Geopark: Brahetrolleborg

The manor Brahetrolleborg is located by the main road between Nyborg and Faaborg. It is surrounded by hills and large wetlands in a Late Weichselian dead-ice landscape setting and with its very tall spire it is visible from far away. Brahetrolleborg was originally called Holme Kloster (Holme Abbey). It was built in 1172 and was the only Cistercian abbey on Fyn and also the best conserved of its kind in the Nordic countries.

 Throughout its time of operation, this abbey was one of the smallest Danish Cistercian abbeys. In addition to consolidating the power of the Crown in the area, the abbey was likely also used as resource niche in the hilly and swampy landscape, namely iron products.

With the exception of the church, the current buildings date back to the 1400s, and they are very well preserved except for a few minor changes. The wings are constructed of bricks, which was a product that the area was rich in due to its easy access to clay and fuel. During the Reformation the abbey transferred to the Crown and subsequently came into private ownership.

In the 1700s, the estate was owned by the Reventlow family and became the cradle for many of the changes that took place in connection with the agricultural land reforms. Thus, various schools and production facilities are located south of the estate, and the village Korinth has emerged from the villages Fleninge and Gærup under the protective wings of the estate. The particular names of the farms are a unique aspect of the area. They arose at the same time as the reforms and were, according to oral tradition, created by Countess Sybille Reventlow and her associate, the poet Niels Baggesen.