Bergen was a large, busy and rich town at the end of the 18th century. Amongst the aristocracy it was popular to build luxurious countryside retreats for entertaining, recreation and perhaps a bit of farming. Around 1800 there were as many as 70 of these retreats in the surroundings of Bergen. The finest of them all was Damsgård, which unashamedly presented its splendid, castle-like facade towards both the shipping lanes and the town.
Damsgård was built in the 1770s for Minister of War Gyldenkrantz. From 1983 to 1993 major protection, conservation and restoration work was carried out. The interiors provide an outstanding example of a Bergen country retreat from the 18th and 19th centuries, and the garden has been recreated to show what it might have been like in the 1780s, with authentic ornamental plants, vegetables, herbs, bushes, trees, statues and drinking fountains.
Damsgård Manor is the most important example of Rococo architecture in Norway, and is perhaps the best preserved wooden building in Europe from this period.