Ages. Later it was besieged during the French Revolution in 1796. Today Château de Saint-Mesmin is open to the public.
Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.