Baroniet Rosendal

Baroniet Rosendal Review

In 1658 a wealthy Norwegian heiress, Karen Mowat, wedded a Danish nobleman, Ludvig Rosenkrantz, and the two were given a farm at Hattberg, tucked away in a valley west of Folgefonna, as their wedding present. They built a castle on the land, and a few years later the king of Denmark and Norway at the time, Christian V, gave the estate status as a barony, the only one of its kind in Norway. The estate was bequeathed to the University of Oslo in 1927, and today the barony is a combined museum, theater, and gallery with its own bed-and-breakfast on the premises. The castle is in fact a small-ish mansion, decorated in a variety of styles spanning the barony's history over 250 years and surrounded by a rose garden and stunning scenery. In summer there are concerts, lectures, and performances in the mansion or the courtyard. In mid-July the Theatre Set-Up company from London performs Shakespeare plays in English.