Kronborg Slot

Within cannon range of Sweden on the Danish side of the Øresund, further north from Malmö, lies Denmark’s most imposing castle, Kronborg Slot. Known to the world as Elsinore Castle and home to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Kronborg was built here at the entrance to the Øresund and Baltic as a grandiose tollhouse, to extract money from ships passing between the coasts of Denmark and Sweden, and as a defensive post against fleets sailing on Copenhagen. The so-called Sound Dues were introduced in the 1420s by King Erik of Pomerania. He built a small fortress, Krogen, here to operate the toll. Frederik II rebuilt and enlarged the castle in a Renaissance style between 1574 and 1585 and Christian IV rebuilt it again after a fire in 1629. In 1658 the Swedes occupied the castle and took virtually everything of value from it. It was converted into barracks in 1785 and fulfilled this role until 1922, when it was opened to the public.