You might not realize it, but right here in Frijsendal you’re standing on the grounds of Denmark’s very first agricultural school!
The Frijsendal manor, built in the early 1700s, was never meant to be the primary residence of the Friis family, but rather a center for managing their vast estates. The Friis family aimed to improve the land’s productivity by consolidating different properties into a single, efficiently run manor. And in the 1830s, Frijsendal became a major center for agricultural education.
Niels Bygum Christian Krarup, who was the manor’s tenant farmer between 1835 and 1839, saw an opportunity in this setting. He had a background in teaching, and he saw that the practical knowledge of agriculture could be combined with a more theoretical approach. So, he took the bold step of establishing the nation’s first agricultural school here at Frijsendal.
At the time, it was called an ‘agerdyrkningsinstitut,’ which translates to ‘crop cultivation institute’. For three years, students learned practical skills by working in the fields during summertime. They also learned theory during the colder months, studying subjects like physics, land measurement, and animal management.
This vision for agricultural education was so successful that Krarup eventually moved his school to a larger property nearby, and, in 1920, the Frijsendal manor became part of Frijsenborg Gods, the larger estate that it had been a part of all along.
Although the manor’s original structure no longer stands (it was demolished in the 1980s), Frijsendal’s legacy in Danish agricultural education remains strong. This small, rural site was a pioneer in the field, and its story demonstrates the importance of combining traditional practices with a more modern approach to farming. Just as the Friis family once consolidated their lands here at Frijsendal, Niels Bygum Krarup consolidated agricultural knowledge in the form of Denmark’s first agricultural school!