New Open Access article in Architectural Histories
Sanne Maekelberg and Peter Thule Kristensen behind new article "Unfinished Business? Informal Privacy and the Private at the Perpetual Construction Site of the First Christiansborg Palace (1740-1794)"
The article is Open Access and available here
Abstract from Architectural Histories
On 26 November 1740 the Danish royal family took up residence in the new Christiansborg Palace, located at the center of Copenhagen. As was the case for many other European court residences, construction, especially on the interiors, continued well after the inauguration of the palace. In this paper we look at examples of different notions of privacy and how the spatial organization of the first Christiansborg Palace contributed to the living experiences of the residents. While the surviving floor plans show a magnificent residence, the actual living situation must have differed considerably from the ideal evoked by these widespread drawings. The inventories depict a residence that is only partly used, with empty rooms and unfinished spatial sequences. The most ceremonial routes in particular, including the great hall or the king’s staircase, were incomplete. The hierarchical structure established by the succession of rooms was hence nullified by shortcuts and actual accesses and connections. Court instructions and reports of foreign visits give more insight into these accesses that were ad hoc or improvised.
Architectural Histories is the international, blind peer-reviewed scholarly journal of the European Architectural History Network (EAHN) that creates a space where historically grounded research into all aspects of architecture and the built environment can be made public, consulted, and discussed. The journal is open to historical, historiographic, theoretical, and critical contributions that engage with architecture and the built environment from a historical perspective. Architectural Histories also encourages authors to submit articles on non-European topics, including regions, themes, time periods, characters, works, and fields, that have been traditionally excluded from the canon of architectural history.