[2] The original half-timbered manor house was built in 1660-4 by Ernest Günther, the first Duke of Augustenborg, after he bought the village of Stavensbøl and demolished it for the land.

With its yellow-painted walls and blue-tiled roof, the wings gradually increase in height up to the central section.

Inside a beautiful entrance hall was finished in white-painted stucco by the Italian decorator Michel Angelo Taddei (1755–1831).

Taddei also worked on the interior of the two-storey Baroque chapel in the building's northern wing, adding a Rococo altarpiece with an integrated pulpit as well as decorations along the vaults and walls of the nave.

[5] Hans Christian Andersen spent two weeks at the palace in the autumn of 1844 and wrote The Little Match Girl when he visited the castle.

[6] During the First Schleswig War (1848–50), Christian August II, the last duke to live in the palace, left Augustenborg as a result of his close relations with Germany.

Not visible from the outside, it covers the entire two-storey annexe of the north wing and is the successor of an older chapel, from 1671, which was demolished before the construction of the castle.

The garden area in front of the palace building is framed by trees and a sculpted hills, which is accessible by trails.