Rooftops of Elsinore

The rooftops of Elsinore (Helsingør) are nicely "medieval":

 

 

PS

I added another image, just for comparison:

 

 

The Little Mermaid's little brother in Elsinore

Last June Copenhagen's famous Little Mermaid got a little brother called "He", located in the immediate vicinity of Hamlet's Kronborg castle in Elsinore (Helsingør). The stainless steel sculpture created by the Danish London based artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, is part of the town's ambitious Culture Harbor project, which includes the Culture Yard building, housing a library, an auditorium and a museum. Later this year the adjoining Maritime Museum will reopen in a brand new building.

"He" by Danish artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset.

The unique coal fired tugboat S.S. Bjørn in the Culture Harbor, in front of the  Culture  Yard building. 

Kronborg castle and Helsingør

Hamlet's Kronborg castle and Elsinore (Helsingør) are always worth a visit!

Clouds over Kronborg

No wonder that cloud formations have always fascinated artists - they are fascinating creatures that never repeat themselves. John Constable was of course the great master in catching the fleeing moments when the sky was decorated by clouds of outstanding beauty, but many others have been quite skilled in this difficult art, too.

This evening I tried to catch the nice clouds above Hamlet´s Kronborg castle in Elsinore with my camera:

The Kronborg Castle and the Sound Toll

Øresund in a map by Willem and Johan Blaeu (about 1635)

Øresund (or also often just the Sound),  the strait that separates the Danish island Zealand from the southern Swedish province of Scania, has always been a busy seaway. The Danish kings soon realized the importance of the sound as a trade route connecting Western Europe and the countries around the Baltic. In 1429 king Erik of Pomerania (who ruled over Denmark, Sweden and Norway) introduced the Sound toll or dues that had to be paid by all ships sailing through the Sound.

In the latter half of 16th century the number of ships passing the sound increased rapidly. Still in the 1550´s only about 1300 ships annually sailed through the Sound. In the 1590´s the number had already increased to close to 6000. The Baltic region was in the 16th century Western Europe´s most important provider of agricultural products and raw materials.

Kronborg castle
and Kernen (Kärnan) across the strait in Helsingborg guarded the narrowest point of Øresund, and helped to enforce the payment of the Sound toll. (1590)

The Sound toll, which existed until 1857, become a veritable goaldmine for the the Danish kings - and Denmark in general. In the last decade of the 16th century, its share of the Danish state income was two thirds. And even in its last year (1857) the income from the toll was 1/8 of the state budget.

Strategically located at the narrowest point (only about 4 km) of Øresund, the castle in Elsinore (Helsingør) has always been closely connected with the Sound toll - it was built in order to help to enforce the payment.

Originally the fortification, built by king Erik in the 1420´s, was called Krogen. In 1585 it got its present name Kronborg after king Frederik II rebuilt it into a grand renaissance palace.


In the year 2000 the Kronborg Castle was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as "an outstanding example of the Renaissance castle, and one which played a highly significant role in the history of northern Europe."

Kronborg, known all over the world from Shakespeare´s Hamlet, is the most popular castle in Denmark with over 200 000 visitors annually.

The Sound Toll Register, kept by the Danish National Archives in Copenhagen, is one of the most valuable sources of early modern history of Western and Northern Europe. The archives have been preserved for about 300 of the 360 years from 1497 until 1857, when the toll was abolished. They the contain information about 1,8 million passages - names of shipmasters, their town of residence, ports of departure and destination, the composition of the cargo and the due toll per commodity.

This is how the old toll house in Helsingør looked like several hundred years ago. (Detail from an old print)

The income from the Sound to ll was kept in coffers like this one  (Gothenburg  Maritime  Museum).

More information on the Sound Toll Register here.

The S.S. Bjørn - a unique coal-fired steamship in Elsinore

The S.S. Bjørn is Denmark´s only coal-fired steamship with a triple steam engine. This wonderful over 100 year old icebreaker and tugboat served the Port of Randers in Jutland for 72 years until it was retired in 1981. During the last few years members of the Dansk Veteranskibsklub S.S. Bjørn in Elsinore (Helsingør) have been working on the restoration of the ship. On 30.9.2011 the ship was open to the general public.

You can read about the restoration project on the club´s own internet page (although most of the information is in Danish). On this page there are some nice pictures about the restoration work.


PS

Here are some of my newer pictures of S.S. Bjørn.

I could not resist adding this picture I shot of a somewhat newer tugboat in action in Elsinore on the same day:

Buxtehude in Elsinore

The St. Mary´s church in Elsinore (Helsingør) is a beautiful former monastery church, built in 1430-1500. During the reformation in Denmark the monastery was closed, and the king then gave the church to the German and Dutch community in Elsinore, which converted it to a German church in 1576-77.

The St. Mary´s in Elsinore is probably internationally best known for its most famous organist, Diderich (also spelled Diderik, Dieterich or Dietrich) Buxtehude (1637?-1707) and his organ, which still is in use in the church.

It is believed that Buxtehude was born in the neighbouring city (on the other side of the Øresund) of Helsingborg (then Danish, but after 1658 Swedish), where his father was an organist.

At the age of 20, Buxtehude became the organist of the St. Mary´s church in Helsingborg, from where he moved to Elsinore in 1660 to become the organist of the German church, which also carries the name St. Mary´s. The German community in Elsinore had good connections to Northern Germany, and soon the word spread that there was an outstanding organist in Elsinore. In 1667 Buxtehude was invited to become the organist at the famous St. Mary´s church in Lübeck, where he stayed until his death.

The Buxthude organ in Elsinore was built in 1662-1663. The alterations, made in 1854 and 1959-60, have recently been reversed, and today the organ again presents itself as in the time of Buxtehude.

Thanks to the organ and excellent accoustics, the St. Mary´s is a popular concert church. Recently the British baroque music specialist Paul Hillier and his Grammy-winning Theater of Voices ensemble together with organist Bine Bryndorf recorded a selection of Buxehudes vocal music in the church.

Here is the promotional video for the Scandinavian Cantatas CD, which has received a lot of critical praise: