Elsinore

Elsinore, also known by its Danish name Helsingør, is a city in Helsingør municipality on the northeast coast of the island of Zealand (Sjælland) in eastern Denmark. It is known internationally as the setting of William Shakespeare's theatre play "Hamlet".

Related Topics:
Danish - Helsingør municipality - Zealand - Denmark - William Shakespeare - Hamlet

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The name is derived from *Hals meaning "narrow strait" and it referred to the narrow passage between what is now Elsinore and Helsingborg. The Rerum Danicarum Historica (1631) claims that the history of Elsinore can be traced back to 70 BC, but this information is highly dubious. The people was mentioned, as Helsinger, for the first time in King Valdemar the Victorious's book from 1231, but they should not be confused with the Helsings of Hälsingland in Sweden. Prior to the Middle Ages it was just a marketplace where people sold goods, including women. 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 Elsinore.

Related Topics:
Helsingborg - King Valdemar the Victorious - Hälsingland - Sweden

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Elsinore as we know it today was founded in the 1420s by the Danish king Eric of Pomerania. He established the Sound Toll in 1429 and built the castle 'Krogen', which was made bigger in the 1580s and named Kronborg. The oldest parts of the cathedral of Elsinore date back to the 1200s and tell us that the fishermen's village, as Elsinore was then, was a town of a certain importance. At least, there have always been some form of ferryboats crossing between between Elsinore and Helsingborg.

Related Topics:
Eric of Pomerania - Sound Toll

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Kronborg Castle is a main tourist attraction.

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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 ends.

Related Topics:
Swedish - Helsingborg - Øresund - European route E55 - Ferries

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