Egmont Højskolen GB
Holsatia. 1920érne
Egmont Højskolen. Set fra parken.
Egmont Højskolen med træskulptur
Intro
The Egmont Folk High School is a school for young physically disabled people.
The Egmont Folk High School is a school for young physically disabled people. It is an extremely successful establishment, and people come from all over the country to spend a term or two here.
The present red-brick buildings were constructed in 1960 with a substantial grant from the Egmont Foundation – hence the name of the school.
There is more to the Egmont School, however, than the buildings and the park. In 1996, the school took over Hou Ship and Boatyard on Hou Harbour, and this is where the school’s boats area maintained and repaired. The following year, Hou Water Sports Centre was opened including holiday chalets and a 150m specially constructed pier for bathing and mooring purposes. In 2012, the latest addition to the school was built, namely the large aquatic training centre known as Vandhalla.
Stepping inside the park, you will discover a number of wooden sculptures by the artist Ole Frimand from the nearby island of Samsø. The sculptures are all based on Nordic mythology and include Freya – the goddess of fertility and love, Idun – the goddess of youth with her apples, Odin –the wise king of the gods accompanied by his ravens, and the world of words Ordkloden with associations to freedom of speech.
The building that stood here earlier has an interesting history.
The handsome Villa Holsatia was built in 1884 by the local landowner Emil von Holstein-Rathlou, who had the villa built as a dower house for his mother Julie Sophie von Holstein. Holsatia is Latin for Holstein.
In 1922, a certain Miss Karen Sejersen from the local village of Boulstrup bought Holsatia and converted the main building into a health, rest, and convalescent home for the well-to-do.
In 1946, the Danish Association of Physically Disabled established a holiday home in the villa, and ten years later, the place was bought by Oluf and Lise Lauth and converted into a folk high school and continuation school for physically disabled people by the name of Holsatia Folk High School. The first intake consisted of 40 pupils and there were 10 members of staff to do the practical work as well as the teaching.
However, the old villa finally became too impractical to use as a school for physically disabled people, and so Holsatia was replaced in 1960 by a more modern building with wheelchair access. The name Holsatia, however, still persists here and is the name given to the principal’s home.