ANTIQUITIES AND NATIONAL MONUMENTS IN DENMARK. 307 



the past few years to send out several committees of inquiry, composed 

 each of an archaeologist and a draughtsman, in the different divisions of 

 the kingdom, where they have met the heartiest reception. Many relics 

 have been already bought by the state, and others have been offered 

 gratuitously by the farmers. Besides the arclueological charts, which 

 have been prepared, sketches of many objects have been made, which 

 will be of inestimable value in the future study of art in Denmark, and 

 which, in a practical point of view, will be useful in the restoration of 

 ancient edifices which are now undertaken in our kingdom to a previously 

 unknown extent. 



II. Private individuals, as well as the state, are exhibiting great ac- 

 tivity in the restoration of ancient forts and castles, churches and 

 other edifices of the middle ages and modern times. This movement 

 has manifested itself in the last twenty years as the outgrowth of the 

 development of artistic taste, of a national sentiment, and of the relig- 

 ous life, and in concert with the continued improvement in business. 

 While formerly little account was made of the architectural style appro- 

 priate to different edifices, the directory of monuments is obliged to 

 consider it in all those restored by the state, and, moreover, has had, in 

 this respect, all the co-operation necessary on the part of public institu- 

 tions and great corporations. As to the restorations undertaken by 

 private individuals the directory has abstained from acting officiously, 

 but has ordinarily met with a good degree of success. It is quite rare 

 that it has failed in its war against false taste, which prevails only in 

 the petty communities. 



Among the great civil structures, for the restoration of which the 

 state has made provision during these late years, we may cite: the an- 

 cient tower called Gaasetaarn (goose tower), of the fourteenth century, 

 forming part of the ruins of the castle of King Valdemar the Great, at 

 Vordinborg, in Seeland, to the expenses of which a private benefac- 

 tor has generously contributed; the remarkable castles of Seeland, in 

 the style of the Renaissance, called Rosenborg, Kronborg, and Freder- 

 iksborg, burned in December, 1859. For the last, however, the expense 

 has been borne by the King, Frederick VII, or covered by a national sub- 

 scription. While speaking of royal castles, it should be mentioned that 

 the government has also caused to be restored and adorned in a proper 

 manner nearly all the royal sepulchres throughout the kingdom. 



But incomparably more important is the restoration of churches, which 

 has been going on everywhere, so to speak, although many of them, on 

 account of their extent, could not be rebuilt without great difficulty 

 and expense. The establishment of the Reformation (1536), which de- 

 prived the churches, and above all the cathedrals and monasteries of 

 the greater part of their revenues, for a long time brought architecture 

 into neglect. Avery few of these edifices remained in the possession 

 of the state, the greater part fell into the hands of those who paid the 

 tithe, and many were abandoned to private individuals with the tax 



