Historien

A garden has been attached to Bangsbo estate-house since the 15th century, when it had the status as one of the region’s most important estates; at that time, it would have been a kitchen garden with cabbages and herbs, as well as areas with medicinal plants, fruit trees, and decorative flowers.

The garden has always been a part of the Bangsbo estate and reflected contemporary interests. In the 1800’s Bangsbo was considered an idyllic place, to which aspiring poets visited to find peace and quiet. The garden at Bangsbo has undergone constant change, depending upon the different owners and fashions popular in each period.

The earliest-known garden plan is from 1812, in which the garden is represented as a renaissance-style garden with a central axis drawn at an angle from the main house. In 1891, the house is acquired by an editor, Johan Knudsen, who energetically went about renovating the estate, whilst only vaguely respecting the garden’s original design and history. The central path disappeared, and a winding path was created with a mound of rocks on the southern side and a pavilion (The Tea-house) to the north; a wooden bridge over the moat (designed by a famous Danish architect named Bindesbøll) connected the house with the garden.

After the second world war, Frederikshavn town council became the owner of the estate-house and the adjacent area that is now Bangsbo Botanic Garden.

The idea to create a botanic garden at Bangsbo was conceived by three garden-interested locals, who considered the gardens adjoining the estate-house deserving of more, than just lawns and annual-flower beds.

The initial idea for a botanic garden was presented, and accepted, at a planning-meeting of Frederikshavn town council. So began the development of Bangsbo Botanic Garden, Frederikshavn.

On the 29th of November 1988 an independent institution, Bangsbo Botanic Garden, was inaugurated, with the aim of restoring the park at Bangsbo to its former floral splendour, as well as creating a botanical garden in the adjacent area, for the benefit of the people of Frederikshavn and visiting tourists and as an educational resource for schools and other educational establishments.

Plans for the new areas of the garden were drawn by the landscape architect, Frans Ameys from Aalborg, and Frederikshavn town council approved these plans on the 23rd of August 2004.