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The Carlsberg Foundation

The Carlsberg Foundation is one of the world's oldest commercial foundations. Here, ambitious brewing enterprise blossoms side by side with support for the finest science, scholarship, art and culture. The Foundation's Chairman is not just head of the Carlsberg Foundation but also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Carlsberg Group. It has been this way since 1876.

The Carlsberg Foundation was established in 1876, when J.C. Jacobsen secured the future of his brewery by transferring it to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. Since then, the Carlsberg Foundation has overseen the Carlsberg Group, ensuring that the brewery is run with the focus on innovation and high-quality products, and supported basic research within the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. All in accordance with the Brewer’s wishes and vision. J.C. Jacobsen was particularly far-sighted when, in 1876, he created a Deed of Gift transferring Carlsberg to the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.

At the time, the Academy served as a meeting-place for the Danish Elite researchers, as is the case  to this very day. J.C. Jacobsen's decision was ground-breaking visionary and lasting. His idea was that the Carlsberg Foundation, with its roots in science, should ensure that, even after his death, Carlsberg would strive to continuously improve beer brewing and produce the highest-quality products. When J.C. Jacobsen dies during a visit to Rome on 1887, the Carlsberg Foundation assumes ownership and management of Old Carlsberg. The Carlsberg Group is currently the only global brewer owned by a commercial foundation.

The Carlsberg Foundation has two main objectives:

 

  1. To be an active investor with a controlling interest in Carlsberg A/S, thus ensuring a decisive influence on the Carlsberg Group’s strategy.

  2. To support basic scientific research within the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities through the awarding of grants for socially beneficial projects.

Vision

The Carlsberg Foundation’s task is to manage the legacy of brewer J.C. Jacobsen in such a way that his thoughts and ideas are reflected and respected, and so that the Foundation’s Charter is duly applied and adapted to modern principles, thereby helping set the direction for the company, science and society.

Frederiksborg Castle and the Museum of National History

The castle has been home to the Museum of National History since 1878. The museum was established at the initiative of J.C. Jacobsen, and is run today as an independent department of the Carlsberg Foundation.