The Hermitage Palace

This guide to the Hermitage Palace in Copenhagen's deer park explains why King Christian the Sixth had royal architect Lauritz de Thurah build it between 1734 and 1736: so he could dine entirely alone, with a mechanical table that sank through the floor and rose again already laid with wine and roast meat. It follows the hidden winches that hoisted full courses up from the kitchen below, and what happened to that machinery by 1759. Look up at the dining room above you, still gilded in silver, silk and marble.