Kronborg

by senior consultant Lars Holst, Palaces and Properties Agency

Kronborg Castle was built in the years 1574-1585. In the 1560’s, King Frederik II had been engaged in a protracted war against Sweden. In 1572, he finally got married, the economy was growing, and there was peace in the kingdom. Now it was time to modernize “Krogen” (The Hog), the old royal stronghold.

The fortress known as “Krogen” (The Hog)
Krogen [The Hog] was originally constructed in the early part of the fifteenth century by Eric of Pomerania, who started to collect Sound Dues from ships that were passing through the straits.

The fortress was solid and strong. It consisted of a 2-4 meter thick circular wall; it measured 79 x 79 meters in area and was built in red brick. In the courtyard of the fortress, there were several large brick houses, including a banquet hall - a Palatium, and in the northeast corner, the royal dwelling. "Krogen" signified a clear marking out of the king’s power and it was visible to everybody who sailed past.

From the high fortification walls, the troops could easily defend themselves with the day’s primitive cannons and crossbows as well as by throwing spears, stones and other things down over the enemy. However, war technology was undergoing development. Throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, cannons were being developed which could, at a safe distance away from the fortress, shoot at the walls until they came tumbling down.

By the time King Frederik II ascended to the throne, the fortress, the royal residence and the banquet hall were all outmoded. They were unmodern and not befitting a Renaissance prince. Something had to be done.

King Frederik II builds Kronborg
Inspired by what were then the latest trends in international fortress construction and calling on the expertise of Dutch experts, the stronghold was modernized.

Outside the old circular wall, a sandstone-clad earthwork was laid out and bastions were constructed in the four corners of the layout. The ramparts could intercept the enemy’s cannonballs, while from the bastions, Kronborg’s cannons could be fired all along the front of the fortification wall whenever the enemies came too close.

In 1577, King Frederik II decided that the stronghold should be called Kronborg and that whoever was so impudent as to use the old name would be fined to the tune of one fine fully fed ox.

Famous throughout Europe
Inside the fortification walls, the king enlarged and improved the old houses so that the castle now came to be extended along all four sides of the layout at a height of three stories.

Many large windows were installed in the new castle and what was sought was a rhythmic allocation of the windows along the facades, but this was not accomplished in an entirely successful way. When you take a closer look, what becomes discernible is that Kronborg Castle is a converted medieval stronghold.

The whole castle was faced with sandstone so that it would come to resemble the foreign princely palaces. The windows were fitted with angular sandstone perpends. The doors and gates were embellished with magnificent sandstone portals. From the lintels, the cornices and the watchman’s gallery, human heads, lions and mythical creatures glared ferociously at the visitors.

Only the best
The Renaissance’s penchant for the decorative, the grotesque and imaginative manifested itself in its full flower at Kronborg. Copper-clad roofs and towers with spires pointed up toward the sky. The castle’s courtyard was adorned with a magnificent fountain at its center and the interior of the palace was richly decorated.

Nothing but the best was good enough. And copperplate renderings of the castle were spread around Europe so that people in foreign lands could see for themselves what a powerful king ruled Denmark: the Sovereign of the Oresund.

And indeed, Kronborg was noticed abroad. In a short time, the castle became world famous, so famous that the English playwright and poet, William Shakespeare, as we know, chose it as the setting for his play, “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,” penned between 1599 and 1601.

Kronborg in war and peace
After a fire in 1629, King Christian IV had the magnificent palace rebuilt, in any event, on the exterior. Not for its own sake but because the castle, for quite some time, “had brought fame and Ziirat (adornment) to Denmark.”

The nation was destitute and Rigsrådet, the National Council, was opposed to the reconstruction, but the Netherlands consented to pay double Sound Dues and thereby “bought” their way into an alliance with Denmark.

The access to the Baltic Sea, Europe’s breadbasket, was important and the alliance between Denmark and the Netherlands held for many years, especially during the Swedish Wars of 1658-60, when a Dutch fleet rescued Copenhagen. By that time, the Swedes had already conquered and plundered Kronborg. In the subsequent peace treaty, Denmark lost its domain over Scania, Halland and Blekinge.

Denmark loses the Oresund as an internal body of water
As we can see, then, Kronborg was a frontier fortress. Denmark was still collecting Sound Dues but the changing superpowers made sure that the Oresund would never again revert to being internal Danish waters. Such a scenario would have empowered Denmark with too strong a position as the keeper of the keys to the Baltic Sea. Kronborg’s cannons, or even the fear of them, were presumably a sufficient show of force to ensure the collection of Sound Dues from merchant vessels.

But when it comes right down to it, no fortress is stronger than its reputation. Just prior to the subsequent bombarding of Copenhagen in 1801, when the British fleet, led by Admiral Parker and Lord Nelson, sailed through the straits, Kronborg could do nothing. The cannons could not shoot their cannonballs far enough and Denmark had declined the help that Sweden was offering.

However, in 1807, when the British vanquished the Danish navy, the British generals refused to make any attempt to take control of Kronborg Castle, which was regarded as being too mighty.

Kronborg loses its military importance
The levying of Sound Dues was not lifted until 1857, in response to pressure from the United States, and Kronborg gradually started to lose a substantial part of its military and strategic significance.

During the Second World War, the German command positioned troops and placed several torpedo batteries at Kronborg and continued to control the Oresund for the extent of the war.

In 1962, the castle became a military coastal lookout post and played a part in disseminating information that ultimately facilitated calling off the Cuban Missile Crisis. From the vantage point of the castle, it could be clearly seen that Russian cargo ships carrying nuclear missiles were returning to the Soviet Union.

The last of the military garrisons at Kronborg was put out of commission in 1991.

Kronborg as World Heritage

In the year 2000, Kronborg was included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Kronborg was bestowed with this coveted status because the castle is an outstanding example of a Renaissance palace, and because, both as a fortress and as a royal palace, it played a central role in Northern European history during the 17th and 19th centuries.

Since the 1930s, the castle has served as a venue for exhibitions and a popular tourist attraction. Denmark’s royal house also makes use of the palace for events that are specifically arranged to represent the nation. The old cannons that once defended Denmark now fire a round of salute on the important royal holidays and whenever the Royal Yacht, the “Dannebrog,” passes through these straits of the Oresund. Every year, Kronborg Castle is visited by approximately 200,000 Danish and foreign visitors •