Threads Through Time

An extraordinary story of art, craftsmanship, and the recreation of a lost royal legacy

Threads Through Time tells the remarkable story of an exceptional artistic and artisanal achievement: the recreation of Christian IV’s tapestries, lost in the devastating fire of 1859 at Frederiksborg Castle. Beginning in 1898, this monumental project unfolded over three decades, as approximately 50 female—often formally trained—weavers created a new series of tapestries for the Great Hall, in collaboration with the renowned Manufacture des Gobelins in Paris.

Bringing to life a little-known chapter of cultural history, the book explores the intersection of decorative arts and women’s history, while charting the renaissance of tapestry weaving in Denmark. The magnificent works are presented here for the first time alongside preparatory studies and in striking detail, accompanied by biographies of the women behind them including Kristiane Konstantin-Hansen, Johanne Bindesbøll, Louise Dahlerup and Betty Månsson. 

Threads Through Time is both a compelling and previously untold story of Danish history and a significant contribution to the growing scholarship on women artists and entrepreneurs, textile art, and the enduring cultural significance of craftsmanship.

Distributed for Aarhus University Press