Kronborg Slot

Kronborg became really important because of the Protestant Reformation.  The fracturing of central European power structures made northern European kingdoms relatively more powerful and the Danish association with the Lutherans made them more noticeable.  (You can read something about the history of the castle here, at the English Wikipedia page.)  The castle used to be called Krogen but, to reflect it's new important political, religious, and military significance, it was renamed Kronborg.

Throughout the castle, they had little models of the castle at various stages of development.

As I have pointed out before, Helsingør is very close to Sweden.  The Danes and the Swedes often didn't get along well and, in 1658, the Swedes sacked Helsingør, taking most of their good stuff.  At Kronborg, they have a fair number of displays with replicas or artistic renderings of cool stuff that used to be at the castle but which the Swedes now have.  Jael and I were starting to think that we needed to head over to the Swedish side, just to see all of the cool stuff.

The original fountain on which this model was based was taken by the Swedes.  Doesn't that just seem like an awful lot of work, disassembling and transporting a giant marble fountain?  Maybe I'm just not cut out to follow on the rampaging heels of my forefathers but it just doesn't seem worth the bother, even for such a pretty fountain.

One thing that was particular interesting about this fountain, though, is the little armed figures on the edge of the fountain.  They alternate holding rifles and bows and arrows which is a really fun snap-shot of the technological changes in warfare that were going on at the time.


A lot of the castle was empty.  Just big rooms with paintings or informational plaques on the wall.  Part of this was because they were doing renovation in some places.  A lot of it, as signs kept reiterating, was because of those pesky Swedes.

They did have a lot of scale models and model doll castles, showing what things would have looked like (if those rotten Swedes hadn't come around).  Since the castle was also not well lit, many of my pictures ended up looking really blurry but I will included them anyways because otherwise it would be to much work to describe everything.  I expect that the Swedes took all of the good lamps.  Lousy Swedes.

The Kronborg Castle kitchens--how they would have looked if the Swedes hadn't come and if they were having a party.

Royal apartments, Kronborg Castle

There were a lot of  life-sized shadow shows.  This one shows servants in the kitchen making a meal.

They had a giant box where they had little projection shows projected over a little doll-house set up.  Sometimes, the projections didn't quite line up with the furniture but it was pretty nifty.  We had to wait to take pictures because the whole front of the box (which was probably about 8 feet long) was crowded with little kids who were pretty fascinated by it.

One of the big prizes of the Kronborg collection is the Danish Kings series of tapestries.  Denmark has the oldest royal family in the world (or the oldest continual monarchy, I am not exactly sure, but they are really proud of it).  There were originally 40 tapestries but only 14 are still around and Kronborg has got 7 of them.  The tapestries showed 113 Danish kings.  The Swedes were planning their own series at the same time and they claimed to have 143 kings to put up but that was because they claimed Noah as the founding Swedish king.  (Those Swedes.)  You can read a bit about the tapestries here.

This is King Oluf.  He wasn't that spectacular (because he died as a little child) but he is important because
his mother was Margaret.  She served as Queen Regent and was so beloved (or at least so competent) that,
when her son died and she lost all title to the throne, the Danes kept her on anyways.  She served as queen
for a pretty long time and, in fact, reigned over a united kingdom of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.  She was
the queen around whose story The Copenhagen Connection was woven.

In one of the hallways, right next to a privy, there was a display
about Early Modern plumbing.   There was what appeared to be
a pile of coffee grounds at the bottom of the plumbing model

Jael was excellent to have around good
photo opportunities.

They do Hamlet at Kronborg Castle a lot.  Understandably.  They also do a fair number of other Shakespeare plays as well.  There are a variety of forms for the plays--some traditional, some ballet, some modern, some really, really weird.

The Castle had its very own chapel which was nice, because we went in there when it was raining.  It also had a really pretty organ.  This picture was taken by Jael since mine all turned out really blurry.  Also, it counts as a picture of me.  I am on the left.  

The edges of the pews (though very blurry here) were really neat and colorful.  They looked a lot like Scandinavian barbarian stuff.  In the airport at Copenhagen, there was an art installation with giant faces on the wall that looked (from what I can remember) a lot like this.  I wonder if there is some "thing" about them in Denmark.

The inside courtyard of Kronborg Castle's pretty copper roof.

Kronborg Keep, part two

After Jael posed for wonderful shots with the model, we crossed the moat and went in to check out the castle.  But, before we got to the regular part you had to pay to see, we got to see a bunch more free stuff.  Kronborg Castle was, until 20 or so years ago, still a military outpost.  Since the army left, the old buildings have become kind of an art center and there are loads of galleries all over the place where you could buy stuff and watch it be made.  Nothing was open when we were there but the set-up reminded me a lot of Williamsburg.

There was lots of fun educational stuff as well though.  There was loads of space and, as my guidebook noted, this would have been a great place to have a picnic lunch (had it been above freezing).  There was a series of scale models which showed the growth of the castle over the years.

1420-1500

1500-1585

1585-1749

They also had a giant (and I mean giant) contour map of the coasts of Denmark and Sweden which were near each other along the Øresund.  The map took up the whole front lawn area inside the big gates of the castle area but outside of the inside moat.

Jael is standing on Helsingør and I am taking the picture by København (Copenhagen).

Here, Helsingør is in the foreground and Helsingborg, Sweden, is in the distance.

Standing near the giant map, looking up at the castle over the little, internal moat.

It looks like they had an officers'
training school here.

The Helsingør Garrison, 1425-1991

The old barracks have been turned into artists' studios and storage.

Horse Trough! 

This was what was stored in one of the barracks above.
I have no idea what they are for but the whole room was full of them.

That's Sweden, just across the way!

Walking up to the castle.  See all the cannon?

There were these kinds of hills with doors in them all over the place.  Jael was really hoping
that they were Hobbit holes (they were locked so we couldn't check) but, after we went
through the castle I think we were both resigned to the fact that they were probably just
entrances into the giant maze of underground tunnels which were supposed to help defend
the castle.

They had a bunch of historical plaques up here, as well, pointing out interesting historical information about the castle, the city, and the royal family.

This makes me think "But I'm not dead yet!"
The label reads "Plague victims driven away."

Poseidon and Hermes showed up again, here, around the entrance to the actual castle part of the castle.









These reliefs of ladies holding skulls are over the main entry gate into the castle itself.  This is where I quoted some quite appropriate Shakespeare and where Jael ignored my literary efforts.  I said "Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well" (a slight misquotation of Hamlet, Act V, Scene i) and then I looked up and Jael had gone off somewhere else.  But I promise, I really did quote some Hamlet while I was at Elsinore.

If you click here, you can watch a three minute video about Kronborg Castle.  There isn't that much information on the video but it does have some really pretty aerial views and you get to see a little more of the castle.