Look right in front of you at that long, red brick building with its orderly rows of white-framed windows and the distinct blue double doors set into an elegant archway. Welcome to the main branch of Roskilde Museum. I am absolutely thrilled to share the history of this place with you! You are actually looking at two incredible heritage buildings fused together. Right here is the Liebe House, and just attached is the older Sugar House, built in yellow brick. You can check your app to see a great view of that iconic yellow brick facade as it looks further down the street.
Imagine the rich, sweet smells filling the air here back in the seventeen sixties. A savvy local man named Johan Jørgen Holst brought together a group of investors to build a massive refinery right on this spot. They processed raw sugar shipped across the ocean from the Danish West Indies. The company even commanded its own dedicated ship, the Roskilde Ark, which locals lovingly nicknamed the Sugar Ship. Before this operation began, large vessels had to unload miles up the fjord. But Holst and his partners convinced the city to build an entirely new pier so their massive ship could sail its cargo of raw sugar and coal all the way into Roskilde.
Inside the walls, a sugar master managed a bustling, sticky operation. A busy crew processed up to four hundred heavy barrels of raw sugar every single year. Today, the yellow brick Sugar House, with the memorial plaque resting above its gate, holds a very special title. It is the only surviving building of its exact kind in all of Denmark!
Now, let us look back at the red brick building in front of you. In eighteen oh four, a wealthy merchant named Jacob Borch tore down a modest seventeenth-century timber home to build this grand structure with its distinctive half-hip roof. It later became known as the Liebe House, named after the prominent family who lived here for two generations. When the last owner passed away in nineteen hundred, he generously gifted the entire estate to the city. Spanning over a century, this historic comparison reveals how the historic estate has been beautifully preserved and integrated into the modern Roskilde Museum complex.
By nineteen twenty-nine, the museum officially opened right here on the ground floor, eventually expanding to take over the whole complex. If you want to step inside and explore the incredible artifacts, the museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from ten AM to four PM, though they do close on Mondays.
Enjoy the museum's historic exterior. When you are ready, we can head to the next stop.
