Christian IV commissioned the castle, replacing an older one that his father Frederick II acquired in 1550. The old building was demolished in 1599. Hans van Steenwinckel the Elder planned the new one, and after his death in 1601 his sons Hans the Younger and Lorenz completed it. The wings date from 1604 to 1609 and the whole complex to around 1620. It stands on three islets in a lake.
The article calls the style Flemish and Dutch Renaissance, in red brick with stepped gables, sandstone decoration and turrets. It calls the complex the largest Renaissance building in Scandinavia. The chapel, consecrated in 1617, holds a 1610 organ with 1,001 wooden pipes.
A fire on December 16, 1859 ruined most of the building, and the frozen lake limited the water supply. Ferdinand Meldahl led the rebuilding, funded partly by J. C. Jacobsen of Carlsberg. A museum opened in 1882 and holds Denmark's largest portrait collection.
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