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Funen, Denmark
Egeskov Castle
This floating castle appears to be from an enchanted fable, but in actuality it is Europe's best preserved Renaissance water castle.
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When Count Jean-Antoine Harbuval de Chamaré built his Rococo palace in 1774, he was dreaming of Versailles, not velocipedes. Yet today, a restored baroque granary in the château’s garden houses the first Czech bicycle museum, complete with century-old velocipedes, carbide lamps, and prizes from the earliest races organized in the Czech lands. It’s an unlikely pairing: ornate rocaille seashell motifs in the château proper, penny-farthings and race trophies a short walk away in a converted grain store.
The château has since found a second calling as a filming location, its untouched Rococo interiors registered with the regional film commission for anyone shooting period drama. The bicycle museum has quietly done the same work from the sidelines: several machines from its collection have appeared on screen in Czech films, including Protektor and Vratné lahve, playing background props to stories set decades after Count Harbuval de Chamaré’s Versailles ambitions had already gone out of fashion. The count built a summer palace modeled on French taste. What outlasted the taste was a shed full of bicycles.
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It stands beneath the ruins of an older castle. Stone from the original Gothic fortress, which once stood on the hill directly above the present château, was reused in the construction of the new residence. In a literal sense, the château was built from the remains of its predecessor.