Thott Mansion

{{Short description|Mansion in Copenhagen, Denmark}} {{Infobox building | name = Thott Mansion | native_name = Thotts Palæ | image = Kongens Nytorv 4, København.jpg | image_alt = | caption = Thott Mansion seen from the square | former_names = | alternate_names = | pushpin_map = | pushpin_map_alt = | map_caption = | building_type = | architectural_style = [[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical]] | structural_system = | cost = | location = [[Copenhagen]] | client = [[Niels Juel]] | owner = [[France|State of France]] | current_tenants = | landlord = | location_country = [[Denmark]] | coordinates = {{coord|55|40|52|N|12|35|14|E|type:landmark_region:DK|display=inline,title}} | altitude = | construction_start_date = 1683 | completion_date = 1686 | inauguration_date = | demolished_date = | height = | diameter = | other_dimensions = | floor_count = | floor_area = | main_contractor = | architect = [[Nicolas-Henri Jardin]] | structural_engineer = | services_engineer = | civil_engineer = | other_designers = | quantity_surveyor = | awards = | url = | references = }} The '''Thott Mansion''' ([[Danish language|Danish]]: Thotts Palæ) is a listed [[town house|town mansion]] located on [[Kongens Nytorv]] in [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]]. It was built for the naval officer [[Niels Juel]] in the 1680s but his Baroque mansion was later adapted to the [[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical]] style by the French architect [[Nicolas-Henri Jardin]] in 1763. The building takes its current name from the Thott family, who owned it from 1750 to 1930. It now houses the [[Embassy of France, Copenhagen|French embassy]].

==History== [[Image:Niels Juel (Jacob Coning painting).jpg|130px|thumb|left|Niels Juel, painted by [[Jacob Coning]]]]

===Niels Juel's mansion=== Originally known as the Juel Mansion, the house was built from 1683 to 1686 for the Danish naval officer [[Niels Juel]]. It was the second building which was completed on [[Kongens Nytorv]] which had been laid out by [[Christian V of Denmark]] in the years following his coronation in 1670 inspired by the [[Place des Vosges|royal square]]s of [[Paris]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kobenhavnshistorie.dk/bog/kko/k/kko_k-27.html|title=Kongens Nytorv|language=Danish|publisher=Selskabet for Københavns Historie|accessdate=2010-01-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022003721/http://www.kobenhavnshistorie.dk/bog/kko/k/kko_k-27.html|archivedate=2007-10-22}}</ref> Niels Juel's victory in the [[Battle of Køge Bay (1677)|Battle of Køge Bay]] had won him fame and wealth. His new mansion was designed by [[Lambert van Haven]] as an L-shaped building in the [[Baroque architecture#Netherlands|Dutch Baroque style]].<ref name="Thotts Palæ">{{cite web|url=http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Danmarks_geografi_og_historie/Danmarks_geografi/Danske_slotte_og_herreg%C3%A5rde/Thotts_Pal%C3%A6|title=Thotts Palæ|language=Danish|publisher=Gyldendal|accessdate=2009-08-30}}</ref>

After Juel's death in 1697, Christian V arranged for his official mistress and mother to five of his children, [[Sophie Amalie Moth]], to take over his mansion.<ref name=Berlingske>{{cite web|url=http://www.berlingske.dk/kultur/soeheltens-palae-paa-kongens-nytorv|title=Søheltens palæ på Kongens Nytorv|language=Danish|publisher=Berlingske|accessdate=2010-01-07}}</ref> She immediately passed it on to their eldest son, [[Christian Gyldenløve]], who in about 1700 extended the building with a third wing.<ref name="Thotts Palæ"/> The house stayed in Gyldenløve's family for two more generations, although it was rented out to foreign [[Diplomacy|envoys]] during some periods.<ref name=Berlingske/> The owners included Frederik Danneskiold-Samsøe, Gyldenløve's second oldest son, who played an important role in the development of the [[Holmen, Copenhagen|Nyholm]] naval base and dockyard.

Countess Anne Sophie Schack acquired the mansion from Count Frederik-Christian Danneskjold in 1734.

===Thott era=== [[Image:Thotts Palæ.jpg|thumb|left|The Thott Mansion in c. 1875]]

The house was then sold at auction. The buyer was [[Otto Thott]], who gained a reputation for being one of the most learned and competent statesmen of the 18th century in Denmark. He spent his summers at [[Gavnø]] in the far south of [[Zealand]] and the winters in his mansion at Kongens Nytorv. In 1763, he commissioned [[Nicolas-Henri Jardin]] to adapt the building to a more modern style. The mansion housed Thott's extensive collections. At the time of his death, he had a book collection of 138,000 volumes and the largest private art collection in Denmark. His will provided that the latter be sold at auction. The catalogue contains 4,500 items of which 1,000 are oil paintings.<ref name=Renovering>{{cite web|url=http://www.ambafrance-dk.org/Renovering-af-det-Thottske-Palae|title=Renovering af det Thottske Palæ|language=Danish|publisher=French embassy in Copenhagen|accessdate=2013-02-27}}</ref>

After Thott's death, the mansion stayed in his family. The most notable of his descendants to own the house was [[Tage Reedtz-Thott]]. Later the department store [[Magasin du Nord]], located on the other side of the square, had a window exhibition in the mansion's ground floor and a tea garden opened in the courtyard.<ref name=Berlingske/>

===French ownership=== The property remained in the ownership of the Thott family until 1930 when it was purchased by the French State and turned into the French Embassy in Denmark.<ref name="Thotts Palæ"/>

In 2012, the French State decided to put the mansion through a major restoration under the leadership of [[Frédéric Didier]], head architect at the [[Palace of Versailles]].<ref name=Renovering/>

Niel's Juel's original mansion was an L-shaped building in the [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] style. The facade stood in blank red brick decorated with [[pilaster]]s. Nicolas-Henri Jardin dressed the brick and adapted the building to the [[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical]] style. The triangular pediment above the main entrance towards Kongens Nytorv replaced a belvedere. The sandstone [[festoon]]s below the first floor and the [[Baluster|balustrade]] with vases and statues on the roof also date from his alterations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://indenforvoldene.dk/kongens%20nytorv%204.html|title=Kongens Nytorv 4|language=Danish|publisher=indenforvoldene.dk|accessdate=2010-01-04}}</ref> The pilasters' original [[Tuscan order|Tuscan capital]]s can still be seen on the Bredgade facade while they have been replaced by composite [[Ionic order|Ionic]]-[[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] capitals facing the square.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.astoft.co.uk/kbh/palaeuk.htm|title=Palatial Mansions in Copenhagen|publisher=Astoft|accessdate=2013-02-27}}</ref>

It has previously been assumed that Jardin was also responsible for adapting the interiors. However, examination of Countess Shack's private letters has shown that transformation of the interior actually happened a few years earlier during her ownership to designs by the French architect Christophe Jacob Vallois.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ambafrance-dk.org/Det-Thottske-Palaegasvaerket|title=Tag med på en virtuel rundtur på Den Franske Ambassade |publisher=French embassy|accessdate=2013-03-03}}</ref>

==List of owners== *(1671-1697) [[Niels Juel]] *(1697-1699) [[Sophie Amalie Moth]] *(1699-1703) [[Christian Gyldenløve]] *(1703-1720) [[Dorothea Krag]] née (1) Juel (2) Gyldenløve *(1720-1728) Christian Danneskiold-Samsøe *(1728-1747) [[Frederik Danneskiold-Samsøe]] *(1747-1754) [[Frederik Christian Danneskiold-Samsøe]] *(1754-1760) [[Anna Sophie Schack|Anne Sophie Rantzau gift Schack]] *(1760-1785) [[Otto Thott]] *(1785-1797) [[Holger Reedtz-Thott]] *(1797-1862) [[Otto Reedtz-Thott (1782-1862)|Otto Reedtz-Thott]] *(1862-1922) [[Tage Reedtz-Thott]] *(1922-1927) [[Otto Reedtz-Thott (1872-1927)|Otto Reedtz-Thott]] *(1927-1930) [[Axel Reedtz-Thott]] *(1930-present) [[France|State of France]]

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Thotts Palæ}} * [http://www.ambafrance-dk.org/ La France au Danemark] * [https://arkivet.thorvaldsensmuseum.dk/artikler/thorvaldsen-blandt-amatoer-skuespillere Source]

[[Category:Buildings and structures of the Danneskiold-Samsøe family]] [[Category:Buildings and structures of the Juel family]] [[Category:Buildings and structures of the Thott family]] [[Category:Houses completed in 1686]] [[Category:Houses in Copenhagen]] [[Category:Neoclassical architecture in Copenhagen]] [[Category:1760s architecture in Denmark]]