The Château de Lignières was built in 1654–1660 for the financier Jérôme de Nouveau. The feudal castle on the site was razed in 1653 and François Le Vau constructed the new building on the foundations of the old and retained the old moat and its defensive wall (fausse braye). His designs for the château are preserved in four engravings by Claude Olry de Loriande.
The new corps de logis was built from 1654 to 1656. It was connected to two end pavilions by curved façades.
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.