Slottier Sunday

16 September, 2012.

Another day, another Slot.

This time to Helsingør - the home of Hamlet, Holger the Dane and Han (the merman). 

Helsingor

Credit: http://www.kuriositas.com/2012/08/Han.html

Kronborg Slot was built as a residence for Christian IV between 1574 and 1584. But for almost a hundred years prior to that, it served as a military fortress to guard the entrance to the Baltic Sea.

Circa 1500s.
The original fortress

Circa 1690.
Getting a little more fortified...

The finished fortress

In order to enter or leave the Baltic, all ships had to pay "sound dues". Fun fact: the dues were calculated based on what the ship's captain declared the value of their cargo to be. To prevent some conniving ship captain from undervaluing their wares, the Crown was able to purchase the entirety of the cargo for the declared value. Using the income from the sound dues, the fortress was transformed into a royal residence so that the King could have a vantage point from which he could sit and watch ships coming into the Sea and make sure they were showing the appropriate respect (lowering their sails as a gesture of respect).

The King's Chamber.
The bay window you can see on the left-hand side is where King Frederik II would sit and watch the boats sail past and make sure that they dipped their sails out of respect.
The King took his sail-dipping pretty seriously. If a boat was a bit slow to get the sails down, the King would fire a warning shot to remind them. Four times. Into the boat. 

The entire palace was destroyed in 1629 by a fire, and was rebuilt in the Baroque style. The palace ceased to operate as a royal residence around the late 1700s, and instead became the fanciest military barracks in the world. The military were kicked out of their royal home in 1924 when the government decided to refurbish the palace to its former condition.

Looking out to Sweden

Cannons pointing straight at Sweden.
I can't help but think that if given the opportunity, Denmark would have a red-hot go at invading Sweden. 

Culturally, Kronborg is an important site for Danes, not only because it is the home of the legendary Danish prince, Hamlet, but also of Holger the Dane. Holger the Dane, according to myth, had a son who was killed by Charlemagne's son Charlot. Holger then killed Charlot out of revenge and spent around seven years fighting with Charlemagne before throwing in the towel and forming an alliance with him against the Saracens. There is a massive statue of Holger in the casemates of Kronborg. It is said that if the Danish kingdom is ever threatened, the statue will come to life and defend his country.

Me and my homeboy, Holger.

In the casematis.

It is a pity that I had been to Frederiksborg Slot the day before Kronborg, because when compared with the extravagance and elegance of Frederiksborg, Kronborg seems painfully plain. There are no pastel walls, or elegantly carved wooden fixtures. Instead, there are spartan stone walls and unvarnished wooden floors. The furniture was simple and the colours were absolutely minimal. The only hint of decoration in the entire palace was in the few threadbare tapestries that adorned the walls.

The Queen's Chamber.

Om nom nom. Tasty entire pigeon pie. 

This corridor is relatively wide because it leads to the ballroom
Because it had to fit all the ballgowns...

My question is this: How wide were these ball gowns?!?!?!?

These tapestries are threadbare because they were commissioned in the mid 1500s as a bit of a pissing contest with the Swedes. The Swedish king at the time had ordered his own set of tapestries to represent nearly 150 Swedish kings throughout the eras (FYI, Noah was a Swedish king). While the Danes could only muster 115 kings in their line (clearly, the Ark didn't make it all the way around the Baltic Sea), they did choose a better weaver because while Sweden only had 4 completed tapestries, the Danes accumulated 40. While most the tapestries were destroyed in the fire, 14 originals survived and are displayed in Kronborg.

One of the surviving tapestries.
Fun fact: The Swedes took this tapestry, but when they took it, tapestries were out of fashion for palace decoration, so they just put it in a box for a few decades, just to stick it to the Danes. 

The tapestries.

ps. Gift shops are fun