History
The history of the mansion Vilhelmsborg goes back to 1400-century, where the king's esquire "Orm" had Vilhelmsborg as his manor farm.
Foundations from the original main building has been found near the present and the foundations are even today visible.
The main building, as it appears today, is built in 1843-44 by Baron Ove C.L.E. Gyldenkrone (the name is compounded of the Dutch and the Danish coins). The building style is klassicism and it has already as new really been a buliding that was noticed - not only in Denmark, but also abroad.
A description of Vilhelmsborg has been found in an old German book about architecture and buildings. The main building and the farm buildings are described as a beautiful and imposant example of a mansion with farming.
The first farm buildings, built at the same time as the manor house, burned down after a few years. They were replaced by the present buildings in a Gothic inspired building style, which is unusual - both in its architecture, dimension and construction. The farm buildings were built in 1856-57 and attracted a lot of attention, in Denmark and in the whole of Europe. The architect behind the foresighted construction was Gustav Martens from Kiel.
Today the buildings and a part of the surrounding areas are protected.
Vilhelmsborg and the estates Marselisborg, Constantinsborg, Moesgaard and several royal mansions/farms in the south area of Aarhus were in the late 1600-century transferred to the Dutch merchant Gabriel Marselis as a payment for a big loan to the Danish State.
The Dutch merchant led two of his sons, Vilhelm og Constantin, run these properties. Later the sons were knighted and they took another last name, Gyldenkrone. The Gyldenkrone-generation was in charge of the farming of Vilhelmsborg for 300 years, whereafter the estate was transferred to the former tenant of Vosnæsgård, Lars N. C. Hviid in 1923. The Hviid-family was in charge until the municipality of Aarhus got in possession of Vilhelmsborg in 1973. The farm buildings were then in a very poor condition and the municipality invested 11 million Danish Kroner in an exterior renovation of the farm buildings. The estate lay after this renovation empty for about 12 more years.
Through a public competition held in 1985 the municipality of Aarhus asked the population to offer suggestions for use of the beautiful mansion. One of the suggestions, that was prepared by the Danish Riding Society, Danish Varmblood and the local Aarhus Riding Club, was to establish a national equestrian centre with the purpose to get a common education- and trainingplace for horses and people in the hippological sector.
The municipality of Aarhus kindly for free made the beautiful mansion available in a 30-year period for The Vilhelmsborg Association, which was formed in 1985. The association provided through sponsorships and donations the necessary capital to renovate and refurbish the buildings, and in 1989 the first horses moved into the stables at The National Equstrian Centre of Denmark. The architectural part of the renovation has beautifully been done by architect Ib Møller, Møller & Grønborg A/S.
Vilhelmsborg has now for over 20 years been run as the main centre for equestrian sport and horse breeding in Denmark, and in August 2011 this was celebrated with a big Jubilee Show in the main show arena.