Hviodore

This was the home she had built with her sister Alexandra. It still exists and is situated on the coast road that leads up to Kronborg. It has had some extensions added to the orginal. The garden though is still quite delightful. It is hardly as large as any of the Romanov palaces in Russia though it is far from being a tiny cottage. It is closed to the public. You will find plenty of information and photos on Hvidore in the book listed below. It also included other residences that Maria Feodorovna lived in.

Empress Maria Feodorovna's Favourite Residences in Russia and Denmark, by Galina Korneva and Tatiana Cheboksarova, Liki Rossi, St.Petersburg, 2006

More pictures inside Hvidore
http://books.google.com/books?id=e_fJD9z3SrkC&pg=PA238-IA1&dq=Hvidore+home+of+Empress+Maria+in+Denmark&ei=26ydR5GpA5O0yQSOjpmvCQ&sig=HufpvF4g1wNzAAoAz17S0UC1nIQ

Can someone find pictures of villa Hvidøre, where the Doweger empress Maria Feodorovna spent the last years of her life? If you have pictures of villa Hvidøreтук, please post them here! Thank you!

I think you will find if you do a search of earlier threads photos of Hvidore.

Hvidøre, as it used to be:


and as it is today:


(from the website of the present owner, Novo Nordisk )

Viv

I have always been curious about Hvidore and how the former empress lived during her final years.  Naturally, after the grand palaces of Russia this was certainly a change.  However, did she feel happy at Hvidore?  Did she consider it a mansion (as it surley was and is)?  Did she feel it befitted her station in life?

From the book A Royal Family --

Hvidore was like a cottage compared to the palaces they usually lived in, and the sisters had to flip a coin to divide what few rooms there were.  Still, it would suffice, because, as Empress Dagmar said, "What am I to do with my 400 rooms in Gatchina Palace?  I never use more than two."

The Flight of the Romanovs says that Marie/Dagmar moved to Hvidøre permanently after her Nephew, the King of Denmark, complained about the electricity bills she was running up in his home, Amalienborg Castle.  The house had a permanent staff of 30 servants, but I do not know how many rooms it had.  Apparently it was possible to walk to the beach using a tunnel that passed under the road running parallet to the shore.  Almost every room in the house had a view of the sea.

One major problem was the house had been intended as a warm weather residence and did not have any fireplaces or heating stoves (from the picture I've seen, the fireplace with the Danish motto "East or West, Home is Best" inscribed on it was apparently a fake).  Especially with the wind blowing across the frigid water in winter, the large windows would become a definite liability.  Apparently, electric fireplaces had been installed, but they weren't equal to the Danish winter, and in the winter of 1927-1928 kerosene heaters were brought in, and even they couldn't keep the place warm.  I can't help but wonder what the king would have said about the bills for the electricity needed to keep those electric fireplaces going...

Various views of Hvidore:
http://www.vognstyrer.dk/Sporvogne/DKS/Linje4/Foto/Hvidore1.jpg
http://www.vognstyrer.dk/Sporvogne/DKS/Linje4/Foto/Emiliekilde1.jpg
http://www.danskebilleder.dk/data/grafik/reg/b715700/a0876-14332-print.jpg
http://www.danskebilleder.dk/data/grafik/reg/b715700/a1967-10565-print.jpg
http://www.danskebilleder.dk/data/grafik/reg/b715700/a0831-11314-print.jpg
Interior Stairs:
http://www.danskebilleder.dk/data/grafik/reg/b715700/a1968-10881-print.jpg

A site on Hvidore that appears it is now a conference centre. There are photos of Empress Marie but I had problem to access and I am not sure if they are still building the site:
http://www.hvidoere.dk/documents/home_page/document/index.asp

There is also a book on The Kitchen at Hvidore:
http://www.scandinavia-connection.co.uk/index_files/Page760.htm

Can anyone confirm the use of Hvidore today?

Joanna

The book "Royal Palace & Gardens" by Mima Nixon, London, 1916 has five chapters on Hvidore:

http://ebook.lib.hku.hk/CADAL/B33654803/

Joanna

Various views of Hvidore:
http://www.vognstyrer.dk/Sporvogne/DKS/Linje4/Foto/Hvidore1.jpg
http://www.vognstyrer.dk/Sporvogne/DKS/Linje4/Foto/Emiliekilde1.jpg
http://www.danskebilleder.dk/data/grafik/reg/b715700/a0876-14332-print.jpg
http://www.danskebilleder.dk/data/grafik/reg/b715700/a1967-10565-print.jpg
http://www.danskebilleder.dk/data/grafik/reg/b715700/a0831-11314-print.jpg
Interior Stairs:
http://www.danskebilleder.dk/data/grafik/reg/b715700/a1968-10881-print.jpg

A site on Hvidore that appears it is now a conference centre. There are photos of Empress Marie but I had problem to access and I am not sure if they are still building the site:
http://www.hvidoere.dk/documents/home_page/document/index.asp

There is also a book on The Kitchen at Hvidore:
http://www.scandinavia-connection.co.uk/index_files/Page760.htm

Can anyone confirm the use of Hvidore today?

Joanna

As far as I know it still is the Danish based pharmaceutical Novo Nordisk Company Conference Center. I went to Klampenborg five years ago to see Hvidøre. The original cottage is still quite recognizable. I didn't get in but it seems not much of the original rooms remain apart from a Hall.

At least the Dowager Empress had a place of her own to go to after the revolution. It must have been hard on the others with no home outside Russia and no capital as such to purchase one unless you had a few jewels that you managed to get out of the country. Apart from the Empress did other members of the family already own property abroad they could flee to?

Thanks Daniel. I was confused on the name Novo Nordisk as I had remembered Hvidore as diabectic clinique. It is now own dedicated site: www.hvidoere.dk.

Joanna

There are a few more pictures of Hvidøre as it is today on Flickr.  Just go to Flickr and search Hvidore (with an English "o").

http://anichkov.spb.ru/Pictures/big2517571159174963.jpg


Was the structure on the roof, to the left of the central tower, used as a winter garden?

I was there a couple of years ago and looks fabulous. Also visited the Russian church in Copenhagen along with the GD Olga museum at  near where she used to live. Wonderful trip.