Something is rotten in the state of Denmark

Helsingor (Elsinore in English) is a busy port town north of Copenhagen. Perhaps most famous for Kronborg Slot, known as Elsinore Castle in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, this castle’s primary purpose was not really a castle or royal residence but rather as a magnificent tollhouse where tolls and taxes were exacted from ships passing through the narrow port of Oresund.

Originally built in the 1420’s by the Danish king, Erik of Pomerania, the tollhouse and small fortress was built using much of the shipping taxes collected. Expanded and restored by Frederik II between 1574 and 1585, the tollhouse was rebuilt to form much of what is the present day castle. Future kings embellished the castle’s interior, but sadly, the castle fell into disrepair after a fire in 1629, the war with the Swedish in 1658 in which it was turned into barracks for soldiers, and fewer and fewer visits to the castle by Danish royalty. Today, it serves as a museum.

Now, back to Will…Shakespeare, that it. There is no evidence that W.S. ever visited Helsingor, but apparently the news of the magnificent tollhouse and castle spread throughout Europe in the early 1500’s. Maybe it struck Will as a fitting setting for his tragedy. Although the play was fiction, he did include two real-life Danish nobles in the storyline, Rosenkrantz and Gyldenstierne, both of whom visited the English court in the 1590’s.

Today, it is often simply referred to as Hamlet’s Castle and is considered the most widely known castle in all of Scandinavia.

Kronborg, Slot, Helsingor.



















Much of the castle’s interior has been restored to include furniture, paintings, tapestries, marble fireplaces, and art from the Renaissance period in Denmark. Photos include the king’s and queen’s chambers and the great hall and its tapestries.

Interior of Kronborg Slot.















Chapel at Kronborg Slot.









The town of Helsingor.