www.avrosys.nu - Copyright-free Scandinavian Archive Prints

Norway as seen by 19th Century Artists

Tönsbergsfjord to Jarlsberg, seen from the shore at Slottsberget. Woodcut from 1869.

Tönsbergsfjord to Jarlsberg, seen from the shore at Slottsberget. Woodcut from 1869.

Jarlsberg is a manor just outside of Tønsberg in the Norwegian Vestfold Fylke. It was originally conferred on 1673 to Peder Schumacher Griffenfeld, who made Count. His domains got the originally the name Griff Bohnsdorf County. This was Norway's second and last county. According to the Noble Act of 1821, Jarlsberg County ceased to exist when the last Danish-Norwegian Count Peder Anker Wedel Jarlsberg died in 1893.

The estate, called Jarlsberg Manor, was built as Griffenfeldgård, 3 kilometres northwest of the centre of the town of Tønsberg. Griffenfeld got into disgrace in 1676. King Christian V of Denmark, had him imprisoned and handed over the County to his half-brother, Ulrik Fredrik Gyldenløve. In September 1683 Gyldenløve sold the manor to the German noble man Baron Gustav Wilhelm von Wedel, who also became the new Count. Wedel is the ancestor of the Wedel-Jarlsberg family.

The palace was built up again in 1699 after a fire. In 1812, Count Johan Caspar Herman Wedel Jarlsberg rebuilt the castle in the empire style as it stands today. Around the palace there were arranged big, but simple garden and parks areas.

The Romanesque stone church Sem kirke from around 1100 is situated not far from the palace. Near the church there is a small funerary chapel for the Wedel family.

Below: The Jarlsberg Manor. Photo 2007 by Tom A. Paulsen from Wikimedia Commons. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. In short: you are free to distribute and modify the file as long as you attribute its author(s) or licensor(s).

This print, scanned in the very large size mentioned above is sold as a JPG-file for € 10 or $ 10. Mail me at henriksson@avrosys.nu. Ref. no 100845.