Mission
Gammel Estrup’s mission is to preserve, research, and communicate the history of Danish manor houses, making this cultural heritage accessible to all. The museum engages with all aspects of the manor house field—from architecture, landscape, and economy to culture and everyday life—considered from both a national and international perspective.
With high professional standards and research-based knowledge, the museum plays a central role in fostering understanding of the significance of manor houses over the centuries. Its mission also includes creating engaging, relevant, and inclusive experiences, where visitors encounter both the history and the museum staff on equal terms.
Gammel Estrup aims to be a social and cultural focal point in the local community, a national centre for manor house history, and an international partner contributing to the broader European context of Danish cultural heritage.
Gammel Estrup – The Danish Manor & Estate Museum is the national museum for Denmark’s 728 manor houses. The museum works both to preserve and develop the manor house Gammel Estrup and to research and communicate the history of Danish manor houses more broadly.
The museum engages with all aspects of the manor house field, including architecture, landscape, culture, history, agriculture, and economy, from both a national and international perspective. It is a living museum, offering activities and events for all user groups.
Quality, passion, and creativity are hallmarks of the museum. High professional standards in research, research-based communication, and coherence across all museum activities form the cornerstone of its work and reflect its engagement with the significant part of Danish cultural heritage represented by the manor houses.
Visitors encounter the museum with passion, dialogue, and presence. Gammel Estrup is known for fostering both professional and personal enthusiasm for the past and present of manor houses, for a creative and visionary approach to history, and for its willingness to think innovatively within the field.
The museum functions as a social and cultural focal point in the local community, as the national museum for manor house history, and as an international collaborative partner in the manor house field.
Gammel Estrup is also a workplace with high standards, where staff receive continuous professional development and where everyone with commitment contributes to the meaningful project of running and developing a museum for all.
Vision
Gammel Estrup operates based on a ten-year master plan and a five-year action plan, ensuring balanced development across research, communication, collections, and preservation. Its vision is to strengthen the museum’s role as Denmark’s national centre for manor house research and communication, with an international outlook.
In the coming years, the museum will focus on three key initiatives: giving the manor house servants a visible place in history, preserving and interpreting the manor house landscape through new installations and biodiversity initiatives, and developing high-quality learning programmes for children and young people. At the same time, a key objective is to maintain a stable financial foundation, enabling the museum’s long-term work with cultural heritage to continue for the benefit of the public.
Gammel Estrup operates based on a ten-year master plan, which outlines the museum’s work in collections, registration and preservation, communication, and research, as well as a five-year action plan that addresses the practical implementation of the master plan’s objectives.
In the current Master Plan 3.0, the overall goal—achieved in collaboration with institutions both inside and outside the museum, the museum staff, and a wide range of users—is to continue the groundbreaking work Gammel Estrup has undertaken over recent decades in collections, registration and preservation, research, and communication. At the same time, the plan seeks to strengthen Gammel Estrup’s position as a leading institution in manor house research and communication, both nationally and across Europe.
The museum will focus on three major thematic initiatives: manor house employees, the manor house landscape, and communication and education aimed at children and young people.
Research will focus on manor house employees, who for centuries constituted the majority of people living and working on the estates but whose contributions have largely been overlooked in manor house history. These "invisible" servants will be given a place in history and made visible in the permanent exhibition at Gammel Estrup. This includes the extensive work of preserving, restoring, and interpreting the servants’ rooms in the manor house's basement and attic. In parallel, Gammel Estrup will collect and provide access to knowledge about employees across all Danish manor houses and position itself as a leader in the digitisation of manor house history.
The museum will also focus on the historical manor house landscape, from the immediate surroundings of the main building to the larger estate and forest. The manor house garden at Gammel Estrup will be restored and updated, including the romantic garden; new structures, such as a Forester's Cottage, greenhouse, and Ice Storage House, will be established; and communication stations highlighting biodiversity will be created.
Gammel Estrup aims to be a regional centre of excellence in communication and education for children and young people, developing high-quality museum experiences for new audiences. The museum aspires to lead in education in external learning environments and to develop innovative approaches to engaging children and young people with the educational potential of museums.
Alongside these professional goals, a key objective is to secure the museum’s finances and stabilise its operating subsidy, ensuring that Gammel Estrup – The Danish Manor & Estate Museum can continue to be preserved and developed for the benefit of the public.
