Prince Hamlet's Kronborg Castle. Of course it is!

“Give me the cups. Let the thunder of the lithaurus carry trumpets, trumpets to the gunners, guns to the sky, heaven to the earth toast to the king for Hamlet. - Let's start.

So, the object of our “Shakespeare mission” is Kronborg Castle, in Elsinore. I am sure that the name of the castle should make you feel an increased heartbeat: after all, this is the castle that Shakespeare described in his immortal tragedy Hamlet!

Crowds of tourists “besiege the walls” of Kronborg, where the spirit of the father of the Danish prince still comes at midnight, because regardless of nationality, age and gender, people need a sublime fairy tale. By the way, the playwright did not invent the prince of the Danish Hamlet at all, but borrowed from the chronicle of Saxon the Grammar, who recorded it from the old legends about the son of the king named Amlet. Prince Amlet was hot and unbridled and had nothing to do with the sophisticated reflective prince Shakespeare immortalized. However, the inscription on the Kronborg wall, which tells the true story of Hamlet, testifies that it was Shakespeare who “provided the Danish prince eternal glory and glorified Elsinore throughout the world.” So the legend became a historical fact.

Elsinore was once considered the capital of the Danish kingdom; the city is located in the narrowest point of the Oresund Strait, only 4 km. from Sweden. The narrow part of the strait literally teemed with herring, the city flourished. In 1423, Erik Pomeransky found a clever way to replenish the Danish treasury: henceforth, every ship passing through the "Sund Strait" was obliged to pay tribute. In order for the order to be unconditionally executed, the king ordered to build a powerful fortification - a fortress surrounded by moats, ramparts, huge double walls, equipped with formidable guns. From now on, all passing ships paid tribute uncompromisingly.

Under King Frederick II, in 1577, the fortress was transformed into a luxurious royal castle in the Renaissance style. The system of collecting duties grew and gained strength, but everything comes to an end: the “Zunda duty” was abolished in the middle of the 19th century, and the city began to lose its former glory. And here, oh happiness!, Shakespeare himself came to his aid in good time. He gave the city of Elsinore not only great fame, but also prosperity. The Danes joke that the “Sunda duty” is now paid by tourists themselves, and it is called “Shakespeare’s”.

The extensive catacombs under the castle are also open to visitors, where you can see a stone statue of the legendary knight Holger, who is revered as the founder of the Danish state. The great Andersen also did not bypass Kronborg Castle with his attention. “There is an old castle in Denmark called Kronborg; it lies on the banks of the Øresund. In his deep, gloomy dungeon, where no one looks, sits Holger – Dane – so begins his fairy tale “Holger Dane”. Holger sits in a deep dungeon, cuffed in heavy armor. He's fast asleep. But if Denmark is in danger, he will wake up, stand up in all his gigantic stature and come out with a sword against the enemy! Impressive, isn't it?

Plunging into the magical atmosphere of Shakespeare’s Kronborg, we will find a clue why William Shakespeare chose this castle as the setting for his immortal tragedy.