Gurre Castle ( da, Gurre Slot, link=no) was a royal castle situated in

North Zealand North Zealand, also North Sealand ( da, Nordsjælland), refers to the northern part of the Danish island of Zealand which is not clearly defined but generally covers the area north of Copenhagen. The Danish tourist authorities have recently i ...

, Denmark. Its ruins lie on the outskirts of Helsingør, close to the town of Tikøb on lake Gurre Sø at

Gurre The Gure or Gurre ( Somali: ''Gurre'') is a Somali clan, a sub-clan of the major Dir clan family. Distribution The Gurre live in Liben zone and Afder zone. They dominate the districts, Qarsadula, Gorobakaks and Guradamol, which are named afte ...

. The ruins have been excavated and are now restored.

History

The castle was built in the 12th century. Four towers and a perimeter wall were added in the 1350s. It was first mentioned in court chronicles in 1364, when Pope Urban V sent a gift of relics to its chapel. King

Valdemar Atterdag Valdemar IV Atterdag (the epithet meaning "Return of the Day"), or Waldemar (132024 October 1375) was King of Denmark from 1340 to 1375. He is mostly known for his reunion of Denmark after the bankruptcy and mortgaging of the country to finance w ...

died in the castle in 1375. Many stories, ballads, and poems have been made about Valdemar. The castle is associated with a legend about King Valdemar, his love for his beautiful mistress Tove Lille, who according to tradition stayed for a long time at Gurre Castle, and the resulting jealousy of his Queen Helvig of Schleswig. Over the centuries, this core saga was enriched by other legends, eventually growing into a national myth of Denmark. The myth was put into poetical form by the Danish novelist and poet Jens Peter Jacobsen (1847–1885). A German translation of his poems forms the text of the

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning o ...

Gurre-Lieder ' is a large cantata for five vocal soloists, narrator, chorus and large orchestra, composed by Arnold Schoenberg, on poems by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen (translated from Danish to German by ). The title means "songs of Gurre", ref ...

'' by Austrian composer

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

(1874–1951).

Excavations

A partial excavation of the ruin took place in 1817. In 1835, a major excavation of the ruins took place, during which the remains were surveyed and mapped. Additional research took place in the 1890s. In 1921, the remains of a stone building were exposed. In the years 1936 to 1939, a restoration of the ruin was carried out.

History

Excavations

References

Further reading