The Birth Home of Karen Blixen (Photo Essay)

Karen Blixen (1885 - 1962), is perhaps best known for her novel Out of Africa, the novel which the movie Out Of Africa starring Meryl Streep is based on.

Blixen was born in 1885, and she started writing during her childhood. Her father Wilhelm Dinesen was an officer in the army, author, landowner and a political figure, and he purchased several Danish countryside properties including Rungstedlund, which is located in the Northeastern part of Sealand.

In 1913 Karen (born Dinesen) became engaged to the Swedish Baron Bror Blixen-Finecke, and she emigrated to Africa. In 1914 the two were married and they embarked on a new journey as coffee farmers in what is now known as Kenya. In 1925 Karen and Bror Blixen were divorced after a very rocky marriage.

In 1931 Karen Blixen returned to Denmark, where she moved in with her mother at Rungstedlund, after she had been financially ruined by her African adventure. Blixen turned her failed adventure and marriage into writing, and in 1935 she published Seven Gothic Tales under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen, and her novel Out of Africa was published in 1937.

Rungstedlund, the birth home of Danish author Karen Blixen was once a well-known Danish inn, which was visited by many Danish public figures, and with its view out to Oresund, the waters seperating Denmark and Sweeden, it is obvious why the inn gained is popularity.

Rungstedlund Inn closed in 1803, and it was later used for agriculture and merged with three other properties. In 1879 Blixens father bought all of the properties.

The Karen Blixen Museum opened in 1991. Karen Blixen was born in this house, and after spending seventeen years in Africa as a Coffee farmer, she returned to Rungstedlund in 1931.

The 40 acres of land that surrounds Rungstedlund has been preserved and turned into a bird sancturary on the request of Karen Blixen. The bird sanctury includes more than 200 bird nest cases, and more than 40 bird species can be seen at Rungstedlund.

Karen Blixen is buried under a colossal beech tree at the foot of Ewalds Hill (named after Danish author Johannes Ewald).

To the West of Ewalds Hill, is the Manor Groove, where Karen Blixen planted trees from all of the manor houses in Denmark, which she had some sort of connection wth.

The Grove, which surrounds Rungstedlund includes many beechtrees that are between 150 and 300 years old.

The information for this photo essay comes from the Karen Blixen Museum.