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Elsinore Helsingør
Kronborg Castle
Country	Denmark
Region	Capital Region
Municipality	Helsingør Municipality
Established	1420s
City charter	17th century
Current municipality	2007-01-01
Government
• Mayor	Henrik Møller
Population
• Total	46,189
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (CEST)
Website	www.helsingorkommune.dk

Helsingør (Danish pronunciation: [hɛlseˈŋøɐ̯ˀ]; also known as Elsinore in English) is a city and the municipal seat of Helsingør municipality on the northeast coast of the island of Zealand (Danish: Sjælland) in eastern Denmark. Helsingør has a population of 46,189 (1 January 2010) including the southern suburbs of Snekkersten and Espergærde. It is known internationally as the setting of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, whence the spelling 'Elsinore' originated.

History

The name is derived from the word "hals" meaning "neck" or "narrow strait", referring to the narrow strait (Øresund) between what is now Helsingør and Helsingborg, Sweden. The Rerum Danicarum Historica (1631) claims that the history of Helsingør can be traced back to 70 BC, but this information is highly dubious. The people were mentioned as Helsinger (which may mean "the people of the strait"), for the first time in King Valdemar the Victorious's Liber Census Daniæ from 1231, but they should not be confused with the Helsings of Hälsingland in Sweden. Placenames show that the Helsinger may have had their main fort at Helsingborg and a fortified landing place at Helsingør, to control the ferry route across the strait.

Before the Middle Ages Helsingør was just a marketplace where people sold goods. About 1200 AD the first church, Sct Olai Church, was built. A number of convents once surrounded the church, but now all that remains is the church building, today the cathedral of the Diocese of Helsingør. The oldest parts of the cathedral of Helsingør date back to the 13th century and tell us that the fishermen's village, as Helsingør was then, was a town of a certain importance. At least, there have always been some form of ferryboats crossing between Helsingør and Helsingborg.

Helsingør as we know it today was founded in the 1420s by the Danish king Eric of Pomerania. He established the Sound Dues in 1429 and built the castle 'Krogen', which was expanded in the 1580s and named Kronborg.

Kronborg Castle is the main tourist attraction. The play Hamlet has been performed a number of times in its courtyard.

The Swedish city of Helsingborg lies a short distance across the Øresund from Elsinore. European route E55 traverses the two cities; ferries connect the two sides. Still of some importance is the historical fact that the most southern "county" of Sweden, Skåne, were a part of Denmark until 1658 - followed by three wars. It may seem a long time ago today, but the short distance across Øresund aswell as the long way to Stockholm remains.

Districts

Centrum

• North: Grønnehave (Green Gardens), Højstrup and Marienlyst
• West: Sundparken, Grøningen, Nøjsomheden and Vapnagård
• South: Skotterup and Snekkersten.

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Helsingør is twinned with:

• Gdańsk, Poland, since 1992
• Sanremo, Italy

In fiction

• William Shakespeare's play Hamlet takes place at Kronborg Castle in Helsingør, which Shakespeare spelled "Elsinore".
• In the 1983 comedy Strange Brew, which is loosely based on Hamlet, the protagonists are given jobs at Elsinore Brewery.
• In Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey–Maturin series, Helsingør fires mortar shells at the heroes in book seven, The Surgeon's Mate, as they sail past on their way to a rendezvous in the Baltic.
• In Philip Roth's second Chapter of his novel Our Gang ('71), Trick E. Dixon in a fictive speech tries to claim Helsingør as US-territory and tries to convince the audience to occupy the area
• In Bret Easton Ellis's novel Lunar Park the street on which the character Bret Easton Ellis lives with his own father-son haunting issues is named Elsinore Lane.
• Several stories written by the Danish author Karen Blixen (or Isak Dinesen) take place in "Elsinore," including "The Supper at Elsinore" in her first published volume of stories, Seven Gothic Tales.
• A well-known poem by the Portuguese surrealist poet Mário Cesariny is named "You are welcome to Elsinore".

See also

• Helsingør municipality
• The Carmelite Priory
• Hellebæk
• Ålsgårde
• Tourism in Denmark
• Helsingborg

References

Notes

1. BEF44: Population 1st January, by urban areas database from Statistics Denmark
2. ^ "HELSINGØR TURISTBUREAU - VICTORIA DESIGN". www.visithelsingor.dk. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
3. "Gdańsk Official Website: 'Miasta partnerskie'" (in Polish & English). © 2009 Urząd Miejski w Gdańsku. Retrieved 11 July 2009. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)

External links

• Helsingør Tourist Bureau website
• Port of Helsingør
• Template:Wikitravel
• Helsingør municipality's official website (in Danish only)
• Helsingør Leksikon: Local history wiki (in Danish only)

v t e 50 most populous urban areas in the Nordic countries
Denmark  Finland  Iceland  Norway  Sweden
1. Stockholm 1,605,030 2. Copenhagen 1,330,993 3. Helsinki 1,268,296 4. Oslo 1,019,513 5. Gothenburg 599,011 6. Malmö 339,313 7. Tampere 334,112 8. Aarhus 280,534 9. Bergen 259,958 10. Turku 252,468 11. Stavanger/Sandnes 237,369 12. Reykjavík 228,231 13. Oulu 208,939 14. Trondheim 186,364 15. Odense 180,302 16. Uppsala 177,074 17. Upplands Väsby och Sollentuna 149,461 18. Aalborg 140,897 19. Västerås 128,534 20. Örebro 126,009 21. Lahti 119,068 22. Jyväskylä 117,974 23. Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg 116,373 24. Linköping 115,672 25. Helsingborg 113,816 26. Kristiansand 111,633 27. Drammen 109,416 28. Jönköping 100,259 29. Norrköping 97,854 30. Lund 94,393 31. Porsgrunn/Skien 93,778 32. Umeå 90,412 33. Kuopio 88,520 34. Pori 84,026 35. Gävle 77,586 36. Södertälje 75,773 37. Borås 73,980 38. Esbjerg 72,398 39. Halmstad 71,316 40. Växjö 71,009 41. Eskilstuna 70,342 42. Joensuu 67,811 43. Karlstad 65,856 44. Vaasa 65,414 45. Randers 62,482 46. Kolding 61,121 47. Horsens 59,449 48. Sundsvall 58,807 49. Vejle 57,655 50. Lappeenranta 55,743

• Use dmy dates from August 2010
• Helsingør
• Municipal seats in Capital Region of Denmark
• Municipal seats of Denmark
• Cities and towns in Capital Region of Denmark
• Port cities and towns in Denmark
• Denmark–Sweden border crossings