Unfinished Business? Informal Privacy and the Private at the Perpetual Construction Site of the First Christiansborg Palace (1740–1794)

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 the daily use of actual accesses and connections. Court instructions and reports of foreign visits give more insight into these accesses that were ad hoc or improvised.