Denmark Celebrates Christian IV, a Builder King

Anyone even passingly familiar with Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” can hardly resist daydreaming for a few moments while walking on the gravel pathway to Kronborg Castle.

A swan paddling in the moat seems to shiver and become the heartbroken Ophelia intent on drowning herself.

And the dark shape ahead, a young man dressed in black, could be the mournful, melancholic prince hesitantly pondering which way to act.

Elsinore is the seat of the Danish court in Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, and accordingly the Danes call Kronborg “Hamlet’s Castle,” though no prince by that name ever lived there.

Kronborg (Danish for castle) was completed in 1585; Hamlet--and some doubt if he ever lived at all--was first written about in the 12th Century.

Builder King’s Year

This year through September, Kronborg is a highlighted stop in an elaborate series of exhibitions honoring Christian IV (1577-1648), the “builder-king” whose way with stone and mortar gave Denmark some of its most important pieces of Renaissance architecture.

Sponsored by the Council of Europe, “Christian IV and Europe” falls on the 400th anniversary of the king’s accession to the throne. Exhibits at Kronborg and in Copenhagen will detail the arts, science and military might of Christian’s day.

Even if one misses these special exhibitions, tracking down Christian IV’s building projects provides a fascinating glimpse into Danish culture and history.

No better glimpse of Copenhagen, the Danish capital, can be found than on the viewing deck on the Round Tower in downtown.

Below you the old city stretches out as flat as a carpet except for the occasional church spire. A jumbled pattern of rooftops follows the crooked lines of Copenhagen’s old streets, many of them closed to all but pedestrian traffic in the surrounding central shopping district.

Inspired by the Stars

Christian IV built the Round Tower in 1642 as an astronomical observatory. More than 100 feet high, the tower is attached to the later Church of the Trinity, whose interior was recently restored.

One reaches the top along a moderately inclined corkscrew pathway of cobblestones wide enough for a car to drive up (in fact, one did in the 1920s).

I made the five-minute climb on an afternoon when the church organist was practicing a few fugues next door.

For the Christian IV exhibition this summer the Round Tower and the Church of the Holy Trinity will host “Things on Heaven and Earth,” a display of scientific instruments from the Danish Renaissance.

In the thick-walled treasure room at Rosenborg Castle, a short walk from the Round Tower through a tree-filled park, a museum volunteer said that Christian IV is one of Denmark’s most beloved kings, although “he did lose a lot of wars.”

Crafts and a Crown

Rather than conquered territory, what Christian gave his people went beyond his architectural legacy and encompassed support for the arts and encouragement of native crafts.

The contents of the Rosenborg treasure room attest to that. Silverware, jewelry and gold-plated royal knickknacks, elaborately carved and intricately wrought, fill several cases.

All these treasures, however, pale beside the grandiosity of Christian IV’s crown, which was made for his coronation in 1597 (before that the kingdom was ruled by a regency council until the boy-king came of age). Countless diamonds, emeralds and pearls, many as large as birds’ eggs, adorn the bright gold frame.

Christian IV commissioned Rosenborg Castle, where he died, in 1606. For the celebration of his reign the palace will host an exhibition of the king’s jewelry and crafts collections, as well as a set of silverware on loan from the Kremlin, which Christian pawned to the Russian Czar.

Taking Care of the Navy

Not all of Christian IV’s buildings are grand works. A few blocks north of Rosenborg lie the Nyboder (New Booths), a group of two-story mustard-colored row houses that have been home to Danish navy personnel and their families since Christian’s time.

Many of the streets here were named for ships in Christian’s fleet, while others bear the names of animals--Delfingade (Dolphin Street) and Krokodillegade (Crocodile Street).

A tradition in the Nyboder is for navy spouses to place porcelain statuettes of dogs in the front windows of their homes. If the dogs face out, the sailing spouse is away on duty; if looking in, he or she is home on leave.

A statue of Christian IV stands at the edge of the Nyboder district. The mustachioed monarch, in plumed hat and cape, watches over the families of his fleet, once among the most powerful in Europe, though Christian’s failed campaigns in the Thirty Years’ War did much to diminish that reputation.

Religion and Trade

In the Nyhavn section of Copenhagen, a waterfront district once the haunt of sailors, are the Holmens Kirke (church) and the Danish stock exchange building, both impressive buildings that show the king’s concern for the religious and temporal aspects of life.

Holmens was consecrated in 1619 and includes a distinguished carved wooden altar and pulpit. The blocklong stock exchange building, built between 1619 and 1623, has a bizarre spire of snake forms.

Many of Copenhagen’s museums are featuring exhibitions for the extravaganza, including art and sculpture at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts and 17th-Century military equipment at the Royal Arsenal Museum.

Here in Elsinore, a one-hour train ride from Copenhagen, Kronborg Castle will have an exhibition examining the visual and performing arts at the court of Christian IV.

Musical instruments from the early 17th Century, as well as paintings and tapestries commissioned by the king, are on display in many of the rooms. The Great Hall at Kronborg lays claim to being the largest castle room in Europe (210 feet by 40 feet).

Its walls are hung with the seven remaining tapestries of a group that once numbered more than 100 showing Danish kings from history and legend. The other tapestries were destroyed in a fire that gutted Kronborg in 1629.

Christian IV’s father, Frederick II, built the castle and an adjacent “High German” chapel between 1574 and 1585, but Christian gave it his stamp when he supervised reconstruction work following the 1629 blaze.

Rooms Open to Public

Among the many rooms open to the public at Kronborg are the Queen’s Chamber, with a view of the sea and the Swedish city of Helsingborg across the channel; the Royal Councilors’ Hall adorned with Flemish tapestries of pastoral scenes and kings in battle, and several apartments once reserved for royal visitors.

Underneath the castle are the casemates, once the living quarters for the king’s regiments. When troops were stationed there the casemates included a brewery. Each soldier was allotted 1 1/2 gallons of the home brew a day.

At the darkest end of the casemates is a triangular room that served as a particularly nasty prison cell. The gates to the cell could be moved up and down the sides of the triangle, according to the prisoner’s crime or status. The closer the gates came to the apex, the less room the prisoner had. At worst, the bars could be set for standing room only.

A Royal Dilemma

If Hamlet had lived at Kronborg he would have had the thought of that triangular cell to worry him even further.

If his plot against Uncle Claudius had gone awry, the prince might have ended up delivering his soliloquies to an audience of iron bars at very close range.

For more information on the “Christian IV and Europe” exhibition, contact the Scandinavian National Tourist Offices, 655 3rd Ave., 18th Floor, New York 10017, (212) 949-2333.

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In search of the rich architectural and cultural legacy of Christian IV, a traveler will probably want to make Copenhagen a base for getting about. Castles and museums share the centuries-old streets with cafes, shops and night spots.

The Copenhagen Card is a must for anyone intending to do more than cursory sightseeing.

Available from the Scandinavian National Tourist Offices in New York or the Copenhagen Tourist Assn., 7A Norregade, the Copenhagen Card allows free admission to museums and castles, and free transportation by bus and train throughout the metropolitan area, including Elsinore.

It costs $12 for one day, $20 for two days and $24 for three days.

Excursion to Elsinore

Trains to Elsinore leave Central Station next to Tivoli Gardens at 25 and 55 minutes past the hour.

In spring and summer Kronborg Castle is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Rosenborg in Copenhagen is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A handy guidebook, “Copenhagen This Week,” available at hotels and tourist board offices, lists hours and prices for all major sites and has maps and lists of restaurants, cafes and nightclubs.

Accommodations in Copenhagen include first-class hotels such as the SAS Royal and three Royal Classic hotels--d’Angleterre, Plaza and Kong Frederik ($140 to $240 a night), middle-level hotels such as the Copenhagen Admiral, Imperial and Neptun ($95 to $140), and economy hotels such as Absalon, Mayfair and Triton ($80 and up). In summer, several youth hostels also are popular.

Like many European countries, Denmark charges a value-added tax (VAT) on all goods (about 15%). Tourists can qualify for a refund of VAT charges on purchases of more than 600 kroner (about $100 U.S.).

This refund can be paid in cash when leaving Copenhagen airport, by credit to a credit-card account or by check mailed to your home address. When shopping, look for the sign indicating that the store participates in the “Danish Tax-Free Shopping” plan.