Denmark, Helsingoer

Helsingør in English also known by the name Elsinore, 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 Hamlet, whence the spelling 'Elsinore' originated.

The name is derived from *Hals meaning "neck" and thus here also "narrow strait", i.e. the narrow strait (Øresund) between what is now Helsingør and Helsingborg. The Rerum Danicarum Historica (1631) claims that the history of Helsingør can be traced back to 70 BC, but this information is highly dubious.

Helsingør as we know it today was founded in the 1420s by the Danish king Eric of Pomerania. He established the Sound Dues in 1429 and built the castle 'Krogen', which was made bigger in the 1580s and named Kronborg. The oldest parts of the cathedral of Helsingør date back to the 1200s and tell us that the fishermen's village, as Helsingør was then, was a town of a certain importance.

Helsingør has a large number of foreign-born inhabitants. the largest immigrant groups are Turks, Arabs, and Gypsies; most of them live in housing projects such as Vapnagård and Nøjsomheden, 3 km West from the city center.