Literature
While any Danish student can recite the history of the Ãresund tolls even held upside down and blindfold while being tickled by a feather and forced to listen to loud death metal, internationally Elsinore is above all known for its part in Shakespeare's Hamlet, prince of Denmark, one of the most celebrated plays in the English language. Elsinore's prominent place in European history in the age when the play was written ca. 1600, is by some claimed to be the reason Shakespeare chose Elsinore and Kronborg as the setting, rather than the Danish capital.
History
Until the middle ages, Elsinore was nothing but a small trading post. But endowed by the proximity to Sweden, a mere 5 kilometers 3 miles across one of Europe's most strategically important straits, Ãresund, Elsinore since grew into one of Denmark's most important cities. During the 15th century, when Denmark controlled the lands of Southern Sweden, King Eric of Pomarania build two fortifications; Krogen in Elsinore, which would later develop into the famous Kronborg castle, and Kernen Kärnan across the strait in Helsingborg to guard the entrance to the strait, and subsequently introduced the oft hated Ãresund tolls for all passing foreign ships. These ships had to pay the tolls at the docks of Elsinore, and hence used the city for provisioning as well. The history of the toll lasted until 1857, even though Denmark lost the southern Swedish provinces in 1658. With the loss of the toll, Elsinore plummeted into poverty, but Denmark's subsequent industrialization had a positive impact on the city, for example the city developed an important ship building industry in line with it's maritime heritage, the ever growing ferry traffic to Sweden also had a positive impact, with many Swedes day tripping to Elsinore for shopping, above all for alcohol taxed much less in Denmark than across the strait. While the ferry traffic has faded somewhat since the building of the Ãresund bridge between Copenhagen and Malmö, it still bring life to the city,,