The Kronborg Castle is located on the commanding site of Sund that stretches on the waters that border the Swedish-Danish border. The castle is immensely important to the Danes as it played an important role in the history of northern Europe in the 16th and 18th centuries. The castle construction was started in 1574 and its architecture is reminiscent of the renaissance period. The castle is renowned worldwide as Elsinore, the sitting of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

In 1425, King Erik of Pomerania started charging levy on ships that passed through the sound between the Sjaelland and Skane. He then built a castle known as Krogen on the site that the castle of Kronborg is found.

1574 – King Frederik II of Denmark used the site for construction of his palace. It was designed by an architect known as Hans van Paeschen. Three years later, it was given the name Kronborg when a Flemish architect Anthonis Van Opbergen from Malines was told to carry out restoration and enlargement of the palace.

September of 1629 – Kronborg was devastated by fire but the walls were left standing. Christian IV commissioned the Surveyor General Hans Van Steenwinckel the Younger to carry out the castle restoration. The castle was built under Frederik III and Christian V, and the fortifications were built under Frederick IV

1785 – The castle was passed to the military and has remained intact to this day.

The Kronborg Castle has 2 lower floors on its eastern end that forms part of the Erik Pomerania’s Kroge castle. Amazingly, the medieval brickwork is still intact to the 3rd storey. The northern wing was extended to access the banqueting hall on the west. The banqueting hall was divided to include the kitchen, brew house, and guest chambers.

The site of the castle features other buildings such as the chapel. It was the only building not to be destroyed by the fire of 1629. It still preserves its original altar, pews and gallery. It features fine carvings and painted panels. The Chapel’s northern wing is today a 3-storeyed building that features sandstones and royal apartments. The layout of the rooms features the Frederik II kind of decorations that date back to the 17th and 18th centuries. To the eastern part of the chapel is the Long Gallery that was built to allow the queen to reach the Banqueting Hall in the south wing.

Your kids will have an amazing time exploring this vast Danish Castle that has had so much influence in the Danish history.