The first part of the name,Hels, is believed to derive from the wordhals 'neck; narrow strait', referring to the narrowest point of theØresund (Øre Sound) between what is now Helsingør andHelsingborg in Sweden. The wordHelsing supposedly means 'person/people who live by the neck' andør corresponds to old Norseaurr 'gravel beach' andeyrr 'sandy or gravelly shore'. The city was first mentioned asHælsingør and the people asHelsinger inKing Valdemar the Victorious'sLiber Census Daniæ from 1231 (not to be confused with the Helsings ofHälsingland in Sweden).[10] Place names show that the Helsinger may have had their main fort atHelsingborg and a fortified landing place at Helsingør, to control the ferry route across the strait. The particularly 19th-century tradition to explain toponymies, place names, with features of the landscape does not necessarily exclude the much older tradition of reading place names as eponymous. Although an obscure legendary character, or several, Helsing is quite abundantly present in traces of lost legends in the Nordic countries.
Although probably not the first Helsing, one of the three sons ofGandalf Alfgeirsson (the antagonist ofHalfdan the Black, who was father of KingHarald Fairhair, the semi-legendary, historical first king of a feudalist Norway) is called Helsing. He was brother to Hake and Hysing Gandalfson. AlsoHelsinki in Finland andHälsingland inNorrland, Sweden, refers to Helsing, as "the Land of the Helsing/Helsinger," which makes the landscape theory of the name of Helsingør less likely.
Map of Helsingør and Kronborg Castle (c. 1725)Kronborg CastleHelsingør portAn alley in Helsingør
The city as it is known today was founded in the 1420s by Danish KingEric of Pomerania. He established theSound Dues in 1429, which were a toll on the use of the Øresund. Although a different toll had existed before this one, the Sound Dues were paid in Helsingør, providing immense wealth to the city. With that income, the king built a castle named Krogen or Ørekrog on the extreme northeastern tip of the island ofZealand. The city expanded around the castle and envelops it today. Krogen was rebuilt and expanded in the 1570s by kingFrederik II and renamedKronborg. All ships had to stop in Helsingør to get their cargo taxed and pay a toll to the Danish Crown, which generated a significant income to the city, which in turn generated trade. The city's growing wealth further fuelled the growth of maritime transport through the Øresund Strait - from 1479 to 1581 the number of ships passing through the strait increased 6.5 times.[11] In 1672, Helsingør had grown to be the third-largest town in Denmark.[12] Up until the middle of the 19th century, Helsingør was among the largest cities in the country.
The Sound Dues were abolished in 1857 with theCopenhagen Convention in which all seafaring nations agreed to pay a one-time fee. The abolishment was a huge loss for the city and the following decades saw a slow growth in population.
The oldest known fortified building of Helsingør isFlynderborg, an early medieval fortress on a hill just south of the medieval city.
A number of convents once surrounded the church, but now all that remains is the church building, today the cathedral of theDiocese of Helsingør. The oldest parts of the cathedral of Helsingør date back to the 13th century and show that the fishing village, as Helsingør was then, had grown to become a town of importance.
Johan Isaksson Pontanus (Rerum Danicarum Historica, 1631) attributes a long and partially-fictitious history to Helsingør.
DuringWorld War II, Helsingør was among the most important transport points for the rescue of Denmark'sJewish population during theHolocaust.Adolf Hitler had ordered that all Danish Jews were to be arrested and deported to theconcentration camps onRosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, which fell on 2 October 1943. WhenGeorg Ferdinand Duckwitz, a diplomatic attaché ofNazi Germany to Denmark, received word of the order on 28 September 1943, he shared it with political and Jewish community leaders. Using the nameElsinore Sewing Club (Danish:Helsingør Syklub) as a cover for messages, the Danish population formed anUnderground Railroad of sorts that moved Jews away from the closely watchedCopenhagen docks to spots further away, especially in the north of Sjælland, including Helsingør, situated just two miles across theØresund toHelsingborg, in neutralSweden. Hundreds of civilians hid their fellow Danish Jewish citizens in their houses, farm lofts and churches until they could board them onto Danish fishing boats, personal pleasure boats and ferry boats. Over the course of three nights, Danes had smuggled over 7,200 Jews and 680 non-Jews (family members of Jews or political activists) across the Øresund to safety in Helsingborg andMalmö in Sweden.[14]
TheE47 motorway towards Copenhagen begins just outside the city limits. The town and surrounding areas also have a network of local and regional buses.[17][18]
A tunnel between Helsingør and Helsingborg in Sweden, the HH-tunnel is in the early planning stage.[19]
For a century theHelsingør Værft or Elsinore shipyard was a prominent landmark, which covered the whole area between the town and Kronborg Castle. It was founded in 1882. At its height in 1957, it had 3,600 employees. The last ship left the shipyard in 1983 and it closed the same year following substantial losses.
TheWiibroe brewery, founded in 1840, was the second brewery in Denmark to ship bottled beer, just three years afterCarlsberg. The last beer was brewed atWiibroe in Helsingør in 1998.Carlsberg continues to brew beer under the Wiibroe Årgangsøl[20] label.
In the centre of the harbour basin stands the polished steel sculptureHan (He) by artist duoElmgreen and Dragset, commissioned by the City of Helsingør in 2012. It was inaugurated by then Minister of culture,Uffe Elbæk, in June 2012. It is seen as the counterpart (and even little brother) toEdvard Eriksen's world-famousThe Little Mermaid statue inCopenhagen, and has caused both praise and protests among locals.
The Swedish city ofHelsingborg lies a short distance across theØresund from Helsingør, approximately 4 km (2 mi).European route E55 joins the two cities;ferries connect the two sides.
Dieterich Buxtehude was an organist and composer of the Baroque period. Presumably born in Helsingborg, he serving as organist from 1660 to 1668 in Helsingør like his father who held the position of organist at St. Olaf's cathedral. Diderich Buxtehude's compositions and style became of significant influence, among others, on his studentJohann Sebastian Bach.
Jørn Utzon lived in Helsingør in his youth because his father was an engineer atHelsingør Værft. Utzon designed :His own house (1952), TheKingo Houses (1956–60) and The Hammershøj Care Centre (1962) in the city. The project was completed by Birger Schmidt (1966) after Utzon moved to Sydney to work on theSydney Opera House.
In the second chapter ofPhilip Roth's novelOur Gang (1971), Trick E. Dixon in a fictive speech tries to claim Helsingør as US-territory and tries to convince the audience to occupy the area.
InBret Easton Ellis's novelLunar Park, the street on which the character Bret Easton Ellis lives, with his own haunting father-son issues, is called Helsingør Lane.
Several stories written by the Danish authorKaren Blixen (or Isak Dinesen) take place in Helsingør, including "The Supper at Elsinore" in her first published volume of stories,Seven Gothic Tales.
InDavid Brin's novelThe Postman, the first chapter features an apparition that appears to protagonist Gordon Krantz. It is described as an "Elsinorian figure" and greets Gordon with "Alas, poor Gordon!", both allusions toHamlet.
Surrealist artistRené Magritte has a painting named after the city, depicting a castle, which might be modelled on Elsinore Castle.
^Bolt, Rodney (5 February 2016)."Shakespeare's Danish links".The Telegraph.Archived from the original on 4 February 2018. Retrieved6 April 2018 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
^early records of Helsingør and Flynderborg ("possibly already mentioned by Saxo"): J. D. Qvist,Annaler for nordisk oldkyndighed, Kongelige Nordiske oldskriftselskab, 1836,p. 306Archived 26 February 2015 at theWayback Machine
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