Kronborg
Kronborg Castle
The fortress
Once upon a time, the fortress around Kronborg Castle was one of the biggest defences in Northern Europe. Today, you can experience the construction in peacetime and have a nice time together with your family.
The old barracks
In the old barracks you find shops, workshops for artisans, cafés and restaurants.
Kronborg Castle
It was the renaissance king Frederik IV who built Kronborg Castle in the period 1574-1585.
In the year 2000, the castle, which is known from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, was inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List – in line with the pyramids, Acropolis and the Great Wall of China.
The purpose of building Kronborg Castle was to show everybody how powerful the King of Denmark was: The ruler of Oresund. The King's mission succeeded. In a few short years, the castle's imaginative expression and copperplated roof and steeples became world famous and so famous that the English poet and dramatist William Shakespeare chose to use the castle in his play “Hamlet”.
Inside the castle you can see Frederik II and Queen Sophie’s impressive flat which framed the everyday and party life of the Royal Palace when the royal couple took up their residence in the castle.
Under the castle, your find the casemates which are a large underground network and tunnels where the soldiers stayed during war and siege. Here, the Danish legendary hero Holger the Dane is sleeping, but he will stand up if Denmark is in peril.
Every summer, Kronborg Castle frames “Shakespeare at Hamlet Castle” which is a theatre festival with the best Shakespeare performances from all over the world, organised by HamletScenen.