Where is Jason Wolf?: Elsinore, Denmark; September 22, 2000.

These are photos I took while on vacation in Elsinore, Denmark on September 22, 2000. Elsinore is the home of "Hamlet Castle".

Elsinore, Denmark

Helsingør in Danish; in English also known by the name Elsinore) is a city in Helsingør municipality on the northeast coast of the island of Zealand (Sjælland) in eastern Denmark. It is known internationally as the setting of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, whence the spelling 'Elsinore' originated.
The name is derived from *Hals meaning "neck" and thus here also "narrow strait", i.e. the narrow strait (Øresund) between what is now Helsingør and Helsingborg. The Rerum Danicarum Historica (1631) claims that the history of Helsingør can be traced back to 70 BC, but this information is highly dubious. The people were mentioned, as Helsinger (which may mean "the people of the strait"), for the first time in King Valdemar the Victorious's Liber Census Daniæ from 1231 (but they should not be confused with the Helsings of Hälsingland in Sweden). These two placenames show that the Helsinger may have had their main fort at Helsingborg and a fortified landing place at Helsingør, to control the ferry route across the strait.
Before the Middle Ages Helsingør was just a marketplace where people sold goods. About 1200 AD the first church, Sct Olai Church, was built. A number of convents once surrounded the church, but now all that remains is the church building, today the cathedral of the Diocese of Helsingør. Helsingør as we know it today was founded in the 1420s by the Danish king Eric of Pomerania. He established the Sound Dues in 1429 and built the castle 'Krogen', which was made bigger in the 1580s and named Kronborg. The oldest parts of the cathedral of Helsingør date back to the 1200s and tell us that the fishermen's village, as Helsingør was then, was a town of a certain importance. At least, there have always been some form of ferryboats crossing between Helsingør and Helsingborg.
Kronborg Castle is a main tourist attraction. Hamlet has been performed a number of times in its courtyard.
The Swedish city of Helsingborg lies a short distance across the Øresund from Elsinore. European route E55 traverses the two cities; ferries connect the two ends.

Kronborg Castle

Kronborg is situated near the town of Helsingør (immortalised as Elsinore in Shakespeare's Hamlet) on the extreme tip of Zealand at the narrowest point of the Øresund, the sound between Denmark and Sweden. In this part, the sound is only 4 km wide, hence the strategic importance of maintaining a fortress at this location. The castle has for centuries been one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe and was added to UNESCO's World Heritage Sites list on November 30, 2000.
The castle's story dates back to a fortress, Krogen, built in the 1420s by the Danish king, Eric of Pomerania. The king insisted on the payment of sound dues by all ships wishing to enter or leave the Baltic Sea; to help enforce his demands, he built a powerful fortress controlling the sound. It then consisted of a number of buildings inside a surrounding wall.

Kronborg acquired its current name in 1585 when it was rebuilt by Frederick II into a magnificent Renaissance castle unique in its appearance and size throughout Europe.
In 1629, a moment's carelessness by two workmen caused much of the castle to go up in flames. Only the Chapel was spared by the strength of its arches. Christian IV put great efforts into restoring the castle and by 1639 the exterior was once again magnificent, but the interior never fully regained its former glory.
The Swedish conquest of Kronborg in 1658 by Carl Gustaf Wrangel demonstrated that the castle was far from impregnable. Afterwards, the defences were strengthened significantly. From 1688-90, an advanced line of defence was added called the Crownwork. Shortly afterwards, a new series of ramparts were built around it. After their completion, Kronborg was considered the strongest fortress in Europe.
From 1739 until the 1900's, Kronborg was used as a prison for slaves. The inmates were guarded by the soldiers billeted in the castle. The slaves were male convicts who had been sentenced to work on the castle's fortifications. The convicts were divided into two categories: those with minor sentences were categorised as "honest" and were allowed to work outside the castle walls; those serving sentences for violence, murder, arson or the like were categorised as "dishonest" and had to serve the full sentence doing hard physical labour inside the castle ramparts. Otherwise, they served their time under the same conditions: they all had to wear chains and spend nights in cold and damp dungeons.
From January 17, 1772 to April 30, 1772, Kronborg was the place of imprisonment of Queen Caroline Mathilde (Princess Caroline Matilda of Wales), sister of George III.
As Kronborg's importance as a royal castle diminished, the armed forces came to play a greater role. From 1785 to 1922, the castle was completely under military administration. During this period, a number of renovations were completed.
The captain of every ship had to state the value of ship's cargo when it sailed through the straight. Money that had to be paid to the King of Denmark was then calculated depending on the value of the cargo. The king had the right to buy the cargo for the price the ship's captain stated. That is how they prevented captains from stating prices that were too low.