Mapping of Denmark’s Manor Houses

The Danish Center for Manor House Research works to map and communicate knowledge about the role of manor houses in the landscape and Denmark’s identity as a country of manor houses. On the site, which is continuously developed and updated, you can get both an overview and detailed insight into the development, history and significance of the manors. The site includes building history and ownership history, information about cultural environments and surroundings, as well as information about the manors' servants and households.

Digital Maps of Manor Houses

In 2014, we launched danskeherregaarde.dk, an online portal that gathers scattered knowledge about manor houses on a single platform. Here, users can gain both an overview and detailed insights into the development, history, and significance of Danish manor houses.

As part of the mapping on the site, historical maps have been prepared of all of Denmark's approximately 700 manors, showing the distribution of manors in Denmark in 1770, 1850 and 1900. The maps provide a visual overview of the manor's changes over time and are available online.

In addition, the site has collected a large amount of thematic material on the history of manors with informative articles on, among other things, nobility, power and splendor, estates and operations, servants and landscape.

In 2017, the center launched a themed website and database of manors in the Central Denmark Region: Herregårdskortet.dk. This was developed in connection with the research project Manors – a European History.

 

Households and servants

In 2025, the center began developing a nationwide database of servants at all approximately 700 Danish manors in order to secure, make available and disseminate the special cultural heritage hidden in the detailed records of the Danish censuses and to systematically activate and develop this material. Read more about the work here.

As an extra layer to danskeherregaarde.dk, information about the manors' total households and their servants has been added in connection with the project. For each manor description, you can find information about this based on censuses from 1787, 1801, 1834, 1850 and 1860.

In collaboration with Danmarkshistorien.dk at Aarhus University (now part of lex.dk), the research center has prepared a theme on Danish manors. This includes the history of the manors, 14 specific manor histories and a selection of source material.