Moesgård

Moesgård
Main manor building
General information
Architectural style	Neoclassical
Location	Aarhus Municipality, Denmark
Completed	1778

Moesgård is a former manor house and a listed building in Aarhus Municipality. The current buildings were completed in 1778 and was listed in the Danish registry of protected buildings and places by the Danish Heritage Agency on 17 July 1918.

The manor and estate is situated in the district of Højbjerg, 10 kilometers south of the city centre of Aarhus. Administratively it belongs to the Mårslet Parish and is today owned by Moesgård Museum. The museum cooperates with the School of Culture and Society from Aarhus University on the subjects of history, archaeology, anthropology and oriental studies with most teaching and lectures being held in the manor buildings. In 2013 the university took over the buildings when a new museum building was completed and most activities related to the museum moved there.

The original Moesgård and its owners can be traced back to the late 14th century but the area was likely farmed much earlier. The site of the current manor is believed to be different from the original farm which was likely moved and rebuilt after it burned down during wars with Sweden in the mid-17th century. In the mid 19th century traces of a courtyard was found about a kilometer south-west from the current manor and it is believed this is the location of the original farm. The name "Moesgård" can be literally translated to "bog farm" which hints at a bog in the area which is consistent with archaeological evidence showing signs of wetlands in that area.

In 1660 Mogens Friis owned Moesgård along with the manors Østergaard and Skrumstrup in his large land holdings south of Aarhus. In 1662 he was granted new lands north of the city as compensation for losses incurred during the Dano-Swedish War of 1658-1660 and he established the county of Frijsenborg. Mogens Friis sold his manors south of the city to Gabriel Marselis who had been granted land holdings in the area by the crown in payment for war debts.