Roskilde Museum
The Sugar House
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| Location | Roskilde, Denmark |
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| Coordinates | 55°38′33″N 12°05′00″E / 55.6425°N 12.0834°ECoordinates: 55°38′33″N 12°05′00″E / 55.6425°N 12.0834°E |
| Visitors | 47m120 |
| Director | Frank Birkebæk |
| Website | www.roskildemuseum.dk |
Roskilde Museum is a local history museum based in Roskilde, Denmark. The museum, which is run by the municipalities of Roskilde, Frederikssund and Lejre, has eight separate branches. The main branch in Roskilde, on the corner of Sankt Olsgade and Sankt Olsstræde, is based in two listed buildings, the Sugar House and the Liebe House, a former sugar refinery and a former merchant's house respectively.
The sugar house was built by a consortium led by Johan Jørgen Holst as a facility for the processing of raw sugar from the Danish West Indies. The other investors, a combination of businessmen from Copenhagen and local merchants, were members of his family.
The sugar company also had its own ship, Roskilde Ark. After pressure from the sugar company the city agreed to construct a new pier which enabled the ship to continue all the way to Roskilde. Larger vessels had formerly only been able to travel as far up Roskilde Fjord as Frederikssund where goods had to be transferred onto smaller boats. Roskilde Ark, also known as the Sugar Ship, brought raw sugar and coal to the factory and shipped processed sugar to ports on Zealand where it was sold. The company could not sell its sugar in Copenhagen and other towns that had their own refineries and only in portions of at least 20 pounds.
In 1764, the factory employed a bookkeeper, a sugar master by the name of Niels Andersen Breegaard, four workers, three boys, one farmhand and a woman who catered for the other employees. The factory complex also included a building with residences for the employees.
The "Sugar Ship" called on most harbours on Zealand. A dispute between Holst and Breegaard led to Holst's withdrawal from the company in 1765. A few years later, in 1768, it was sold to Johan Conrad Kersting and Peter Wasserfall. In 1774 the factory had 7–10 employees and processed 300 to 400 barrels of raw sugar (each containing 400 kg) a year. Shortly thereafter the production began to drop and the factory had to close in 1779.
The property was then acquired by Jacob Borch, a merchant, who used the sugar factory as storage for his grocer's shop in Algade.
In 1804,Jacob Borch constructed a large house on the site next to the sugar factory. It replaced a modest house with timber framing and a straw roof dating from the 17th century. The name of the building refers to the Liebe family that owned the property for two generations later in the century.
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