Rooms for Science and Pastimes

Early 19th century

These rooms tell the story of the so-called ‘wild’ Count Jørgen Scheel of Gammel Estrup, who was one of the European elite in the early 19th century.

This was the age of enlightenment, characterised by a spirit of rationality and experiment and by the advent of the romantic movement, which placed the emotions, the individual, self-realisation and nature at its heart. The nobility therefore did not concern themselves solely with farming the land and managing the forests, but also had a great interest in history, literature, geology and astronomy. An interest that was reflected in house interiors, furnishings and culture. Study rooms were established that contained a wealth of books, marvellous instruments, globes and ethnographic curiosities. Living rooms were furnished and fitted out so they lived up to the new bourgeois family ideal, with room for both children and adults.

The Rooms for Science and Pastimes consist of The Count’s Study, containing Jørgen Scheel’s many books, instruments and curios, The Yellow Room, which is fitted out as a living room for the whole family, Von Thienen’s Chamber, which functioned as a guest room for relatives and friends of the family, and the Oxblood Passage, which links the rooms.