Scan Magazine | Conference of the Month | Denmark
The former cloister garden, now known as The Pyramid.
Conference of the Month, Denmark
An ancient castle for modern times What do you get when you marry a castle with 400 years of history and a determined lady looking to begin the next chapter of her life? You get a beautiful, ever-evolving oasis at Sostrup Castle in eastern Jutland, a former monastery that has entered a new stage of life too, as a home away from home for anyone who needs it – everyone from nuns and families to business people and wedding parties. By Louise Older Steffensen | Photos: Sostrup Slot
Kirsten Bundgaard Swift was visiting her Danish family for Christmas 2014 after 30 years in the US, when she happened to hear about a local Renaissance castle for sale amidst the forests and beaches on Djursland, just 30 minutes north of Aarhus airport. She thought a visit would make for a fun excursion during the seasonal gluttony, but Bundgaard Swift had not reckoned on falling in love with the place. “We were shown around by a former nun, Sister Christiane,” she recalls, “and Sostrup had this sense of both adventure and tranquillity about it, which I thought many people could benefit from in their busy lives.” Sostrup was built by the noblewoman Sophie Bille between 1599 and 1606. Legend holds that it will sink into the moat that surrounds it one Christmas 122 | Issue 111 | April 2018
Eve and as a precaution, the later owner, Jørgen ‘the Wild Count’ Scheel, stayed in a nearby village every Christmas. The nobility and their flights of fancy left Sostrup in 1943, though numerous traces of their lives and belongings remain. The castle became a camp for war refugees, then a boarding school, and finally a Cistercian convent in 1960. “It’s important to recognise that places like Sostrup have valuable histories and a constancy to them, of course, but also that they’ve never been stagnant: they survive by constantly evolving,” Bundgaard Swift adds. The sisters’ beautiful Maria Hjerte Church, which now hosts weddings and concerts, and spacious, elegant convent add modern, minimalist accommodation and event rooms to Sostrup’s numerous older nooks and crannies.
The 14th-century Boulder Building rooms, meanwhile, have been upgraded with modern AV-technology and can accommodate 30 to 120 people each, while The Pyramid, the former cloister garden, seats up to 300 conference or 220 private dinner guests beneath its spectacular new glass ceiling. The castle itself is open to groups and Sostrup’s overnight visitors, and houses the New Nordicinspired dining hall. “I believe we can help out Sostrup by opening it up to anyone who’d benefit from its joy and wish to explore this huge old place. If you get lost, my top survival tip is that the Virgin Mary statue points to the kitchens.”
Web: www.sostrup.org Facebook: Sostrup Slot Denmark