Kronborg Castle

Kronborg Slot

Kronborg is a Danish castle located in the town of Elsinore. The first fortress was built on the site in the 1420s. At that time, the fortress was called Krogen. The chic castle appeared here by order of Frederick the second. He also gave the place a new name – Kronborg, i.e. “royal castle”. In Frederick’s time, the castle was extremely popular and luxurious. Festivities were organized here, and materials for decorating the structure were brought in from all over the world. Then the castle burned in 1629, survived the rebuilding under Christian the Fourth, was captured and forgotten. However, the real history of the castle is not very interesting to tourists. Travelers to these places are attracted by legends and artistic fictions.

Hamlet’s Castle

Everyone knows that Hamlet is a fictional character, but he also had a prototype. Lived real Hamlet in Jutland and had the same difficult fate. However, for some reason Shakespeare decided to move the action of the play from Jutland to Denmark. He chose Kronborg as the ideal place for his characters to live. Only in the play it is called Elsinore, as the city in which it is located.

Some believe that Shakespeare was never in Kronborg, but described the interior of the castle and some local traditions with the help of travelers’ notes. Therefore, he might not have known that the castle had its own name. Elsinore does not like this version and believes that the writer independently visited the city and its castle. Here and only here he could see a rare plant – ruta. According to the statements of some botanist of the time, this herb did not grow anywhere else, so Shakespeare personally saw it in the castle, and then described in the play. It is true that in the play itself the name of the herb has a double meaning and can mean repentance, it is not for nothing that Ophelia gives this particular plant to Claudius in the hope that he will repent.

.

Nevertheless, whether Shakespeare was here or not, it was Kronborg (and it is quite unequivocal) that he chose as the setting for his famous play. Therefore, travelers enjoy visiting the castle, exploring its rooms and imagining how the tragic events unfolded here.

.

In Kronborg, the play was first performed in 1816. Since then it has been performed within its walls regularly, and for the last hundred years, generally every year. The performances are given in Kronborg’s courtyard on stone slabs. In the play, it was here that Hamlet explained how to act to traveling comedians. Many tourists gather for this spectacle, because it is not often that you get to see “Hamlet” in the place where Shakespeare’s play was performed.

.

Holger of Denmark

Those who are indifferent to Shakespeare’s work come here because of another character, Holger of Denmark. He is a true hero of his country and a legendary figure, it is believed that it was this man who founded the Danish kingdom. And although he was born hundreds of years ago, he is still alive. Holger just takes a nap while his state is safe. He’s chosen a secluded spot in the Kronborg dungeon.

According to legend, he sleeps in iron lats, and his long beard has already managed to grow on the marble table. And although Holger will look like a statue, but if Denmark is in danger, the legendary hero will instantly wake up and save his country. The Danes believe he’s already woken up. And it was in 1801, when the British attacked Copenhagen. It was then that Holberg woke up, turned into an ordinary sailor and saved the country.

The legend is beautiful, but it is actually the fiction of the great storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. He composed the fairy tale “Holger the Dane”, in which he described the adventures of the hero. The writer convinced all Danes that their mythical king will save the country from any danger. But he constantly appears in different guises, so no one and can not realize that the situation saved Holger.

Tourists are at liberty to decide whether to believe in the legendary Holger, but the Danes are sure that he exists. Travelers may well see him, though only in the form of a sculpture in the castle. Here he sleeps leaning on his sword, so that he can jump up at the slightest danger.