My visit to Kronborg in August 2021 was not the first one: I already went there in 2009. That time, though, we had not calibrated our trip too well: it was the end of March and, basing in Copenhagen, we came from a visit to the Louisiana museum in Humlebæk, so that an arrival at 17/18 proved to be too late (of course) for the castle. But somehow we found the entrance to the inner yard open and shared it only with the local crows. We even rang a small hanging bell! This does not appear to be possible anymore, as I suspect they are closing the gates from the moat now (I don't know if Ian meant this with "being locked out" already in '11/'12). I promised myself I would come back someday for a better, more complete experience, and so did I more than 12 years (yikes!) after!

This time I came by car on the morning of a sunny day (which was later graced by many a downpour). The castle does not appear immediately coming from land, as it is partly concealed behind its defensive fortifications. During all this time, things have changed and markedly improved: the industrial landscape witnessed by Els has disappeared (I remember extensive works on my first visit), now there's the architecturally notable cultural centre Kulturværftet, a brand new museum of seafaring, a nice path going around the castle with views over the old city... all highlighting old, good Kronborg. This second time I much more appreciated its fancy Renaissance architecture, partly of Italian inspiration, and, I think, so typical of the XVIth century, a crazy century. The more I looked, the more I enjoyed the remarkable uniformity and harmoniousness of style attached to such a monumental and sturdy building: a fearsome fortress extorting the notorious "sound tax", though in a classy way. It may have suffered mishaps like fires which have destroyed a good part of the interiors (apart from the chapel), but the overall structure has kept an original and coherent appearance, and as far as I have understood this is one, if not the main reason, for outstanding universal value and inscription... and rightly so! Personally, I cannot remember similar examples of great architecture between early Renaissance (like Sforza's castle in Milan, albeit it was heavily restored) and the Baroque to come (like Frederiksborg in Hillerød). It may well be that my experience in this field is limited and leaning more on the Medieval side, but anyway I feel that this combination of unique (?) architecture, preservation, scenic positioning and associative symbolic values form a good mixture that can have its place on the List. So my evaluation falls slightly over the mean value.

I agree with other visitors that the interiors of the castle are rather bare, but they are still of some interest and at least are not completely faked as can be seen in more than one European castle or palace (the most egregious example that comes to my mind is the palace of the Grand Dukes in Vilnius). The oversized banquet hall surely has its loftiness (and some nice paintings), but to me the heart of the apartments route was the tapestry room, with big, precious tapestries imaginatively depicting Danish kings old and new, like Waldemar the Great (some tapestries of this series are to be seen elsewhere, as in Frederiksborg, if I am not mistaken). There are also some sparse exhibitions about Hamlet and other historical events tied to castle; during my visit there was especially an ongoing exhibition of artistic, impactful photographs reinterpreting key moments of Danish history. It is maybe questionable that the true historical section about the castle be confined to a rather marginal room next to the souvenir shop, but it is well done at least: there you learn of the many quarrels with English and Dutch, and that the Øresundstold (the sound dues) formally ceased to be only in 2007, for good and all! Another surprisingly impressive feature that I greatly recommend are the dungeons: enormous, labyrinthine, dark, they seem perfectly suited for a fantasy tale, and in fact they host the famous (concrete) statue of Holger Danske (or Ogier the Dane, or also, in Italian, Uggeri Spatacurta!), slumbering, but ready to come again to Denmark's rescue when it will be most needed (there are a few small panels about his significance in Danish collective imagination here and there, difficult to spot and read in the darkness). If you fear too much descending into the bowels of the castle, you'll find a copy (the original, actually) of this statue outdoors at the Marienlyst hotel, 1/2km NW of the castle on the coast!

Beyond its architectural/artistic value, but tied to its exceptional image and importance, it so appears that Kronborg has long acted as a magnet for Danish-related folklore: Shakespeare decided to relocate the old legend of Amled here, which is probably a more "marketable" place than moler landscapes in a fjord; and of course the knight Ogier, though in the chansons about him he never does anything in Denmark (some say he was not even a Dane, le danois, but came from the Ardennes, l'ardennois), nor falls into slumber (he is abducted by Morgana to Faerie and has a good deal of fun there), has been moved here only in modern times. So both these links are completely fictional and late. Kronborg seems to be a sort of imaginary counterpart to Roskilde in fact of Danishness.

 

Logistics, visit and surroundings

Kronborg castle and the train tickets to come here are included in the praiseworthy Copenhagen card, which makes a visit even more attractive. In fact, I would say that the entry would be worthy just to see the inner yard, where the castle really shines: look for all the details and shapes, starting from the richly decorated "dark gate". All in all, a ponderate, full visit of the castle took me all the morning and the first part of the afternoon, so around 4 hours, after which I had a very late lunch; but I tend to get lost in the details. If you are driving to/from Copenhagen, I also suggest taking the coastal road 152 (starting from Østerbro) instead of the highway: you will have a view to the sea ad pass through pleasant resort towns, and also next to the excellent art museum Louisiana, which might be visited on the same day. In Helsingør, I found surprisingly ample free parking opportunities in the docks, just few meters beyond the pay parking where everybody seems to end up (which has the only "advantage" of lying inside the core zone!).

Helsingør itself deserves a visit. At the tourist office in the Kulturværftet free, very complete booklets with a nice "cultural promenade" along the attractions of the centre are available, many of them tied to the sound dues era. Among the most interesting sites are St. Mary's church and its cloister, and the hoary half-timbered house from 1577 in Strandgade 27, in a preserved typical neighbourhood. In the former industrial zone between the centre and Kronborg the new M/S maritime museum of Denmark opened in 2013 and is an example of the new, audacious generation of museums popping up everywhere in the country: this one is underground and occupies the old drydock! I had only one hour to visit it, but I felt it can be a reasonable time without spreading out too much into details: in the end I found it all glamorous and enjoyable, though I am not sure it taught me too much, the best part being the last one about international shippings and huge containers. It is also included in the Copenhagen card, so, why not? And since all these visits make hungry, as mentioned by others one of the best price/quality/atmosphere choices is the værftets madmarked, the food hall in the docks, teeming with "street" food!

Where next? Apart from Copenhagen, North/Eastern Sjælland is a big WHS hotspot: par force huntscapes, Roskilde's cathedral, Stevns klint... Or let's just cross the strait and explore Sweden! Its nearest WHS is Grimeton radio station. Also in Sweden, but nearer, a non-WHS, more exotic attraction (and probably irresistibile for Mathematicians and the like...) is the tiny island of Hven (explorable by bike with day packages and reachable also from Copenhagen), the former private realm of astronomer Tycho Brahe, whom history's whims eventually brought to Prague, where he met Kepler... but this is another story!