| Summary
| | The 19th century was marked by great discoveries in technology and nature science. This led to the breakthrough of industrialization with great changes in production, infrastructure and life forms.
The development was carried by romantic and national liberal currents, which expressed itself in a Scandinavian movement, which also left traces in art. |
At the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century a movement towards Scandinavian unification and unity evolved. It sprung partly from the conceptions of the Romantic Movement, but it also had to do with the increased travel activity and the growing cultural exchange.
At first it was the intellectual and literary circles, which headed this increased contact and exchange, but in the course of the 19th century the movement had gathered a certain popular and political support.
The unification of the three Nordic kingdoms was seriously discussed, but it was not in line with the great powers of Europe. Denmark was alone when attacked by England in the beginning of the 19th century and the international events concerning the Schleswig wars in 1848 and 1864 put a stop to these deliberations.
The Swedish-Danish rapprochements were a result of a joint development and culture for the liberally oriented middle classes. The development of the infrastructure around the Sound-region with steamships and railways partly diminished distances, also mentally. Differences, and especially similarities became more visible.
Little by little contacts were made across the Sound and they became more frequent and included all social classes. Most visible were the products of the cultural exchange: Monuments, buildings and a mutual influence in literature and art.
The development in North Zealand contained certain development traits, because the area also became a recreational area for the metropolitan region. What was earlier a prerogative for the royal family and the court, now also became available for the middle classes.
From the year 1800 the Copenhagen area developed into a dynamic centre in the region with an explosive population increase, industrial development and a great increase in acreage in the time after 1857. Labour from the surrounding rural society, not only from Denmark, but also from South Sweden moved towards the Copenhagen area, where the wages were twice as high and the living conditions generally much better.
The evolution on the Swedish side took place somewhat later, but in the course of the 1880´s it gathered momentum in Malmo, where the labour movement, with experiences from the Copenhagen area, soon had a foothold.
In the latter part of the 19th century a large harbour was built in Helsingborg and this became the beginning of a rapid development. Helsingborg was in many ways leading the development in Scania and many leading individuals here had their roots in Denmark.
Elsinore was with its attachment to the Sound Duty, which was not lifted until 1857, when also the freedom of trade law was carrie, but here the industrial evolution became apparent too, during the course of the 19th century. In this period Elsinore, with the abolishment of the Sound Duty in 1857 and the foundation of a shipyard in the 1880´s, went through a development, which made it the largest industrial city in Zealand, next to Copenhagen.Travel Stories
| | In the beginning of the 19th century there are travel accounts from Zealand and Scania by a number of culture personalities of the time.
The travel accounts of the time tell us what the landscape and cities looked like. You can also sense the lifestyle and mentality of the time.
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| | The Swedish civil servant, Odenkrants, undertook a journey from Helsingborg, via Elsinore to Copenhagen in the summer of 1806. Odencrants kept a diary during his journey.
So did Francisco de Miranda from Venezuela and the Danish historian and linguist Christian Molbech. |
Francisco de Miranda
In the end of the 18th century Francisco de Miranda, the later national hero in his homeland, Venezuela, took a culture trip in Europe. He was a personal friend of the Russian empress, but he also was able to become a general in the French revolutionary army. He died in Spanish captivity. By the end of 1787 Miranda was on his way from St. Petersborg via Sweden to Copenhagen. He travelled through Sweden to Helsingborg in his own carriage:
"December 21th 1787
Inden man i Helsingborg havde stemplet et »Passer" i mit pas, og båden var kommet, var klokken allerede blevet over 3. Der var også tusind diskussioner med folkene i tolden om undersøgelsen af min bagage, men til slut kom overtoldinspektøren, baron Koskull (Kuskaal), som med stor elskværdighed bragte orden i det hele og fulgte mig ud på bryggen (han rådede mig dog til at give en skærv til vagterne), men her fandt jeg min vogn skilt ad og allerede bragt ombord på en båd med voldsomme stød og slag, så jeg ikke begriber, at den ikke blev slået i tusind stykker. Og for dette var jeg nødt til at betale en rigsdaler til folkene!
Omsider hejsede vi dog sejl, og med en gunstig vind kunne vi efter fem og tyve minutters sejlads stige i land i Helsingør(Elsineur)
På overfarten kunne man nyde det skønneste syn af begge kysterne og udsigten fra land til land. Afstanden fra Sverige er en halv mil (efter hvad en ingeniør i Helsingør fortalte mig 9.840 skridt, målt med en kæde trukket over isen).
I Helsingør blev jeg først antastet af en vagthavende sergent, der skulle have mit pas for at give det til kommandanten; dernæst af betjentene, som skulle undersøge min bagage. Toldkontrolløren, monsieur Møllerz var dog så venlig at lade mig gå ind i sin stue, indtil mit stakkels køretøj var blevet udskibet i samme jammerlige forfatning, hvori det var blevet indskibet. Og så blev jeg oven i købet tvunget til at betale en rigsdaler derfor! Så fulgte det forbandede toldeftersyn, der ubarmhjertigt gennemrodede hele min smule bagage, de så endda efter, om mine veste var brugt eller ej! I sandhed, hvilken smålighed!
... Til sidst måtte jeg så betale 2 rigsdaler til båden, der havde bragt mig fra Helsingborg, og da jeg omsider havde rystet alle disse kæltringer af mig og var sluppet ud af denne redelighed, tog jeg ind på Carmichael.s gæstgivergård (Karmickell), hvis ejer, der lød dette navn, havde hjulpet mig ud af kniben…"
Francisco de Miranda |
Thor August Odencrants
As seen from Miranda´s depiction it was not easy to cross the Sound around the turn of the century. There were only a few weekly departures by sailboat each way and it could be expensive and difficult. Thor August Odencrants, a high official and later High Court Judge, undertook a culture journey in the neighbouring country. Here is an excerpt from his arrival in Elsinore July 31th 1806:
”Fra søen præsenterer Helsingborg sig mindre til sin fordel eller som en bondeby imod Helsingør, som ved større bygninger, kirke med højt tårn, alle skibene og fornemmelig Kronborg Slot frembyder et langt mere imponerende skue...
...Sproget forstod jeg vel, men syntes – som formentlig de fleste svenske - at dets lyd er ubehagelig og blødagtig. Noget værdigt og stolt måtte man vist aldrig udsige med fynd på dette sprog, som ene synes at høre fejheden og den svage til. Måske denne ide hidrører fra en slags medfødt antipati mod alt dansk. Den fremkalder foragt, men den som de danske nærer mod os kommer vist af nogen frygt og såret egenkærlighed.”
Odencrants (1782 - 1829) | 
The Diary of Odencrants |
Christian Molbech In Zealand
The Danish historian and linguist Christian Molbech, who later became an important promoter of the the cultural co-operation across the Sound depicted the North Zelandic nature in his script ”Youth Walks in my Native Country”. Molbech walked from Esrum to Elsinore:
»Fra Esrom lagde jeg Vejen forbi Gurre til Helsingør. Længe nød jeg Udsigten over den blikstille Esrom Sø, som man her fra Bankerne ved dens nordlige Ende ganske overseer. Den store blanke Flade lå spejlklar for mig; mit Øje gled hen over Vandet forbi den høje Skov, en lang, grønklædt Mur, der hegner den vestlige Bred, forbi Fredensborgs Tårnspidser og det skinnende hvide Skipperhus, til det i den fjernere Baggrund tabte sig i Bugter, hvor Skovene vare omhyllede af tynde Morgentåger…
…Under sådanne Omskiftninger så jeg den herlige Sø til forskellige Tider, og altid opdagede jeg ny Skønhed. Såre dejligt fandt jeg det, gennem den adspredte Skov ved Søens nordøstlige Kant, at se den snart at vise sig, snart at forsvinde og således længe, skønt svindende, at følge mig, til den endelig sagde mig Farvel på Bankerne ved Landsbyen Tikøb. .."
Molbech was evidently captivated by the magnificent view of Esrum Lake. In Tikøb he wanted to visit the old church, but it was locked, so he continues his journey. In Tikøb he was fascinated by by an unusual peasant´s garden, but he did not, as it appears, think much of the aesthetic sense of the peasantry:
"…jeg fik nogen Oprejsning for dette Savn ved at køre forbi en stor, meget vel anlagt og indhegnet Bondehave, tilhørende den brave Lars Olsen i Tikøb hvor jeg ikke blot så Frugttræer og Havebede og Gange i den pyntelige Orden; men endog en Træhave på den anden Side af Vejen, hvor Ejeren opelsker og poder allehånde Frugttræer.
Så meget dette Syn end fornøjede mig, blev dog både min æstetiske og økonomiske Nydelse hastig forstyrret ved den Tanke, at hvad jeg her så, er i Sjælland måske en Undtagelse af en blandt hundrede. Det varede længe, før jeg kunde glemme denne Have; og da Økonomien aldrig ret kan blive Hovedsagen hos mig, tænkte jeg mig først, hvor muntre og livlige vore Landsbyer og adspredte Bøndergårde vilde blive, når vi få dem omringede af sådanne Haver.
Uvilkårlig måtte jeg da også tænke på, hvorledes ikke blot Bondens Pung, men også hans Sædelighed kunde vinde ved den forøgede Virksomhed og behagelige Afveksling, som den blide Havedyrkning, en Syssel, der nærmer Mennesket så meget til det Skønne i Naturen, kunde forskaffe ham. Det er en almindelig, og mig synes ikke glædelig Erfaring, at folk af denne Klasse ikke blot savne næsten al Sands for det Skønne; men at de og såre sjældent ville lægge Vind på nogen Frembringelse, der ikke lover øjeblikkelig Fordel. Jeg er ikke af dem, som kunne ønske denne Folkeklasse en unaturlig Kultur; men det synes mig, at Havedyrkning er en af de rolige, fredelige Sysler, der fortjene og behøve Opmuntring og fuld Opmærksomhed hos dem, der ville arbejde på Bondestandens sande Forædling."
Christian Molbech |
Country and Towns
On his further journey Molbech dwelled on the ”lonely beauty” of the area and he had a hard time getting rid of that feeling as he did not like the reunion with culture in Elsinore.
"I en blid, alvorlig Stemning forlod jeg Gurre, hvis stille ensomme Skiønhed, set på en lys, men ikke klar Høstdag, har et stærkt romantisk Anstrøg, der vedligeholder sig gennem den vilde udyrkede Sandegn imellem Skovene ved Gurre og Helsingør. Banker med sparsomt Krat, Tørvemoser, øde Lyngheder, hvor hist og her et lille ensomt Træ afbryder den sørgelige Ensformighed, som de ellers ret venlige røde Lyngblomster omsider frembringe - dette er Alt, hvad vi her møde. På enkelte Steder frembringer det en underlig Kontrast, på den ene Side af Vejen, at se en vel dyrket Ager, og paa den anden, den nøgne, vilde Hede. Imidlertid fandt jeg denne Vej aldeles ikke ubehagelig; den fremmede, øde Skikkelse, hvori jeg så Naturen, var mig endog ret interessant; jeg var ligesom med et forflyttet ud af Sjælland, og Egnen om Helsingør, der ligger skjult bag høje Banker, indtil man er Byen ganske nær, Udsigterne over Sundet, og Byens eget Udseende var mig ligeså nyt som alt det Øvrige.
En Købstad med 5 til 6000 Mennesker i Fredstider er naturligvis noget Andet end vore almindelige Smaastæder, og vi genfinder her kun en Del af disses udvortes Præg. Skønt Folkevrimlen i disse Tider er langt mindre, end da Handel og Skibsfart blomstrede, var den Befolkning, jeg fandt på Gaderne, mig dog næsten overraskende. Byens Beliggenhed fandt jeg i det Hele temmelig sørgelig; og skønt den har adskillige ordentlige Gader, og ikke få store og smukke Huse, blev jeg dog om¬sider ked af at vanke omkring imellem den større Mængde af sletbyggede Gader og Huse, som man i Almindelighed finder dem i vore små Købstæder."
Molbech in Scania
Christian Molbech continued in the following years his walks on the other side of the Sound and collected his accounts in the work, ”Rejser i Sverrig” 1812. Here is the following description of the area around Bækkeskov in north-eastern Scania:
"Veien følger en Stund Bredden af Kiaby eller Opmanna-Sø, og nu viser sig med ét det romantiske Bekkeskov på en skovbegroet Landtunge imellem to Indsøer. Den anden af disse er den store lvø-Sø, hvis Vandflade lyste frem imellem Bakkerne. Den har sit navn af Ivø, en stor, til dels med Skov bevokset ø, der udgør et helt Kirkesogn, hvis Bønder gør Hoveri til Bekkeskov. Over Træerne, plantede langs med Søens Bred og omkring Gården, hævede den gamle Klosterbygning sine røde Mure og Tårne, hvilke i Aftensolens Glans luede med stærkere Rødme, end om Dagen.
Et dejligt, malerisk Landskab, og en såre romantisk Beliggenhed! Skulde jeg ligne denne Klosterbygning med nogen i Danmark, som jeg kender, måtte det være med Herlufsholm; men Bekkeskov ligger i en skønnere og rigere Egn.
. . . Ved Bekkeskov er en stor og smuk Have, der strækker sig ned til Søen. Her traf jeg en ung Officer, Ritmester Toll, Generalens Brodersøn og Adjudant, der havde den Artighed at vise mig om i Haven. Det skønneste Parti er en herlig, tæt Lund, langs med den brede Kanal, der slynger sig dejligt igennem de mørke Løvhvælvinger. En Del af de tilgrænsende Marker med Agre og Enge er sat i Forbindelse med Haven, og ved adskillige vakre Anlæg, uden at berøves sin Bestemmelse, forvandlet til en vidtløftig Park."Arndts Travel
| | In 1804 Ernst Moritz (1769-1860)from Rügen described a journey in Scania and along the Sound coast, a journey, which he found fascinating.
The impression was a changing landscape: Agricultural reforms ushered in a new age, but in the cities there had not been any significant changes since Linné´s famous journey in 1749. |
In the beginning of the 19th century it became popular to read travelogues. Many authors depicted their experiences from foreign countries. Ernst Moritz Arndt was one of these travellers and he explored the exotic Sweden. He was born in Rügen, which at that time was part of Sweden, which may explain his interest in this Nordic country. Arndt made an academic career for himself and became a professor in history in Greifwald as well as Bonn. However he fell into disfavour with the authorities because of his liberal views. He fought serfdom and advocated the union of Germany. His hatred towards France and Napoleon was evident and his attitude towards absolute powers.
Enterprising manufacturers and landowner did more for the evolution of society than conservative kings, priests and farmers, and this was a view that did not go down well with the establishment. Eventually he was rehabilitated and today the university in Greifswald is called “Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität and several other schools and institutions in Germany have been named after him.
Ernst Moritz Arndt | 
The Ferryman |
To travel is to learn
It was this man, who travelled across Sweden and collected his impressions in his famous travelogue: “Reise durch Schweden im Jahr 1804”.
Arndt´s travelogue is a goldmine for those interested in cultural history. It has been said that this book taught the Swedes about their country. The travelogue ends with the tour in Scania and through this we are also treated to a glimpse of the Sound coast fifty years after Linné´s Scanian journey. Here is a mosaic of some Arndt´s impressions.
Arndt came to Lund via Åhus-Yngsjö-Sjöbo and Dalby. And his first view of the Sound he described from Romeleklint in this charming manner:
“I stopped for a few minutes in lovely clear sunshine to enjoy the wide open view of Lund, Malmo, the ocean and the towers of Copenhagen”.
Visiting Lund
Lund as a city did not impress Arndt, not even the cathedral made an impact on him: “Lund is and open, irregular and in no way well-built town, which isn´t well-reputed through any kind of trade, but is nourished from farming and the university. The only old and strange building is the cathedral, but in contrast to many others, I don´t see it as an architectural marvel.
The activities in the Botanical Garden and the Academic Plantation seemed to point to a certain affinity to Linné´s views that the mild climate had certain advantages for Scania:
“In this Nordic country they wanted to grow plants, which isn´t even successful in any of Germany´s provinces, and they thought that Scania, as it is the most southern situated province, should have particularly good growing conditions for southern countries´ plants. They started all sorts of different colour plants and planted a multitude of mulberry trees, so they didn’t have to buy raw silk from Italians and Frenchmen. According to the Lund magistrate’s records about 100.000 mulberry trees where grown from seeds, and these endured several winters”.
When it came to the university Arndt seemed to mostly interested in the economical conditions of the professors. He left Lund and the Lund plains, “the best agricultural mould in the world”, and went to northwestern Scania, where Ängeltofta, the Kullen peninsula and Helsingborg beckoned.
Lund | 
Lund´s Cathedral |
Exemplary Farming
Ängeltofta estate, situated in Barkåkra outside Ängelholm, had become known for the rationalizations, which captain Karl Georg Stjernsvärd had carried through in the beginning of the 19th century. In his time the estate’s yield had doubled ten times since he changed it, abolished the day’s work obligation and had new farming equipment made. Arndt was very impressed with the activities on the estate, an admiration, which was surpassed later, when he visited Svaneholm. He described Stjersvärd´s rationalization work:
“Now he made an altogether new and very enterprising decision, namely to use Scottish labour and to run the farming according to Scottish and English methods. Scottish blacksmiths made new equipment and above all Arndt praised the Scottish plough which doesn’t overturn the furrows, but line them up against each other, so that, according to the Scotsmen, the earth will mould much better.”
A new rotation of crops had been introduced with a six-fold circulation without fallow and new fine bulls of Dutch and English origin had been provided. According to Arndt Ängeltofta was genuine model agriculture.
Ängeltofta farm | 
Munument in Ägeltofta |
Hoganas and Helsingborg
The pit coal mines in Höganäs and the pit coal factories in Helsingborg was run by Count Eric Ruuth, who had become a respected figure in the Scanian business life and he received much credit for his way of concentrating on the industry in his factories. “Count Ruuth should rightly be remembered in his native country’s cultural history, but then – shouldn’t he be there in even greater glory than he who has made a sacrifice on the altar of his homeland? For he has invested a large part of his considerable fortune in a risky enterprise”.
Arndt came from Rügen, where a view of land and sea was natural and at every place, which offered something similar, he became nostalgic. Even in Helsingborg:
“In front of the city of Helsingborg is a hill with an old tower called Kärnan; here I stopped for a few minutes. The Sound with its hundred ships, Elsinore, Kronborg, the beautiful beaches of Zealand, the glimpse of Copenhagen’s towers in the distance – everything lay before me and seemed to flow away at the edge of the horizon. Oh, the pictures and desires it awoke in me. All the fabulous dreams of my youth, to sail off to India and Otaheiti, became alive at the sight of these countless flags and pennants. How easily I could have been on the other side. In a few hours I could be on the Danish beaches and a few hours later I could have walked the streets of Copenhagen”.
The beauty of the city made a far greater impact on him than the size of it. Arndt went down from the castle to a house with the inscription “English Tavern”, which was a nice, but very expensive inn. But “that is only natural in a place, where the number of travellers and foreigners from many nations is so great. I had dinner with several Danes and Germans, I even met some fellow countrymen from Pomerania and had the pleasure of speaking the language of the place I come from”.
His impression of Helsingborg as a meeting place grew stronger in his depiction of Ramlösa, who beckoned visitors from far and near and especially from Denmark.
Landskrona and Malmo
The new city of Landskrona made an agreeable impression on Arndt
“for during the past century everything has been laid out according to a new plan and the old city has been moved to its present place... The city is now regularly laid out with a beautiful town square, broad, straight streets and fine houses.”
In the areas of Landskrona tobacco was grown and the city had, according to Arndt, five tobacco factories. Of course he did not overlook Hven as the famous island where Tycho Brahe had performed his scientific calling.
To Arndt Malmo was the only city in Scania that could be compared to the German cities.
“The countryside of the city has mostly a pre-Frankish look, it is dark and densely built, but the more beautiful is the part, which is close to the castle and the harbour and in particular the town square. This is one of the most beautiful in the world; it consists of a square with many ornamental houses, among which the town hall and the mayor’s house is particularly fine”.
That the man from Rügen valued the broad horizon of the sea is evident from his visit to the waters and the harbour of Malmo:
“Many take a stroll on the green banks and the meadows around the town and along the sea and the harbour, which is west and there you can enjoy the evening in all its beauty. From here there is a view of Copenhagen with its towers reflected in the water and an infinite number of pennants.”
Svaneholm
But what made the greatest impression on Arndt in Scania was Rutger MacLean´s activities in Svaneholm:
“Some twenty years ago he made a plan to liberate his many farmers, who were estate day-labourers and poor peasants with a scarce livelihood, from all this service obligation and turn them into independent human beings. What a battle on all sides against stupidity and prejudice! But he succeeded with resolution and without bitterness. For many years he was then occupied with setting up boundaries between his own and his neighbours´ estates.... Every farmer now should take care of his own field and meadow, live in the middle of his land in what he was able to maintain reasonably and comfortably. Before the farmers had their fields in 53 different places and more often than not fields situated three miles away from the farm, which they were not able to cultivate properly; in short, they were in a sorry state.”
Arndt did not overlook the peasants´ dissatisfaction with MacLean’s reforms:
“Mot became dissatisfied and objected when he presented them with his new household plans and the lease, which had very favourable terms. Their dissatisfaction forced him to go ahead with it all, for those who had been cut off could easily find employment elsewhere, which could have meant that he, with all his humane and patriotic views, could have gotten into difficulties through lack of people. Twenty households abandoned him and were taken in on the nearby estates.”
In his depictions of MacLean and Svaneholm the economical changes dominated, but Arndt also wanted to draw a picture of the enlightened man’s care for his peasants: “His incessant goal is to educate his peasants and their children – for he puts his faith in a future generation of sensible, considerate and capable people... For this purpose he has built schools for the peasants´children and built two schoolhouses, one in Skurup by the church, which is under his patronage, and the other one east of there in the middle of his area, so that the children will not have to take a long and difficult way.”
Thus Arndt hoped that the Scanian landlords would follow the example of Svaneholm so that the neglected and miserable farming which still dominated the landscape would not exist too lang. When he left the estate to travel back to Germany from Ystad he wrote down the following hope:
“Oh, my poor country! When will your MacLean show himself? When will we learn that it is as shameful as it is stupid, a sin in the face of God, earth and mankind to treat human beings as slaves.”?
Svaneholm |
| |
 | | Large | Friedrich Kuhlau (1786-1832) |
| | Large | Friedrich Kuhlau (1786-1832) |
H. C. Andersen
| | H.C. Andersen´s motto was”To travel is to live” and he undertook several journeys in his life. Some of the first went to Northern Zealand and he also crossed the Sound several times. |
Romanticism and Wanderlust
H.C.Andersen were among the first to depict the bliss of Northern Zealand. However he did so reluctantly. He was taking his A-levels under Headmaster Meisling, originally in Slagelse, but when Meisling transferred to Elsinore Andersen went with him and he spent a year from 1826- 27 in the grammar school in Elsinore.
H.C.Andersen had to promise headmaster Meisling as well as his benefactors to stick to his school, but he couldn´t give up writing entirely. He depicted his first encounter with the Sound Duty town of Elsinore, a provincial town with a cosmopolitan air like this:
Helsingeur den 8. Juni 1826.
"Betragtet ude fra Vejen lovede Helsingeur mig ikke meget, men nu jeg er inde i den, synes den mig et lille København, og jeg tror ofte at være der; hvilken Færdsel! hvor livlig på Skibsbroen, her taler nogle tykke Hollændere deres hule Sprog, der hører jeg det harmoniske Italiensk, længere henne læsser de Stenkul af en engelsk Brig, saa jeg tror at lugte London. Sundet er besat med Skibe, der som Strandmåger svæver forbi Kysterne. -I Dag gik der et stort Krigsskib herigennem trukket af et Dampskib, de saluterede, og lystigt drønede det og gav ekko fra Kullen."
View towards Kullen |
Outing at Marienlyst
Shortly after his arrival Andersen had the opportunity to experience the area, when he went on outings with the Meislings. H.C. Andersen was very enthusiastic, but it must be taken into account that it took place in his youth, before he went on his many journeys abroad:
"Igaar var jeg med Meisling i Marienlyst; o, det er noget af det første(ypperste)jeg har set! Hvor Søen og hele Egnen er dejlig, Meisling siger, at hele Kysten her skal have megen Ligning med kysten ved Neapel; hvilke herlige Bakker er der ikke i Haven; alt forekommer mig som Schweiz, og jeg følte mig saa usigelig lykkelig, o man maa blive Digter eller Maler ved at se den dejlige Natur. O, Velgører, Tak! Tak! for hvert lykkeligt Øjeblik! Livet er dog Herligt!!!"
Tidspunktet må være omkring pinse, hvor der var fester ved Hammermøllen i Hellebæk:
"I de første Dage spadserede vi ret, besøgte Marienlyst og Hammermøllen, hvor M. betalte for mig og Børnene, for at vi måtte ride på Træhestene. Jeg har vist taget mig komisk ud...
Headmaster Meisling | 
City Dwellers in the Country | 
View of Elsinore |
Reunion with Elsinore
The stay in Elsinore under headmaster Meisling was a terrible time in Andersen´s life and probably explains his later somewhat ambiguous realionship with the northern coast of Zealand, which he later called “The Fever Coast” and “The Zealandic Greenland”. He shunned the area and claimed that it made him ill to stay here. It is not until 1837 that there are information about his movements on the North Coast between Elsinore and Hellebæk-Ålsgårde. A diary note from June 20-22. testifies to this, but there are no thoughts about his time in the grammar school ten years earlier:
"Kjøbenh.:20 [juni].
Oppe Klokken 4. Deiligt Vejr. Reitzel forærede mig en. Improvisator og et Lommetørklæde over Sverrig. Luftet lidt kjøligt. Klokken. 12 i varmt Solskin i Helsingør. Var med Gad i Kronborg. En vaad, kold Tåge, kom, som Skyer fra Kattegattet. Det øverste af Kronborg skjultes. Hveen et lavt Capri. Udsigt fra Boyes Have. Var hos Olsen (lidt Patient.)"
Kronborg 1825 |
Andersen across the Sound
H.C. Andersen had visited Capri on his Italy trip around1830. His visit to doctor Olsen that day was perhaps caused by excitement for as it appears Andersen crossed the Sound Thursday the 22nd to Helsingborg and Sweden, which he now visited for the first time:
"I Helsingborg Soldaterne, særdeles smukke. Sproget klang som Musik. Den ny Havn. Springvand paa Torvet. Boer i Hotel de Munthe. Var anbefalet Dr Ohlsen, som boede meget elegant, han førte mig op gjennem Haver til Kjærnen, der ligger høit over Byen, ovenpaa var den græsgroet, som en Bakke, man anede ei at det var et Taarn. - Gik med Adolf Rosenkilde siden op til Kjærnen igjen. Sol-Reflexen paa det brede Sund glimrende, Vandet mælkehvidt. Kullen ragede op over Sundet…"
Efter et enkelt døgns ophold I Helsingborg går turen videre op igennem det nordvestlige Skåne og ind i Halland:
"Fredag 23.- Smerter og derfor ilde stemt. Graat Veir. Maleriske Fruentimmer. Birketræer. Kullen. Engelholm, den maleriske Træbro. Spiiste Frokost. Postillonen. Belmanns Vise. (Sjöbeck..) - Ved Laho1m forbi Lave-Elv med Vandfald, rundtom brændte Lyng. Klippenatur. Slette med et Monument for Kong Carl den 11. og en Steen, for Lützau:” stümpat men kämpande faldt her den tappre Lützau i Feldtslaget 17 August 1676.” - Halmstad, Middagsmad, en smuk Bro med støbt Jern. Fæstningsport. Bøgeskoven, den sidste i Sverrig. Falkenberg, det var Midsommers Festen, Pigerne pyndtede Maistangen i morgen Nat skal der være Dans...
…Løverdag den 24. Top Kaisa! siger vor Postillon. (Du min moder säg! Belmannsk Vise). I Varberg opreist en Midsommerstang, spiist godt…"
Perhaps the coachman sang on the way, for Andersen knew Bellman´s songs and he also became acquainted with Swedish midsummer customs. Lützau was a Danish officer, who was killed in the Scanian War and for whom the local population had erected a worthy memorial.
Repeated Travels
In the years 1839 and 1840 Andersen travelled around in Scania and in 1849 he took a longer journey around Sweden, which was depicted in the book ”I Sverrig” from 1851. In 1865 H.C. Andersen travelled to Stockholm and Uppsala, this time with the railway from Malmø to Stockholm. Andersen´s last stay in Sweden had finished in 1864. However he travelled through Sweden in 1871 on his way to Norway.
H.C. Andersen travelling |
Skandinavism
| | After 1830 the contacts across the Sound were increased. Joint scientific congresses were held and a number of large students´ meetings manifested the Scandinavian sense of community for the years to come. |
The Royal Skandinavism
| | The end of the many wars between Denmark and Sweden and the Scanian countries´ definitive transition to Sweden, created a “blue wall” through the Sound. A passport was now required to cross the Sound and communication across the Sound was limited for a number of years.
Marriages between the royal families re-established the connections, but during the Napoleonic wars the two countries ended up on different sides in the conflict and the transition of Norway to Sweden in 1814 chilled the relationship once again. |
The Roots
The attitude towards Sweden in Denmark after the end of the Great Nordic War in 1720 was relatively conciliatory. Denmark had definitively come to terms with the fact the Scanian countries were lost, while Sweden had a harder time of facing the lost status of big power. Both parties were at an early stage alert to the Russian big power ambitions in the Baltic area and in 1740 the Danish public officer said that: “the three Nordic kingdoms would gain in power and independence and happiness” when united. Efforts to create a Nordic union with a Danish crown prince as a starting point did not succeed, but in 1756 the two states entered into a federation of neutrality.
A Married Royal Couple
In 1766 the Swedish King Gustav III married the Danish Princess Sofie Magdalene. Gustav visited Denmark as a crown prince as early as 1770 and as Swedish King he visited briefly in 1786. July 9th King Gustav was received at Marienlyst Castle in Elsinore, where the king had arrived at 12 o´clock. He dined accompanied by Turkish chamber music from oboists of the Royal Life Guards and oboists from Kronborg. At 6 PM he went to Hellebæk to visit the rifle factory and in the evening he returned to Sweden.
Gustav III at Fredensborg |
Inoffical Visit
King Gustav came back in October 1787, this time on an unannounced visit to Copenhagen. The periodical “Minerva” wrote, that every “Scandinavian “ must feel great joy over the sense of community that this visit stood for. Thus “Scandinavian” became a household word.
But the Danes were a bit worried at this latest visit, which took the court by surprise, and they feared a hidden agenda with regards to foreign policy. At the first visit the Danish king had spat in the soup and left the meal abruptly, so they feared what the autocratic, but deranged king would do or be persuaded to do. Gustav had plans to expand in the east, but Denmark had formed an alliance with Russia and in 1788 the two parties as a result of the alliance fell out with each other.
Gustav III Murdered
However, in 1792 the Swedish king was murdered during a masked ball at Stockholm’s Castle and the threat of war blew over for the time being. That same year the Danish professor Sneedorf held a lecture in the Nordic Society in London saying how important it was that the three Nordic countries united and in 1794 another federation of neutrality was signed by Denmark and Sweden. At that occasion the Danish foreign minister Bernsdorff said: “Everything that brings Denmark and Sweden closer to each other is natural; all that separates them in unjust and unnatural”.
Swedes Hiding in Denmark
Count Horn, who was implicated in the murder of Gustav 3., had to spend his days in Danish exile and he is buried in the Assistens Churchyard in Copenhagen. The plight of the exiled was often wretched and he lived on the mercy of others. The high official Johan Bülow found a note written by Count Horn, probably addressed to the Danish king, in a vase at Marienlyst Castle, and it shows his condition:
“Noble owner of these places, the love of your people! Do not refuse the honest homage of a fugitive, a fugitive, who from foreign shores beholds his native country, lamenting his fate and that of all other nations governed by kings, who do not know how to imitate you.”
To be part of a conspiracy to commit murder is of course a serious matter, but Claes Horn and the nobleman Ehrensvärd were tolerated and were happy in Denmark and apparently it didn’t affect the relationship between Denmark and Sweden at the turn of the century.
The Napoleon War
In spite of the federation of neutrality Sweden and Denmark took different sides during the Napoleonic war and it came to minor incidents between the two parties in 1808-09 and later in 1813. After the dethroning of the Swedish King Gustav IV Adolf a Danish Prince Christian August was elected heir to the throne, but after his sudden death a former French general Bernadotte took the throne. Bernadotte converted to the Protestantism on the Swedish consulate in Elsinore and then travelled across the Sound.
The outcome of the Napoleonic wars meant that Sweden lost Finland in 1809 and Denmark lost Norway, which instead was united with Sweden in 1814. Norway’s transition to Sweden entailed that the mutual relationship was cooled down, but in the course of a few decades the contact was increased considerably among other things because of the improvement of the means of communication.
Monument in memory of Christian August | 
The Swedish consulate in Elsinore | 
The Swedish consulate in Elsinore | 
Bernadotte disembarks in Helsingborg | 
The Bernadotte Monument in Helsingborg |
The Literary Scandinavism
| | By the end of the 18th century the mutual cultural interest and exchange were increased, and in the age of Romanticism the common Nordic traits in language and literature were rediscovered. The cultivation of the Nordic past and mythology lead to a new literary departure and the forming of joint periodicals and societies. |
In the course of the 18th century there was an increased cultural interest and exchange between Denmark and Sweden, e.g. was Linné´s scientific works very much admired also in Denmark, the comedies of Ludvig Holberg was discovered in Sweden and from the other half of the 18th century the songs of Bellmann were cultivated in Copenhagen too.
Litterary Incidence
The Danish liberty of the press at the end of the 18th century gave opportunities for a political and cultural exchange, but when censorship was intensified in Denmark it brought with it a tightened control of liberally oriented writers. One of them was Peter Andreas Heiberg, who was exiled because of his writings. To begin with he went to Sweden, where he served his military service. Malthe Conrad Bruun, who went into Swedish exile from 1796-99, followed him. Heiberg as well as Bruun were according to the standards of the time radical writers, who criticized the absolute monarchy and the official middle classes.
The wife of P.A. Heiberg stayed in Copenhagen, where she started a relationship with an exiled Swede, Carl Frederik Gyllembourg-Ehrensvärd. He was implicated in the murder of the Swedish King Gustav III in 1792. He fled to Denmark and lost his titles and powers in Sweden. Thomasine Heiberg was granted divorce from her husband, P.A. Heiberg because of his exile and she married Ehrensvärd under the name of Gyllembourg. Thomasine Gyllembourg became the most famous woman writer in the first half of the 19th century in Denmark and she was the mother of the most well known arbiter of taste of the time, Johan Ludvig Heiberg.
The Scandinavian Literature Society
As early as 1796 “The Scandinavian Literature Society” was formed. The society published a periodical called “Scandinavian Museum”. At the time Denmark led the way in these unification ideas, which of course had a setback in connection with the Napoleonic War and after the separation of Norway from Denmark. The literary scholar Christian Molbech was a key figure in the cultural exchange, which for his part built on his repeated travels in Sweden, although he was suspected, in connection with the Napoleonic Wars, to be a spy and was prohibited to visit the Stockholm area.
Christian Molbech |
New Trends
It didn’t take more than a few decades before these efforts were taken up again, this time helped by the romantic and liberal currents in Europe. The new class, the middle class, whether Danish or Swedish, wanted modern political conditions and was not tied down by the absolute monarchies´ traditional conflict of interests.
The time of romanticism and the romantic invention of the concepts people and nation influenced all of Europe and many felt that people with a common culture, language and tradition should unite. This nationalism had created unification efforts in Europe in for example Germany and Italy. This is why these joint concerns became interesting even in Scandinavia, for there were many things that united Denmark and Sweden and could overshadow the old animosity. Now greatness was in the past. Thus it was not strange that there was a movement towards the old days and an absorption in the old, glorious Nordic history.
The common Nordic
In Denmark the writers Grundtvig and Ingemann took the initiative to relive the Nordic mythology, the literature and the history of former times. The Danish linguist Rasmus Rask established scientifically the close connection between the Nordic languages. In 1812 Rask arrived in Stockholm with the literary professor Rasmus Nyerup. They were well received by their Swedish kindred spirits, but the authorities harassed them. At this time Denmark was engaged in a privateer war against Sweden’s ally, England, and Nyerup was suspected of having visited Sweden in 1810 for political reasons.
The mutual distrust was still great, but Nyerup still stood as an important cultural link until his death in 1829 and he inspired Erik Gustaf Geijer as well as Esaias Tegnér from Sweden, who wrote about the great Nordic history. The literary circles kept the Nordic memories alive in this cooled down period until 1830, where Scandinavism flourished again.
The Importance of Rasmus Rask
In 1816 Rasmus Rask returned to Sweden, at first in Kalmar and on November 12th in Stockholm, where he arrives after some trouble with his visa. He stayed there for some time. Rask had spent the years 1813-15 studying in Iceland and here he founded comparative linguistics. He spent his time in Stockholm studying Swedish, Russian and Persian; he translated his own Icelandic grammar, which included a translation of major parts of the Old Norse literature into Swedish and it was published along with the Anglo-Saxon grammar, which he was not able to get published in Copenhagen.
Rasmus Rask played an important part in increasing the interest in the common Nordic cultural heritage. In Copenhagen he had felt that he had to fight for recognition, but Stockholm received him with open arms. At one point a rumour spread that Rask wanted to stay in Sweden and that caused a commotion in Copenhagen: Scandinavian sense of community is one thing, another is the patriotism, which also was part of the time.
Oresund – the center
The dream of the old great North and nationalistic unification efforts were specifically united in the time after 1830 in the movement called “the Scandinavism”. Its centre of gravity was to become the Sound region, and here efforts were made to bridge over the Sound. Scania had after all been part of Denmark’s cultural centre before the Swedes took over, so it was natural that a rapprochement with Denmark was positively viewed in this landscape.
Regular steamship communications between Scania and Denmark began with the service Malmo-Copenhagen in 1828. Thus the Sound again had begun to work as a communication link – and not as a “blue wall” – between Sweden and Denmark. The new technique and the new ideas went hand in hand and were also able to motivate each others´ existence.
Ophelia |
The Kings of Poems in Lund
June 23. 1829 there was a conferring of degrees in Lund´s cathedral. Adam Oehlenschläger had arrived with the newly established steamboat route from Copenhagen and the bishop of Vaxsjö, Esaias Tegnér had arrived to see his son Kristofer get his degree. The Nordic poet kings paid homage to each other and Tegnér read his new poem:
“The time of division is over (and should never have existed in the free, infinite world of the spirit) and kindred sounds, which ring across the Sound, enthral us now and especially yours. Therefore Svea offers you a garland, here I speak for it, take this from a brotherly hand and carry it to commemorate the day!”
This incident is usually called the birth of Scandinavism and none of the bards could know the political significance it would have.
Tegnér and Oehlenschläger |
The Strengthening of Scandinavism
The connection between the Swedish and Danish men of letters was strengthened considerably the following years, where P. Atterbom was in close contact with the Danish romantic poets Carsten Hauch and Ingemann, who went to Sweden in 1833. Chiefly it was a spiritual movement towards a Nordic unification, romantically inspired, but not liberal political in its orientation. The Jutlandic poet S.S. Blicher, who visited Sweden in 1836 also had this relatively non-political basis, although be became a main force in the attempt to give Scandinavism more popular roots by connecting it to his Jutlandic meetings on the Himmelbjerg in the 1840´s. Thus in 1843 many Swedes attended and Blicher spoke to them in their native language.
Festivity for the People
The events also took a more popular-political turn with the establishment of the so-called Constitution Day meetings in Egebæksvang forest south of Elsinore. Originally May 28th celebrated the dawning democratisation of the Danish society of the estates of the realm, at first in 1841 with 5-6000 participants. The following year not only local participants attended but also visitors from Sweden and Copenhagen, the latter arrived with the ferry “Hamlet”. The event grew to become a significant manifestation of Scandinavism and the wish for a liberal constitution, which came a few years later in 1849.
The high point for these Constitution Day celebrations was the year 1845, where S.S. Blicher, Orla Lehman, Carl Ploug and the later Danish minister D.G. Monrad spoke. The Swedish editor and author Oscar Stuzenbecker, who advocated Scandinavism eagerly, extensively covered the celebration in 1845.
Hamlet |
H. C. Andersen and Scandinavisme
H.C. Andersen was perhaps the Danish writer, who attached himself closest to Scandinavianism and Sweden. During the first Sweden journey Andersen spent a month in Sweden, where he sailed the Gøta Channel and visited Stockholm. On his way he became acquainted with Scandinavianism, the Scandinavian sense of community. That same year he wrote the poem ”Jeg er skandinav ” (I am a Scandinavian) for the poetic calendar Hertha.
Scanian Journeys
In the year 1839 H.C. Andersen visited baron C.G. Wrangel on the manor Hyby in Scania on June 22nd. Midsummer June 23rd was celebrated on the estate Häckeberga and in the following days Andersen visited three more manors and Lund before he returned from Malmo to Copenhagen. In 1840 Andersen visted Scania again. First another visit to Hyby, after that he was honoured with a banquet and that same night he is celebrated with a serenade by the students in Lund on the town hall. The newspaper Malmø Nya Allehanda, wrote :
”Når Europa, inden lang tid er gået, erkender Andersens storhed som digter, glem da ej at Lunds studenter var de første som offentligt bragte ham den hyldest, han fortjener”.
An Emotional Writer
The event in Lund made a deep impression on Andersen. He wrote about in Mit Livs Eventyr:
"Efterretningen alene overraskede mig i den grad at jeg skjelvede over alle Lemmer. Jeg kom ganske i Feber-Tilstand, da jeg saae den tætte Skare, Alle med deres blaa Møtser paa Hovedet, Arm i Arm at nærme sig Huset; ja, jeg havde en YdmyghedsFølelse, en saa levende Erkjendelse af mine Mangler, at jeg ligesom følte mig trykket til Jorden, idet man hævede mig; da de Alle blottede deres Hoveder, idet jeg traadte frem, havde jeg min hele Kraft nødig for ikke at briste i Graad" ("Mit Livs Eventyr" 1855)."
I sin takketale til studenterne siger Andersen, ifølge hans egen erindring:
"De vise mig en Ære jeg slet ikke fortjener; jeg skal imidlertid stræbe i et kommende arbejde at udtale den Kjærlighed jeg føler til Sverrig. Gid jeg engang maa kunne levere et arbejde, hvorved jeg nogenlunde kan afbetale den Gjæld, jeg er kommen i paa en aandelig Maade!”
Acclaim
1840 was not a good year for H.C. Andersen in Denmark. He was badly reviewed for his exotic plays Mulatten and Maurerpigen. However, Mulatten, which was performed at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen February 3rd 1840, was a hit and was successful in April in Sweden, where it was performed in the Royal Theatre in Stockholm and by a travelling troupe in the smaller towns and in Malmo in Danish.
Recognition in his homeland however was scarce and in the arbiter of taste Johan Ludvig Heiberg´s play "En Sjæl efter Døden", which was published in the end of 1840, Andersen´s success in Lund was commented upon thus:
"Alt længe skinner hans Berømmelses Maane
over hele det store Kongerige Skaane."The Students
| | Students, steamships and flags at the students´ meeting in Copenhagen in 1845. Here Scandinavism began to have a political touch, which the politicians did not like. (Painting by Jørgen Sonne from the Frederiksborg Museum in Hillerød). |
Stronger Unity
In 1834 the gym teacher at the University of Lund, Gustav Johan Schartau, arranged an Olympic Game in Ramlösa outside Helsingborg. A new national feeling was to be created with a national festival and games among “The strong sons of Scandinavia”. The collaboration in the science field was strongly promoted be the Dane, Christian Molbech and most important was the natural scientist meetings, which started in 1839, at first in Gothenburg, after German model. In Denmark the physicist H.C. Ørsted personified these efforts and along the way thoughts of joint studies in Nordic universities were ripened
Nordic natural scientists´ meeting in 1847 |
Connections on Fixed Routes
In 1838, when there happened to be a fixed route across the Sound, the ice was used in a much more friendly manner than in 1658. Now, 180 years later, students from Lund walked over to the Danish side. Contacts were made and the common origin and the common history were underlined. At the same time the volunteer fire brigade in Helsingborg walked with torches across the ice to Elsinore. A party was held at Hotel d´Öresund and a week later the fire brigade in Elsinore arranged a similar trip, which ended with a party at Hotel Mollberg. Toasts and cheers dominated the festivities.
Student Meetings
A Nordic periodical " Brage och Idun " was published in 1839 by the author Frederik Barfod, who appeared at several Scandinavian students´ meetings. In a poem he read at a meeting in Copenhagen in 1842 the thought of the unification of the North was very clear:
Tripartite is the trunk of the North
But the root is one
The foliage of the top unites
Every branch of the trunk
The next year, in 1843, a huge students´ meeting was arranged in Uppsala. Travel arrangements from Copenhagen were made and along the way stops were made in Kalmar. It was no coincidence that this city was visited; it was the union city where Denmark and Sweden were united in 1397. Students from Lund and Copenhagen spoke and in the spirit of brotherhood a new union was held forth, this time built on the ideas of liberalism. Thus Scandinavism had a new political undertone, but it was mainly a South Scandinavian movement, while Uppsala mostly focused on the relationship with Finland and Oslo was sceptical with regards to a continued affiliation with Sweden.
Three flags, but one people |
The Copenhagen Meeting
In 1845 a huge Scandinavianist meeting was held in Copenhagen, where students from Uppsala, Lund and Christiania (Oslo) arrived by steamboat. To take the steamboat had taken on a symbolic value for the Scandinavianists. The steamboat was like Scandinavism something new and revolutionizing. The steamboat created the possibilities for regular contacts and had in a concrete manner once again changed the Sound into unifying waters.
At the Copenhagen meeting in 1845 many speeches were held and the spokesman for the Danish students, Orla Lehmann, in a appraised speech in the equestrian house in Christiansborg succeeded in making the students feel deeply for the Nordic unification thought. Afterwards he was charged with revolutionary activities, but was acquitted later.
The meeting in Copenhagen lasted a week and it was ended, of course, in Tivoli, where the founder of the amusement park, Georg Carstensen, received them. During the whole week feelings about the unification thought swelled and cheers sounded in between toasts and cups. In streets and squares they flaunted their Scandinavism and went to different meetings arm in arm. It was no secret elitist group, who gathered without showing the public what they wanted, but they wanted the public to become part of the new feeling of solidarity. The gatherings in squares and in parks used the public space for propaganda purposes.
Students´ meeting in 1845 | 
Orla Lehmann | 
Frederiksborg Castle | 
Stockholm 1856 | 
Copenhagen 1862 |
Political Confusion
From the beginning the mutual cultural inheritance had been emphasized, but first and foremost in Zealand and Scania it became a matter of political Scandinavism. It was this political variant, which contributed to worry in government circles. The autocratic Christian VIII as well as Karl XIV with his “one man government” had been suspicious of the movement all the way. In Denmark it was usual practice that Scandinavists were under close guard by the police.
All together the political relationship between Denmark and Sweden was poor on the official level because of the events concerning Norway, but when Oscar I succeeded his father as the king of Sweden in 1844 the relations improved considerably and the fact that the Swedish king visited Copenhagen was almost sensational. This had not happened since the visit of Gustav III 60 years earlier.
The Spokesman
In Helsingborg the Øresundsposten (The Sound Post) had begun an eager pro-Danish campaign and the newspaper became something of the official organ for Scandinavism during a couple of decades. The responsible editor, the publicist and poet, Oskar Patrik Sturzenbecker, deserves his own chapter. He had come from the literary circles in Uppsala to Stockholm, where he among other things wrote discourses in Aftonbladet under the pen name “Orvar Odd”.
In 1844 he moved to Copenhagen, participated in the student meeting in 1845 and involved himself more and more in the cause of Scandinavism. He settled in Helsingborg in 1847 and founded the Øresundsposten, whose character was radical liberalistic and Scandinavistic and therefore developed into the most noticed local paper in Sweden.
The name of the paper clearly showed the political intent. Sturzenbecker (later Sturzen-Becker) eagerly advocated Sweden’s participation in the Danish-German war in 1848 and made propaganda for a Scandinavian federation and was continuously in close contact with his Danish party colleagues. It is not wrong to claim that the strongest supporters of the Scandinavistic ideas were the academic circles in Lund and the Øresundsposten in Helsingborg.
Sturzen-Becker | 
Öresundsposten |
Revolution and Civil War 1848
When the absolute monarchy fell in Denmark in the revolution year of 1848 the possibilities of Scandinavism increased and the new king of Denmark Frederik VII, had, like his Swedish colleague, quite a different view of Scandinavism than that of their fathers. The political Scandinavism now went as far as to help with troops in the Danish-German war in 1848.
This resulted in great enthusiasm around the Sound. One example of this is that several hundred citizens from Elsinore went to Helsingborg one Sunday in May in 1848 to celebrate that Swedish troops were to land in Denmark. A great party was held with citizens of Helsingborg at the Hotel Mollberg.
The Swedish soldiers were placed in Funen, but were never actively used in the war, which ended with armistice negotiations in Malmo in the late summer of 1848. Until the end of the war Swedish troops were on guard in the winter of 1849-50.The Union Plans
| | Around 1850 the royal family on both sides of the Sound was positive towards Scandinavism and a new Nordic union with a joint royal family was seriously discussed. The kings also greeted the students´ Scandinavists deputations, but the backing was lacking in the Danish-German war in 1848 and 1864. |
Union Plans
The unification thoughts also blossomed at the Danish and Swedish court in the 1850´s and here they as far as to discuss a union under a Swedish king. Frederik VII was childless and thus it would be opportune with one king ruling Sweden-Norway and Denmark. This union would then play a greater part in European high politics. The great powers of Europe had opinions in this matter and they felt that the integrity of the Danish monarchy should be preserved. This was stated clearly at conferences held in London in 1850 and 1852.
A New Danish King
The succession in Denmark was then moved to Prince Christian of Slesvig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and his heirs. Perhaps this time – with the problems concerning Denmark’s southern border and the uncertain succession after the childless Frederik VII – was decisive when it came to a more extensive Scandinavian union. But it was missed with the passing of the Danish succession law of 1852, according to which the Glücksburger Christian IX was to succeed Frederik VII.
But many Danes had doubts about this Christian, who was to be their new king and that Frederik preferred a Swedish successor to the Danish Christian was quite clear. Oscar I as well as Frederik had planned for a union. Lively propaganda was carried through in Europe in order to make the great powers to approve of a union between the Nordic states. Many (among them Sturzen-Becker) wrote pamphlets in order to influence the European press. When Oscar I fell ill and died in 1859 the throne and the union plans were taken over by the son Karl XV.
Jovial Friendship
There was an even better personal chemistry between the new Swedish king Karl XV and Frederik VII. They met on several occasions, for instance in Ljungbyhed in 1860 and in connection with the student meeting in Copenhagen in 1862 and at a great meeting in Skodsborg in 1863 and the same year also at Bäckeskog in Scania. They formed a jovial friendship and the conditions for a union seemed good. Karl, with his unassuming style was popular in Denmark as well as Sweden. He was also very generous with his promises to the Danes and gave, in connection with the meeting in Skodsborg a verbal promise that Swedish troops would support the Danish defence of its southern border, which once again was threatened by the Germans.
Karl XV and Frederik VII | 
Karl XV and Frederik VII | 
Karl XV in Elsinore | 
Fredensborg Castle´s Park in 1862 |
Broken promises
But the promises were broken, when the Danish-German war started in 1863. At first the king was supported by foreign minister Mandelstrøm and the Swedish envoy in Copenhagen, Hamilton, but was later overruled by the ministers of the state. The Swedish government explained that they were not going to send any troops, a decision, which went against the wishes of Karl XV. In connection with this political turbulence Frederik VII died and Christian IX became king of Denmark. The union ideas began to fade away because of the broken Swedish promises, the distrust of the Swedish government and the new Danish king’s negative attitude and Scandinavism lost ground.Utopia or Reality?
| | When the Germans defeated the Danes in 1864 Scandinavism was set back, but in the following years new efforts were made and the steadily growing cultural exchange continued. The first Scandinavian Art and Industry Exhibition took place in Copenhagen in 1872. In architecture joint styles were developed and Copenhagen became the centre of the Modern Breakthrough in literature and art and attracted artists from all of Scandinavia. |
Scandinavism was not a political program, which was to be carried through. The Scandinavists met from time to time and successively new ideas, sympathizers and symbols evolved. It started as a cultural statement in the literary circles, developed into a real sense of community with plenty of toasts and cheers among students and the middle classes. Then it evolved into a political unification idea, where the kings had far reaching union plans, which finally went to pieces because of the reality of the European higher politics.
It is open to discussion how strong the mutual will and solidarity really was. If one compares it with other contemporary unification efforts in Germany and Italy – which succeeded – it was not because the political, religious and linguistic differences were greater – on the contrary. Another question was the surrounding world, particularly the attitude of the European great powers.
Russia and Prussia did not look mildly on a united command of the Sound and thus the entrance to the Baltic – in other words the classic problem in European higher politics concerning the Sound and Baltic region. But would the European great powers have gone against the will of the people in the time of dawning liberalism?
Exhibitions of Art and Industri
On an economical level Scandinavism had a certain impact, which manifested itself when the Scandinavian Art and Industry Exhibitions were held in Copenhagen in 1872. The idea of a joint customs union were killed, but in 1873 a Scandinavian monetary union with joint value and flow of exchange. Thus it was not necessary to change money within Scandinavia and the rate of exchange was always 100/100.
In 1888 once again an art and industry exhibition was held in Copenhagen and the first plans of a fixed link across the Sound in the form of a tunnel situated in the Elsinore-Helsingborg area stems from the following year. The proposer was a Swedish engineer, Rudolf Liljequist, who wanted to bring “Stockholm, Kristiania and Copenhagen in direct railway connection with Hamburg, Berlin and Paris, etc.” This was to be the first of a number of proposals to a fixed connection across the Sound.
Scandinavian Exhibition 1888 | 
Exhibition building 1888 | 
Oversættes | 
Plan for a Fixed Connection |
The Monument of the Battle of Lund
December 4th 1876 on the day of the 200-year anniversary of the battle at Lund, a circle of Scandinavistic minded people started a collection in order to erect a memorial on the spot where 9000 Danes and Swedes lost their lives in a bloody infighting. The intent was not to celebrate the narrow Swedish victory, but to create a joint memorial to the incident. The architect Helgo Zetterwald designed the monument and it was made of the material of the industrial age, namely concrete, which unfortunately crumbles so they had to erect a copy of solid granite in 1930.
The inauguration took place at a joint Danish-Swedish student celebration in 1883 and the speaker at the occasion was the chairman of the Scanian landscapes historical and archaeological society, Martin Weibull.
Typical of this occasion was its deep roots in the regional, in the Danish-Scanian relations, which in different forms took an upturn at this time. The circle around Weibull and a number of other academics at Lund´s University were leading in these efforts, which intended to cultivate the Scanian cultural heritage and history. In that respect it is difficult to get around many hundred years of common history to the year 1658 and that had an effect in various respects.
Monument for the Battle of Lund | 
Monument for the Battle of Lund |
Art and Architecture
| | Romanticism’s crush on the idyllic and the national was expressed in the visual art as well as literature. Often with North Zealand as a motif. This is from the small fishing village, Snekkersten, south of Elsinore.
In the architectural styles from the period it was common that public as well as private new buildings and restorations o fold castles, churches and estates had a strong national romantic character. This was the case on both sides of the Sound |
The Romantic North Zealand
| | In the early part of the 18th century North Zealand has already played a central part as a resort for romantic aesthetes and patrons of art and literature.
In the 19th century Hellebæk on the Northern Zealandic coast and Gurre in the country became cult places for the Danish Romanticism.
H.C. Andersen was a central character in Romanticism on both sides of the Sound.
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The interest for nature and the interest for the simple life outside the towns was nurtured by the romantic spirit of the time and the North Zealandic landscape seemed to accommodate such needs. The town dwellers went into nature to observe and experience it. The curiosity of the Enlightenment had paved the way for mapping and communication, which was combined with the more personal experience.
City Dwellers in the Country | 
The North Coast 1820 |
View of Elsinore | 
The Dance Hill at Sorgenfri |
Centre Gurre
The historian Christian Molbech travelled on foot in North Zealand in the year 1810. It took him to the historic Gurre. Molbech was among the first to discover Gurre and he contributed to making it a romantic cult place:
… "Skovegnen ved Gurre. Denne har et mere vildt og ensomt Præg end Egnene om Esrom Sø. Gennem Krat og over Lyngheder førtes jeg ind i en tæt, mørk Skov, hvor Vejen netop var så bred, at den gav Rum for én Vogn. Denne Vei går forbi Marianelyst, et Landsted, der ligger såre ensomt midt i Skoven, til en Skovridergaard, Valdemarslund, der har en meget skøn Beliggenhed, idet Husets ene Side vender mod Skoven, og den anden mod Gurre Sø.
Her er den romantisk dejlige Egn, som Valdemar Atterdag elskede så højt, at han kendte Intet, der så meget som denne fængslede ham til Jorden; og Pontoppidan gør med Rette den Anmærkning, at hans Sind var mere jordisk end himmelsk i hans Velmagts Dage. Her nød han sin Yndlingslyst, Jagten, i de Skove, der ganske omringer den skjulte, hemmelige Sø; og her glemte han hos sin Tovelille Kongelivets Glimmer og Byrder.
På en Høj ved Søens Bredder, hvorfra man har en skiøn Udsigt over den hele Sø og en Del af Skoven, stod Gurre Slot, og Voldstedet er endnu kiendeligt. I Nærheden deraf ligger Landsbyen Gurre, og en Lystgaard, der ligger imellem denne og Valdemarslund, har faaet Navnet Gurrehuus. Det fornøjede mig at høre disse Navne, fordi jeg i dem fandt en uventet Agtelse for den svundne Tids Minde, der er så sielden, at man ofte endog gør sig Umage for at udslette de historiske Erindringer ved Stederne, i det man afskaffer de gamle Navne, der gennem Århundreder udmærkede dem."
Christian Molbech | 
Gurre Lake | 
Gurre Castle | 
Marianelund | 
Valdemarslund |
Romanticism and History
An important side of Romanticism was the rediscovery and the worshipping of the historic past. There was ample opportunity for that in relation to Gurre. The Old Norse time and the middle Ages was revived among other things with N.F.S.Grundtvig´s devotion to Nordic mythology and folk songs, the national dramas of Oehlenschläger and B.S.Ingeman´s historic novels.
As early as the 18th century Gurre Castle and King Valdemar Atterdag(1320-1375) were artistic sources of inspiration. B.S. Ingemann was early with his ”På Sjølunds Fagre Sletter” (published in Julegave 1816), originally in eight stanzas, but most often reproduced in a four stanzas version.
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| | Large | Friedrich Kuhlau (1786-1832) |
| | Large | Friedrich Kuhlau (1786-1832) |
Legends
In the years 1819-23 the writer J.M. Thiele published his Danske Folkesagn (Danish Legends), which became a source of inspiration for the romantic poets. In it was also the legend of King Valdemar and Gurre Castle, which became a common source for the story of the wild ride of King Valdemar Atterdag.
The earliest known version of the legends was written by Christiern Nielsen Brun in 1580. It was probably an urban legend, Gurre was probably a locality in South Zealand, but Gurre Castle Ruin fuelled a romantic narrative. Ingemann stuck to the original Gurre-legend, but in a number of subsequent versions, H.C. Andersens Gurre-song (romance) from 1842, for example, the story of the king´s mistress, Tovelil, was inserted.
This inspiration came from the folk song about King Valdemar and Tove, which was reproduced in Ide Gjøe´s manuscript around 1630. Posterity showed that it was Valdemar den Store, who lived and reigned in the 12th century. The song is a so-called frille (mistress)-song, which is about forbidden love, in this case between the king and his mistress Tove and the theme definitely gave the story a new dimension.
The Gurre of H.C. Andersen | 
Gurrelieder |
Wide-Ranging Inspiration
The narrative was taken up again in Christian Winther´s long epos Hjortens Flugt (Flight of the Deer) from 1855 and by the other romantic poets Carsten Hauch and Henrik Hertz. Several of the poets from the Modern Breakthrough also used the narrative. However in J.P. Jacobsen´s Gurresange from 1867-69 it seemed the the romance was over and replaced by pure lust and eroticism.
It was these stanzas, which in German translation inspired Arnold Schönberg to his late romanti music work, Gurrelieder. Finally Holger Drachmann´s drama Gurre from 1898 is worth a mention, - dedicated to a contemporary Tove(”Midsommernatten 1887 – og for bestandig”) Here the eroticism had its roots in reality.
H.C. Andersen in Hellebæk
Another romantic centre in North Zealand was the area around Hellebæk, which appeared in the early Romanticism of the 18th century. H.C. Andersen, who stayed for a year in the grammar school in Elsinore, became acquainted with the view point Odinshøj in 1846 in Hellebæk-Ålsgårde. It obviously made a deep impression on him:
"...En Søndag skulde vi kjøre ud til et smukt Sted ved Sundet: Odinshøj, paa Vejen blev der Uenighed, og da vi kom til den lille Krat Skov der skjulte udsigten, stod M. af Vognen, men da han var vred ville han intet see, lagde sig derfor ved Vognen i Græsset for at sove, Fruen vilde derimod slet ikke stige ned, jeg og Børnene var altsaa de eneste der gik de Par Skridt bag Hækkene, hvor vi saae en af de første Udsigter, der da havde grebet mig. Det var en Klint vi stod paa, nedenfor laae Fisker¬hytter med udspændte Garn, Skibe seilede gennem Sundet, hvor Bølgerne brødes med en Støi, som naar der kjøres med Vogne, læssede med Jernstænger. Ligefor laae Sverrig med Kullen, hvor den blaalige Luft hvirvlede opi den klare Luft. - Intet Partie i Naturen har siden grebet mig stærkere end dette, men det var ogsaa en deilig Dag og Solen skinnede mig ogsaa i mit Hjerte"
Life Book, written in 1832(published 1926)
Oversættes |
The North Coast 1820 |
Early Poems
During the stay in the grammar school in Elsinore, H.C. Andersen was instructed, apart from diary notes and correspondence, to stick to his school work. Andersen did comply with this and some of his earliest poems are form this period. The troubles he encountered under the reign of headmaster Meisling may be indirectly felt in the poem "Det døende Barn" (The Dying Child), which was published in 1827. It was later translated and also became known in broadside versions.
H.C. Andersen himself pointed out The Dying Child and a poem from 1826, which were written on a walking tour to Copenhagen in July and published in Kjøbenhavns flyvende Post August 17th 1827. This early poem was a manifesto for large parts of his later work and revealed his characteristic self-staging. In the concrete descriptions in the poem you can find parallels to descriptions of the Elsinore area and perhaps the slope in the poem is inspired by Odinshøj?
Headmaster Meisling |
The Spirit in Nature
The notion of nature endowed with spirit was pivotal point of Romanticism. This is also true of the early universal Romanticism, pantheism, or as it was called in the 1840´s: The spirit in nature. The point was to get art, nature and science to form a synthesis in a time, where natural science, technology and industrialization gained ground.
H.C. Andersen knew the physicist H.C. Ørsted personally from his student days and he visited his home regularly. Like Ørsted he paid tribute to the triad of the truth (the laws of nature, the good (ethics) and the beautiful (aesthetics). H.C. Andersen showed a great interest for H.C. Ørsted´s romantic unity statement about the spirit in nature and the scientific and technological progress of the time appealed to the progressive poet.
In 1830 Andersen had during a stay on the mansion Hofmansgave looked into a microscope and wrote the short story Vanddraaben in 1847 (The Drop of Water), which he indirectly dedicated to H.C. Ørsted. H.C. Andersen wrote a song to the Scandinavian nature scientists meeting in Roskilde July 9th 1840. Among the participants were Hans Christian Ørsted, who influenced H.C. Andersen heavily in the 1840´s.
H.C. Ørsted | 
H.C. Ørsted | 
The Mature Andersen | 
H.C. Andersen in Sweden |
I Sverrig (In Sweden)
H.C. Andersen had studied Ørsted´s dissertations about the spirit in nature, when he embarked the steamship Øresund in 1849 in order to sail to Helsingborg and undertake a journey in Sweden. Andersen had Ørsted´s thoughts with him and it is expressed in the book I Sverrig, the, according to himself, “most rewritten book”. The book is published May 19th 1851.
I Sverrig is an unusual work, a poetic depiction of the sister country, but also a philosophical tribute to a new era. Chapter 10, Belief and Knowledge (Tro og Viden), with the subtitle Sermon in Nature (Prædiken i Naturen), is a philosophical text, where the feeling of beauty and the striving towards harmony, as it can bee seen in the surrounding nature, is central:
"Naar Barnet river Blomster af Marken og bringer os den hele Haandfuld, hvor een sidder op, een ned, kastede mellem hverandre, da er det i hver enkelt vi see Skjønheden, denne Harmoni i Farver og i former, som gjør vort Øie saa vel. Instinktmæssigt ordne vi, og hver enkelt Blomst smelter sammen i en Skjønheds Heelhed, saa at vi see ikke paa den, men paa den hele Bouquet. Opfattelsen af Skjønheds-Harmonien er et Instinkt i os, den ligger i vort Øie og i vort Øre, disse Broer mellem vor Sjæl og det Skabte om os. I alle vore Sandser er en saadan guddommelig Gjennemstrømning i vort hele Væsen, en Stræben efter det Harmoniske, som det viser sig i alt det Skabte, selv i Luftens Pulseslag, synliggjorte i Klangfigurer…
…Der er Harmoni-Skjønhed fra det mindste Blad og Blomst, til den store, fyldige Bouquet, fra vor Jord selv, til de talløse Kloder i Himmel-Rummet; saavidt som Øiet seer, saa langt Videnskaben naaer, er Alt, - Smaat og Stort, - Skjønhed ved Harmonien."
The California of Poetry (Poesiens Californien)
In the final chapter, the epilogue Poesiens Californien, he described the contrast between the earlier and the poetry to come and he formulated a manifesto for the writing of the future. Andersen had visited mines and factories on his journey and become acquainted with the dynamics of the time and the progress optimism and stated that: ”In science lies the California of poetry”. In addition he said:
”Det er ikke vor Tanke, at Digteren skal versificere de videnskabelige Opdagelser, Læredigtet er og bliver i sin bedste Form dog altid en mekanisk Dukke kun, der ikke har det friske Liv. Videnskabens Sollys skal gjennemtrænge Digteren, med klart Øie skal han opfatte Sandheden og Harmonien i det Smaa og i det uendelige Store, det skal luttre og berige Forstanden og Phantasien, vise ham nye Former, der end mere levendegjør Ordet. Selv de enkelte Opdagelser vilde give en saadan ny Flugt. Hvilken Eventyr-Verden kan ikke oprulle under Mikroskopet, naar vi deri overføre vor Menneskeverden; Electromagnetismen kan blive en Livsenstraad i nye Lystspil og Romaner, og hvo. mangen humoristisk Digtning vil ikke voxe frem, idet vi fra vor støvgranlille Jord med dens smaa, hovmodige Mennesker see ud i det uendelige Verdens-Alt fra Melkevei til Melkevei”.
I eventyret Vanddraaben har H.C. Andersen, som et konkret eksempel herpå, foretaget sammenligningen imellem mikroskopets og menneskenes verden.
Romantic reaction
Not nearly all the romantic poets of the time agreed with H.C. Andersen in his enthusiasm for science´s spirit in nature and the progress of technology. The poets Carsten Hauch and B.S. Ingemann reacted directly and Ingeman said in friendly, but sharp letter, dated Sorø May 25th 1851:
”…De synes mig altfor påvirket af Empirikerne og Naturalisten Ørsted og hans blot dynamiske ”Aand i Naturen” …-medens han kun ser Aand ig Liv i Dampmaskiner, elektromagnetiske Telegrafer og i det copernicanske System, som han tror er splinternyt og aldrig før seet af nogen Digter-
…Hvad jeg kalder Romantik er mig sjælen i enhver Tids poesi…”
Poetic Realism
H.C Andersen had an early eye for the poetry of ordinary life. In the later development of Romanticism the poetic realism - the preoccupation with the simple life- played an important part. In a national romantic sense it was the people, i.e. the common man, which entered the picture here. The depictions were often idyllic or had an exotic character.
The actress Johanne Louise Heiberg, who wrote the important memoir Et liv genoplevet i Erindingen, visited Hellebæk in 1847. Here she engaged in nature experiences by visiting Old Ane, who lived alone in a run-down house by the Bøgeholm Lake.
Old Ane´s House | 
Johanne Louise Heiberg |
People and landscape
Romanticism’s devotion to people, past, nature and landscape helped to create the notion of national identity. In the art of painting in early Romanticism ”pure” nature was in focus, but gradually people started to enter the picture, like for instance in Jens Juel´s famous picture with a view of Elsinore afra Marienlyst. The town´s inhabitants had now ventured into nature.
A popular motif was the depictions of the plain everyday life of the fishermen along the Sound coast. As early as the end of the 1830´s Julius Friedlænder painted several motifs with fishermen from Hellebæk-Aalsgaarde. Around 1850 Snekkersten in the south also entered the picture.
In the 1840´s and onward J.T. Lundbye and P.C. Skovgaard painted and drew several forest views from Hellebæk-Aalsgaarde. One of P.C. Skovgaard´s favoruite subjects was the Bondedammen in Hellebæk. He painted at least five oil paintings in 1858 with or without people.
City Dwellers in the Country | 
Snekkersten | 
Oversættes | 
Snekkersten Sailing Ship Shipyard | 
Oversættes |
View from the North Coast | 
Pandehave Stream. | 
Venter på tekst |
View of Elsinore | 
Hankehøj |
The Painters´ Community in Hornbæk
The painter Thomas Lundbye, who died of an accidental shot in 1848, became almost the epitome of the Danish national romantic landscape painter with hsi motifs from West Zealand, but his drawings from his stay in North Zealand also held more sober landscapes, among the the first depictions of conifers.
Gradually regular communities of painters sprung up on the south and north coast, most famously in Hornbæk, where 6 young painters, among them P.S. Krøyer, settle down for the summer in 1873. Holger Drachmann entered this circle from 1877, despite the fact that he had stopped exhibiting his pictures in 1874 and had taken up poetry instead.
P.S. Krøyer´s early paintings from Hornbæk beach are examples of the transition to the realistic genre painting, which marked the subsequent time. With Krøyer´s depictions the artists came close to the everyday life of the people.
Hornbæk became for a time the Mecca of the art of painting, but eventually North Zealand as North Zealand got crowded with tourists, the artists took off to new localities, among them Bornholm and later and well-known - Skagen.
Venter på tekst | 
Fisherman´s Family from the North Coast | 
P.S.Krøyer |
Architecture
| | The 19th century´s national romantic enthusiasm for the greatness of earlier centuries was also evident in architecture.
On both sides of the Sound they imitated the architecture of earlier times. For example in the 1890´s grandiose building of Helsingborg Town Hall. |
Historicisme og nationalromantik
The predominant architectural direction in the 19th century is the so-called Historicism, where architecture and building restoration borrow style elements from different earlier periods in an attempt to find a modern idiom. In the second half of the 19th century a direction with affiliation to the Scandinavian and national romantic currents are developed. This style refers to the shared past, the Viking Age, but is also has a tight connection to the skønvirke style of the time.
The new building of Marienlyst Seaside Hotel from 1897 was, especially with the characteristic tower, which disappeared in the 1930´s, built in the characteristic building style of the time with extensive use of wood for house end constructions and eaves and ornamental traits from the Viking Age. The style is also known as “Skønvirke”(“Liberty” or “Modern Style”) and is connected with late-romanticism with a Scandinavian stamp. It is found in Aalgaarde Seaside Hotel, Dragør Seaside Hotel and the first real summer house building activities in Ålsgårde and Hornbæk from around the beginning of the century.
If you go to Falsterbo in Scania the style can be found and even in Ramlösa there are examples of the Viking Age style and late-romantic wooden constructions. Furthermore the style can be found in a number of official buildings. The old ferry station in Helsingborg is a good example and Østerport Railway Station and other stations along the coast is a pure exhibition of this style.
Marienlyst Seaside Hotel | 
Summer House in Hornbæk | 
Helsingborg´s Old Ferry Station | 
Villa Svea | 
Villa Dana |
Klampenborg Station | 
Ålsgårde Seaside Hotel | 
Viking Style Arild | 
Viking House | 
Log house |
Østerport Station | 
Roof and Spire |
Oversæt
Oversæt | 
Oversæt |
Helsingør Toldkammer
The Custom House |
Restoration Craze
Around the middle of the 1900th century a restoration craze set in. A great del of the Scanian manors was transformed from solid renaissance buildings into polished new gothic and French Chateau style in innumerable variations. Romantic fanaticism and romance of chivalry became prevalent, but also ambitions to recreate the perfect roman or gothic building.
Seen through our eyes the results was extremely rough restorations, as for instance the cathedral in Lund and the estates Svaneholm and Vrams Gunnarstorp, or even direct cultural disasters, like when they tore down the old Roman church in Asmundtorp and erected a new Gothic chamber of horrors, or the architect’s dream of the perfect Roman church (The church in Torlöse).
Of course all of this happened with the best of intents and in many cases in close collaboration between Scanian building owners and Danish architects and as a manifestation of the common Nordic nationality and the realization of Scandinavism.
Marsvinsholm | 
Torrlösa Church |
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The Modern Breakthroug
| | Through the critic Georg Brandes Copenhagen in the last third of the 19th century became the gate to continental Europe and a number of Swedish writers stayed in Copenhagen for a shorter or longer period of time.
Brandes called for a more relevant critical-realistic literature. |
In the 1870´s began what is known in Denmark as the Modern Breakthrough in literature and art, and this is usually tied to the lectures of the critic Georg Brandes´ lectures on main currents in European literature in Copenhagen in 1871. Brandes asked for a more meaningful critical-realistic literature, which can contribute to create a discussion on the development of society, as opposed to the still dominant romantic-idyllic literature.
Brandes was the right man at the right time and great parts of the young generation gathered around the far-sighted and European oriented critic. Through him Copenhagen became the door to the continental Europe and a number of Swedish writers stayed here for a shorter or longer period of time.
Most tragic the Scanian author Victoria Benedictsson, who took her own life and most famous August Strindberg, whose principal work, The Father, made its debut in the Casino Theatre in Copenhagen in 1888. In that period, Strindberg was in voluntary exile in Denmark, at first at a hotel in Copenhagen, later in Klampenborg, Tårbæk, Virum and at the Hotel Nyholte. His play “Frøken Julie” also made its debut in Copenhagen under the name of “Paria”, and with his partner Siri von Essen as managing director he formed a Scandinavian experimenting theatre. After the debut of his play “Tshandala” Strindberg went back to Stockholm in 1889.
Brandes | 
Victoria Benedictsson | 
Strindberg | 
The Casino Theatre in Copenhagen |
Leisure
| | Around the middle of the 19th century different sides of the middle class mentality and life style were really taking shape.
This is evident in the spreading leisure and holiday life, which took place on both sides of the Sound with summer residence, spas, hotels and so on.
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Northern Zealand
| | In the course of the 19th century Northeast Zealand became popular resort for holidays and summer residence.
The extension of the infrastructure was an important condition for this. When the Hornbæk railway was opened, Hornbæk was invaded by tourists. Bathing jetties and bathing huts were common along the coast. |
Summer Residents
Around the middle of the 19th century different aspects of the mentality and lifestyle of the middle classes were taking shape. The fight for an existence did no longer overshadow everything else and a characteristic distinction between work and leisure were developing. Leisure time was invented, so to speak and nature became a good place for meditative and recreational activities. This resulted in an extensive leisure and holiday life, which took place on both sides of the Sound with summer resident life, spas, hotels and the like.
Elsinore as an Example
Nature worshipping and summer life was and early feature in Elsinore. As early as the end of the 18th century the local middle classes in Elsinore had begun to leave the town and spend their leisure time on summer estates in the vicinity. At first inside the boundaries of the municipality, later further out in the country like Nyrup, Fairyhill, Claythorpe and Gurre.
At firs tit was the many Englishmen in town, who knew the custom from back home, later others, among them the merchant Jean Jacob Claessen, who bought several estates in the environs around 1790. The practise spread gradually and in the course of the 19th century Hellebæk and northeast Zealand as a whole became a popular resort for holidays for the Copenhagen middle classes.
A somewhat grandiose example of the ambitions of the well-off middle classes to compare with the English lesser nobility is found in the architecture of the main building of Flynderupgård in Agnetevej in Espergærde.
City Dwellers in the Country | 
Summer Residents | 
Fairyhill | 
Flynderupgård | 
The Steamship |
The North Coast 1820 | 
Ålsgårde 1880 | 
The Summer Estate Belvedere | 
Family Gathering |
The New Infrastructure
An important factor in this was the gradually improved infrastructure, especially the steam ships and railways. Elsinore was the first provincial town, which was visited by Denmark’s first steam ferry, “Caledonia” as early as 1819. Throughout the 1920´s and 30´s there was irregular traffic along the coast. At the end of 1842 there was a permanent steam ship connection via the ferry “Hamlet” between Elsinore and Copenhagen. In 1945 the service also included Helsingborg. Moreover, from 1856 there was a permanent connection between Elsinore and Helsingborg.
This meant that it was possible to transport family members and luggage over greater distances. The steam ships landed at various places along the way from where people were rowed ashore to the desired summer residences. With the steam ships and the railway connection between Copenhagen and Elsinore via Hillerød it was possible for the head of the family to travel to the city and take care of business in the summertime too.
Caledonia |
Hamlet |
Ophelia | 
Vedbæk´s Harbour | 
The North Railway |
The North Railway | 
Train Timetable | 
The Hornbæk Railway | 
Klampenborg |
Officials and Artists
At first it was mainly the higher officials and artists, which visited North Zealand. The Collin family and the married couple, the actress, Johanne Louise Heiberg and her husband, the poet arbiter of taste Johan Ludvig Heiberg, were among the first to visit the coast north of Elsinore.
The Heibergs knew the increasing leisure time culture from Copenhagen and they now actively participated in the movement. Johanne Louise Heiberg depicted her first encounter with Hellebæk as a contrast to the ”city life” of Copenhagen in her memoir, ”Et liv genoplevet i erindringen".
The Holiday Area
After the artists came the town middle classes, and gradually the life of the summer residents became a must for the city people, as it is depicted in Herman Bang´s biting text Landliv. Bang knew the modern city life as well as the country leisure life, perhaps mostly known from his novella Sommerglæder, which pretends to take place in Jutland. The subject is also referred to in Herman Bang´s journalism, as when he wrote about Hellebæk in Illustreret Tidende in 1885:
»Nu er det for sent at skrive om Hellebæk. Naar Regissørklokken har lydt, er Lejet ikke mere interessant. Feriesommeren er forbi, og det rigtige Efteraar, det er endnu ikke kommet. Maaske kan vi tage derop en Dag fra Byen, naar det gaar til Ende med September, og de sidste flyttevognes Spor er slettet ud. Så holder jeg af det deroppe. Da er Naturen blevet ene. Den har faaet Tid til at blive sig selv igen. Den har rystet af sig alle Sommergæsternes profane Aah, og den har glemt Turisterne. Der er blevet stille i Skoven. Tyst sysler Pan. Letbenet vildt tegner over Engen flygtende Skygger, naar, for at drikke, Bredden af Skovsøens Vand. Gulnede Elme hviske saa sagte derover.
Luften er klar. De første Blade faldt i Gaar langs Stien. De dufte nu, mens de hviske«.
Ålsgårde 1880 | 
Hornbæk Beach 1906 | 
The Coastal Road Snekkersten | 
Summer Residents in Hornbæk. | 
The Joys of the Summer Residents |
Twine House in Snekkersten | 
Hotel Gefion |
The Tourist Industry
Holger Drachmann, who had grown up in Fredensborg, knew northeast Zealand intimately and spent time in Hellebæk, Hornbæk, Snekkersten and in "Marianelund" in Gurre. In his story "Skraaplaner" from 1881 he reflects on the importance of the summer residents for the local communities and their development.
The artists put up at first the existing inns, or privately, but gradually an industry of boarding houses and seaside hotels sprung up. As Drachmann wrote the summer residents started to buy land and houses and clientele broadened. The artists fled to other and less crowded areas in the holiday area. This was the case with Holger Drachmann. However, he died in a private clinic in Hornbæk in 1908.
H. C. Andersen as a Summer Resident
H.C.Andersen is known in posterity for his many travels abroad and his many visits to the landed gentry. Lesser known perhaps is his short visits in North Zealand, where he visited friends and acquaintances, who were summer residents. Primarily the Collin family, who lived in the country in and around Hellebæk in the 1860´s and 70´s.
H.C. Andersen had a somewhat strained relationship with the north coast and after a passage in 1837, it was not until 1864 that Andersen had a short stay in the newly opened Hotel Marienlyst with his young friend, the ballet dancer Harald Scharff. The train service from Copenhagen to Elsinore was opened in 1864 and that marked the beginning of a number of short visits to the north coast in the following years.
In 1867 Andersen was back again. The Collin family had bought a summer cottage on the slope. Andersen stayed for lunch, but took his dinner in Hotel Marienlyst. The two hour train journey from Elsinore to Copenhagen seemed to suit Andersen, who visited Hellebæk that same year once again.
Around 1870 Andersen was twice in Elsinore and Hellebæk, the first time to visit the Collin family and “see their new house”. The second time Andersen put up at Hotel Brix in Elsinore. That was probably the last time H.C. Andersen visited these parts, as a diary note from 1873 testified that he received a visit from Mrs. Collin from Ellekilde. H.C. Andersen died in 1875.
The North Railway | 
The Location of the Hotel |
The Mature Andersen |
Train Timetable | 
Transport From the Station |
Up and Down the Coast
The writer Meir Aron Goldschmidt has also contributed with depictions of the life along the coast, for example in the long short story Ravnen (The Raven). In this story you can make out the clash between the traditional life form on the coast and the intrusive industrial culture. In the short story En dampskibstur from 1883 ”…the human spirit chases away nature´s spirit…” and the dream life of the protagonist plays a prominent part – a new epoch in the intellectual life is ushered in
A stay in on of the seaside hotels of the age is depicted by the German writer, Thomas Mann, whose novel´s final chapters take place in Hellebæk-Aalsgaard. The main character has an identity crisis and makes use of his stay at the seaside hotel for some soul-searching. The local population plays a part as representatives of the cool, assured side of his personality, as opposed to the other side, his temperamental, Mediterranean ancestors.
August Strindberg, who for a number of years was at work in the vicinity of Copenhagen, put up privately in Hornbæk in 1901 with his new wife Harriet Bosse. That lasted until he attacked a photographer, who wanted to take a picture of his wife in her bathing costume.
The Steamship Horatio |
Ålsgårde Seaside Hotel | 
Søndre Strandvej | 
Strindberg in Hornbæk |
Seaside Life in the Year of 1900
With the summer holiday life on the coasts of the Sound region came the seaside life, which at first wasn´t allowed directly from the beach, but only from bathing jetties and cubicles, or the gender divided public baths, which was source of a characteristic architecture along the coast.
With the parcellation and the building of summer houses, the holiday life became more formalized. It became an object for investments for the middle classes and creates another dimension in the life of the family. In many ways other, more gentle rules of conduct became prevalent.
Emma Gad |
Ålsgårde 1880 | 
Beach Life | 
Snekkersten´s Cold Bath Houses | 
Snekkersten´s Cold Bath Houses |
The Coastal Road Snekkersten | 
Helgoland | 
The Cold bath House in Landskrona | 
Pålsjöbaden in Helsingborg | 
Snekkersten Public Bath |
Seaside Life in Hornbæk | 
Hornbæk Beach | 
Borupgaards Bathing Hut |
Marienlyst Seaside Hotel
The improved communications also meant that the leisure life in North Zealand gradually took on a more international stamp. An important step towards this was the establishment of Marienlyst Seaside Hotel in 1859. The starting point was the existing Marienlyst Castle, which was expanded with buildings until the erection of the present main building around 1897 – the same year Kystbanen (the coast railway) was opened. For a while Marienlyst Hotel was owned by the Elsinore municipality, but was passed into private ownership in 1882.
In “Badetidende” from 1879 it was possible to read in Danish and German which bathing guests are present and which members of the town middle class have season tickets for the bathing resort. Furthermore are stated rates for the use of the “Spa and Hamlet’s Terasse”, timetable for steam ships and trains, rates for “hot baths, mineral baths, mineral waters, stream-heavy rain and showers”. And of course the thermometer reading for the previous week, a real Danish summer, for instance June 30th: The air - 16 degrees Celsius, the water – 14 degrees Celsius, midday.
Marienlyst 1891 | 
Advertisement | 
Marienlyst Seaside Hotel |
The Location of the Hotel | 
The First Hotel Building |
Beach Life |
The North Railway |
Transport From the Station |
Marienlyst Seaside Hotel | 
New Main Building |
Nationernas Allé |
A Fashionable Meeting Place
Celebrities from home and abroad visited the fashionable Marienlyst, even the Danish and Swedish royal couple, and in the park surrounding Marienlyst castle a romantic garden, which was said to hold the grave of Hamlet and Ophelia’s Spring, was laid out.
Many artists stayed at the hotel among them Herman Bang (Danish author), who was a guest in 1880, where he wrote parts of his debut novel “Håbløse Slægter”. In 1905 he wrote in the hotel diary: “Dearest to me in the world Paris, Prague and Marienlyst” – no comparisons by the way.
Herman Bang and Marienlyst
Bang visited Marienlyst throughout his adult life and took part in the social life there. He participated in bazaars and held lectures, which also relieved the eternal lack of money. The then manager Anders Jensen has in an interview with a local paper depicted Bang´s close relationship to the place:
"En af de første og en af de mest interesserede gæster var Herman Bang. Han kom inden vi fik lukket op om sommeren. Han var næsten med til at tælle dækketøjet, så ivrig var han, og det er ham der har æren af det smukke palmearrangement i forhallen. Han boede de første år oppe i tårnet, senere flyttede han ned i en villa i Nationernes Alle, og der holdt han små dameselskaber om aftenen. Næste dag kom han for at fortælle os, hvad hver dame havde haft på. Han var så glad når de havde pyntet sig. Om aftenen satte han sig tit på kontoret for at spise sit smørrebrød, og der drøftede han praktiske forhold med min kone, de to var så gode venner.”
Herman Bang visited Marienlyst as late as 1905 and once wrote in the hotel´s diary: "Dearest to me in the world is Paris, Prague and Marienlyst". Herman Bang also participated in the debate on the development of the holiday areas, as when he in an article in the newspaper “København” in 1904 vehemently opposed the plans for the building of a railway through the scenic area.
Romantic Staging
Herman Bang was a modern man, who cherished the romantic air and gardens of Marienlyst, where you are able to visit Ophelia´s Spring and the grave of Hamlet. The worshipping of nature gradually became a timetabled and ritualized matter in the lifestyle of the bourgeois. The commercial side of it played a more undisguised part. Romanticism became pure staging and form, which was evident in the late-rmantic building style, which characterizes the new Marienlyst.
Nationernes Allé | 
Modern Forms |
Kullen - Arild - Mölle
| | Kullen is the name of the mountain, which lies on the Kulla peninsula in northwestern Scania. The tipof Kullen bounds the Sound from the Kattegat.
The area around Kullen, the Kullabygden, became a popular outing for the tourists of the 19th century and the small fishing villages Arild and Mølle were turned into tourist spots.
The Kullabygden is often named ”The Scanian Riviera". |
Kullen-Arild and Mølle
The beautiful and dramatic landscape on the lengthy Kulla Mountain (Kullaberg)in Scania , was, as early as the 19th century, a popular recreational area for summer guests from both sides of the Sound.
The painters were the first to feel attracted to the romantic nature, but quickly the men of letters followed, and later on the area became a popular recreational area for the more wealthy part of the population. The old fishing villages, Arild and Mølle, in the vicinity of the western and eastern area became, with their picturesque small houses and their proximity to the water, a popular recreational area.
Kullen
The Kulla mountain (Kullaberg) is only 187 metres high, but the fact that it rises directly up from the sea makes the terrain formation dramatic. The mountain itself is only 16 kilometres long and at most places only 2 kilometres wide. At the extreme end the mountain ends with a steep slope.
The steep slops of Kullen towards the dangerous sea on both sides and the many caves, have, from time immemorial, naturally created the providede the breeding ground for countless legends and myths.
Kullen by the Sea | 
The Silver Cave from the Outside | 
A Cave with a Wiew | 
The Silver Cave |
Palnatoke´s Skiing and the Kullen Man
During Romanticism the interesest for the old Nordic legends awoke. Some of them are linked to Kullaberg. As early as 1809 Adam Oehlenschläger wrote the tragedy ”Palnatoke” and thus gave life to Saxo´s story of the old Danish legendary figure. Palnatoke had, to prove her prowess in skiing to Harald Bluetooth, taken a downhill race down Kullen´s slopes. (An achievement many Danes in a somewhat smaller scale try to imitate today by doing risky mountain climbs).
In his book “Valdemar Sejr” Bernhard Severin Ingemann told of "Kullamannen", (The Kulla Man), who told the future of the Valdemar Sejr´s sons.
The Kullen man was part nature being and part an authentic historic person in Kullen. According to tradition it is supposedly a knight by the name of Thord Knutsson Bonde.
Palnatoke´s Slope |
The Roamntic Names of the Kulla Mountain
The national and nature romantic interest is evident in the names of the rock formations and caves on Kullaberg. They were named in the latter part of the 19th century. For example Kullamannens grav (the Kulla Man´s Grave), Valdemarsgrotten (The Valdemar Cave) and Palnatokes skrænt (Palnatoke´s Slope), not to mention the beautiful-sounding names: Kaprifoliegrottan, Paradiset, Josefinelust, and Silvergrotten. Josefinelust is named after Oskar I:s wife Josefin, who visited the place.
Josefinelust | 
The Josefinelust Cave |
Kullen´s Old Lighthouse
The outermost part of Kullaberg borders the Sound from Kattegat, but also the land from the sea in a very marked way. For centuries the dramatic landscape has fascinated man and made it a popular resort. But the promontory, which juts out into the sea, has always been a danger for ships. This is why they early on decided to warn the ships with a lighthouse. In 1561 they laid out a lighthouse place ordered by Frederik II. It was improved two years later with a brick tower.
The lighthouse keeper in charge was Tycho Brahe, who later on fell from favour with Christian 4. because he was accused of having neglected his assignment.
The earliest picture known of the lighthouse is drawn by the Dutchman, Simon Frisius in 1615, when he sailed between Holland and Russia. In the next centuries the lighthouse has been rebuilt several times.
Kullen´s Lighthouse |
Kullen´s Present Lighthouse – an Idea from the 19th Century.
Kullen´s present lighthouse is only 15 metres high, but as a shining crown on the top of the majestic rock it is still a magnificent sight. The light source is 78,5 metres above the sea and thus one of the highest situated in Sweden.
In 1898 the authorities accepted the designs for the present lighthouse. The architect was Magnus Dahlander from Dalarne. They started building in 1899, and the new lighthouse opened in the year 1900. At this time they also delivered the lens instrument, which still rotates in the lighthouse.
The lenses, which increased the light source were the result of research by the French physicist and engineer August Frensel (1788-1827). He had studied how light is refracted through different lenses and established here that if you place the light source in focus in a burning-glass, the beams are refracted, so they radiate from the lens in parallel. The discovery was made as early as 1822. They were now able to construct lenses, which reinforced the light much more efficently than the old paraboloidal reflectors.
The first Frensel lens was put in the famous French lighthouse Cordouan on the Frech west coast in1823. But t wasn´t until the end of the century that the Paris company Barbier & Barnard could deliver the new construction to the lighthouse in Kullen.
The lens instrument was at the time the largest in Sweden with its three large lenses. It was rotated with clockwork and a weight, which was used until 1937.
The light source itself was electrified in 1907 with a 1000 watts bulb, which gave and still gives the strongest flash in Scandinavia every 5th second.
Kullens Lighthouse | 
Kullen´s Lighthouse – A Place with a View | 
The Lenses | 
The Light Source | 
The Lighthouse´s Old Weight |
Arild, Early Artist Community
On Kullaberg´s east side we find the old fishing village Arild with a view of Skälderviken, Bjärehalvön and Kattegat. The pleasant climate, the romantic and idyllic atmosphere with the remote fishing village and the light from the sea contributed and still does to the attracting power of the place.
As early as the 1830´s a number of Scandinavian painters were fascinated by the beauty of Arild´ss landscape and eventually they created a fertile artists´ environment, where among others the two prominent landscape painters , the Dane Frederik Christian Kiaerskou and the Norwegian Adolf Tidemand had their easels put up.
Arild | 
Oversættes | 
Arild-Fishermen | 
Arild´s Harbour 2006 |
Mother Cilla
In the middle of the 19th century Arild had a popular centre for thetown´s fishermen and the visiting artists and summer guests. That was the energetic and outspoken Cecilia Andersson, who converted her big home into an inn, which she called Mother Cilla.
The house still exists in a completely changed rebuilding, but was then a centre for artistic activity and socializing. A sort of forerunner of the famous Brøndum´s Hotel in the Skaw.
Among the artists was also Natanael Beskow., who portrayed Mother Cilla in September 1891 on one of the doors in the hotel. The portrait is still there. The tradition of artists paying the host with paintings, was quite alien to Mother Cilla. She wanted money on the table. The story doesn´t say anything about whether an exception was made in the Beskow´s case!
Mother Cilla´s status as the uncrowned queen of the fishing village in the 1890´s, was finally established, when King Oscar II visited Arild in 1894. The lunch was taken at Mother Cilla´s. At the head of the table sat the king and his partner, well, Mother Cilla, of course!
Mor Cilla | 
Hotel Mother Cilla | 
The Visit of Oskar II | 
Royal Letter |
Danish Artists in Arild
Peter Severin Kröyer, who became one of the most renowned Skaw painters, stayed in Arild as early as 1872 and revisited the place in 1881 and 1885. Some of his works from here can be seen at the Skaw Museum.
The naturalistic drawings of the poor fishing village´s population show the tendency to move away from the former period´s romantic depictions.
Another frequent summer guest among the artists was Viggo Pedersen, who also established and managed an artists´ school. The number of Danish Arild artists were large and August Jerndorff and Bernhard Middelboe also deserves a mention.
When you consider how many of the Danish artists, who gathered in Arild, Hornbæk and the Skaw, it is clear that it is the small fishing villages, which often created the inspiration.
P.S.Krøyer | 
Mother Cilla | 
Girl from Arild | 
Shoemaker in Arild |
Swedish Artists in Arild
The Swedish artists also came to Arild and Mother Cilla, but they came later than the Danes. Carl Fredrik Hill visited Arild in 1870, 72 and 73, but most Swedes didn´t arrive until some years into the 1880´s. Richard Bergh, who later became the head of Sweden´s National Museum, came to Arild for the first time in 1884, Gustaf Cederström arrived on his first summer visit in 1887. Fritz von Dardel was in Arild in1891, where he made a drawing from Mother Cilla´s 65th birthday. The most frequent guest was Gustaf Rydberg, who lived in Arild every summer from 1889 to 1909.
Many female artists were productive in Arild. Elisabeth Keyser lived here for several summers in the 1890´s and even established a painters´school. Emilia Lönblad lived in Arild in 1891 and 1892. Sophie Stiernstedt became a summer resident in 1901. A local talent was Gisela Trapp, who in her young years (the middle of the 1890´s) came to Arild to paint. She was married to Oscar Trapp, one of the consuls of Helsingborg, and she eventually became important in the area. She was deeply religious and had a Catholic chapel built in her garden in the western part of Arild. It was finished in 1921 and is still used by the Catholic Church.
Without mentioning all the Swedish and foreign painters, who came to Arild, it can be seen as an early centre of outdoor painting and can be compared to the Skaw.
Mother Cilla´s 65th birthday |
Viking Style Arild | 
Bo Folkvi |
Mølle – The Seaside Resort
Mölle gradually became the real tourist magnet. Everybody was talking of the ”shameless Mölle", where men and women bathed together! The fact that Mölle was one of the first places in Europe with such a frank behaviour did not go down well with som of the Mölle inhabitants. When they were out of town they often said that they came from Arild where such risqué behaviour was unheard of.
Oskar II:s visit in 1894 in Arild and Mølle and Emperor Wilhelm´s landing in 1907 became the highlight and a proof of the area´s attracting power. Oscar scratched his name in one of the caves in Kullen, which later was named ”the Oscar Cave”.
Mölle by the Sea | 
The two sexes in bath | 
Beach Nymph | 
Ransvik |
Berlin - Mølle
In the first decades of the 20th century Mølle´s tourism grew intensely. A new train connection between Mølle and Höganäs, which was opened in 1909, was a deciding factor in area´s transformation into southern Sweden´s first and largest tourist area. The international status of Mølle was underlined with a direct train connection between Berlin and Mølle.
Tourists in Mölle | 
Viking Style Mølle |
The White Mølle
Mølle´s attraction gradually, especially after the turn of the century, occasioned the building of a number of hotels. Hotel Kullaberg, Hotell Elfverson, Turisthotellet and Grand Hotel, for example. But even before the prime of the hotes, a number of houses had their own local characteristic. The typical Mølle house had a high base floor with a scullery and on this was the apartment itself. The houses are white and that colour is still typical of the houses in Mølle.
Mölle – The White Town | 
Mølle 2003 | 
Attractive tourist area | 
The Tourist Hotel Mölle | 
Hotel Kullaberg |
The Kulla Village – A Cultural Melting Pot
It was not only the advocates of Romanticism and the painters, who found a place where they could breathe freely in the Kullen area´s dramatic and romantic nature. You could also meet culture figures with quite a different understanding of the life.
Georg Brandes stayed in Mølle in 1890, for example. August Strindberg described a visit to Mölle and to Kullen in his "Legends". However, it was mostly his soul and his troubles he depicted here, while Selma Lagerlöf ten years later was more occupied with Kullen´s animated nature in her: "Niels Holgerssons Wonderful Journey Through Sweden". Selma Lagerlöf lived in Mölle in the summer 1906 with Sophie Elkan.
Hjalmar Söderberg met the Dane Emelie Voss during his stay in Mölle in 1907 and was cheered up after his failed marriage.
Further on in the 20th century Vilhelm Ekelund, Ivar Lo Johansson, Anders Österling and Ola Hansson visited the Kulla Village for longer or shorter periods of time.
Ablahamn |
Hotel Kullaberg |
The Tourist Hotel Mölle |
Ramlösa Spa
| | Ramlösa Spa was opened as early as 1707, but had its heyday in the 19th century. The healing water and the royal interests attracted many visitors to the spa hotel and by the end of the 19th century this ostentatious main building in modern style was erected. |
The Holy Water
On the Scanian side Ramlösa became a centre for well water drinking and baths. At first it was the drinking of the water that was Ramlösa´s niche. Water has always been considered as purifying and life giving. Of course, this is not that curious as water is nature’s lifeblood. In most religions water is considered holy and in the Christian and Islamic religions washing and rinsing are in the nature of holy ceremonies. But is has also been common that special springs and currents have been considered especially effective. In the Antiquity the explanation was that some springs had divine powers and their water was thus deemed holy. In Pergamon, for instance, there was the holy well at the Asklepios Temple. (As Asklepios was the god for medicine the water at his temple was considered medically effective.)
Christianity took over this thought and various saints were associated with different springs, where the water was drunk, and the performing of sacrifices in the form of coins in holy wells were also found. Thus the drinking of well water and baths in holy springs very early had a religious association. After the Reformation this spring cult was opposed by the Protestant priests, but in the 17th century the effect of these holy springs became interesting from a scientific point of view.
In Sweden Urban Hjärne carried out water analyses and many doctors associated certain wells and springs with curative qualities. Thus the spring cult had a renaissance in the 18th century. But these types of water were not only effective internally. Washing and bathing were curative and therefore swimming baths were established in the health resorts. In the 1700 and 1800´s many travelled to Spa, Aachen, Schwalbach and other health resorts to drink the well water and bathe for health reasons. When some doctors also began to advertise the salty spas´ curative qualities, the spas situated by the sea had a particular upturn.
Ramlosa – How It Started
As early as 1707 Ramlösa spa was opened. For some decades it had been said that the spring in Ramlösa gave health and power and the doctor Johan Jacob Döbelius had emphasized the spring’s curative effects. The iron carbonate in the Ramlösa water allegedly cured rheumatism, kidney gravel, sciatica, heart diseases, etc. As early as the 18th century the establishment visited Ramlösa, but it was during the first half of the 19th century that Ramlösa spa had its heyday.
It became especially important when doctor of medicine at the university in Lund and one of the greatest medical authorities in Sweden, Eberhard Munck of Rosenschiöld became a spa doctor. Thus Ramlösa had a special position as the health spa had a scientific attachment. Rosenschiöld also advertised the salty baths and Ramlösa therefore became a spa with access to both well drinking and sea baths.
The ferruginous water | 
Johan Jacob Döbelius | 
Munck af Rosenschiöld |
Royal Guests
Ramlösa Spa was surrounded by royal glory. King Gustav IV Adolf visited the well often during his three months stay in Helsingborg in 1807. The crown prince Karl August spent several summers there and he invested money on the hospital building in the park.
The hospital activities gradually became quite extensive and at the turn of the century it was possible to receive 160 patients. The frequently ill son, Oscar (Oscar I) visited Ramlösa several times during the 1810´s and 1820´s, which was to a great part due to the fact that the spa doctor was Munck of Rosenschiöld.
Oscar´s mother, Queen Desideria, spent several summers in Ramlösa and thrived there. But she often complained about the conditions in her new homeland. Perhaps she missed her former fiancé, Napoleon Bonaparte and the glory that surrounded him?
The presence of the royal family attracted visitors from the higher classes and Ramlösa became an upper-class resort and a high society life developed with the royal family at the centre. In time many noble families had their own houses built in the park, which eventually was dominated by wood architecture in the style of neo-romanticism and neo-classicism.
Desideria | 
The hospital |
The Foundation Grows
A horse drawn railway – the first in Sweden – was built down to the sea in 1877 so that the guests could comfortably be transported to the water. There were frequent time tabled tours – in the morning every 15 minutes and in the afternoon every 30 minutes. A bathing hut was built at the Sound and at the beach a whole place of entertainment sprouted up complete with a shooting range, a restaurant and a music pavilion. Thus Ramlösa raised its profile as a bathing resort and this was even clearer with the bathing facilities that were built close to the spa hotel.
At the end of the 19th century Ramlösa Spa changed and became more and more a recreational area offering relaxation and entertainment. It was at this time the alkaline spring was discovered, which is the content of Ramlösa mineral water, as we know it.
The Spa Hotel | 
The horse tramline | 
The bathing ground | 
A neo-classicist building |
Fredensborg
| | The Danish king Christian IX was called the father-in-law of Europe, because his sons and daughters were married into a number of prominent European principalities, who often spent their summer holidays in Fredensborg Castle.
(L. Tuxen: Kongefamilien på Fredensborg Slot. Malet 1883-86.) |
In essence the life of the summer residents, which developed in North Zealand in the 1900th century was very similar to the way the royal family had used the landscape for centuries. Before North Zealand was the private playground of the king, or his hunting grounds with fenced deer parks, his own roads and ostentatious castles, where he could take residence. First the renaissance castles Kronborg and Frederiksborg castles and finally, in between these Fredensborg castle, which was built in the 1800th century.
In the first half of the 1900th century Fredensborg castle fell into decay, but when Frederiksborg castle burned in 1858 efforts were made to restore the castle and it was here that King Frederik VII under the flag of Scandinavism received Norwegian and Swedish students and later the Swedish king in 1862.
Fredensborg Castle |
Frederiksborg Castle |
A mid-European principality
In time Fredensborg castle became, especially in the time of Christian IX (1863-1906) the chosen summer residence of the royal family. Christian IX took, as the first of the royal family’s side branch, Glücksburg, the throne in 1863, the year before Denmark lost Schleswig-Holstein and shrunk to the size of a mid-European principality. As an almost symbolical compensation for its small state position the royal family was allowed to deliver genetic renewal to a number of the larger European royal families. His oldest son, the later Frederik VIII married a Swedish princess, Louise. The brother, Wilhelm was elected king of Greece in 1863, the sister, Alexandra married with he English king Edward VII and the sister, Dagmar married the later tsar Alexander III of Russia.
The Family | 
Three future monarchs | 
TSar Alexander | 
The royal children | 
A relaxed homely atmosphere |
Imperial engagement
The regular meeting point of the large royal family became Fredensborg castle and here and in the surrounding country it was possible to meet prominent members of the royal families of Europe. In the castle and in the 85 hectare park there was ample place to scamper about, but they also took trips outside in the scenic North Zealand, for instance in Julebæk on the north coast, where Dagmar´s engagement to the Russian heir to the throne was declared in 1866. The future Russian tsar was fond of children and a prankster, who had to take the throne already in 1881, when his father was murdered in the street in St. Petersburg.
Empress Dagmar | 
The engagement |
Sofiero
| | Even royalty had summer residences. This is Sofiero by the Sound coast north of Helsingborg, which the Swedish royal family bought privately. The Swedish crown prince Oscar, Karl XV´s brother, decided in the 1860´s to build a summer residence to himself and his family just north of Helsingborg. |
In the 1860´s the Swedish crown prince, Oscar, Karl XV´s brother, decided to build a summer residence for himself and his family just north of Helsingborg. One may wonder why he chose Helsingborg. Certainly, the Bernadottes had always had a certain affection for this town ever since Karl Johan went ashore there in 1810. The royal family often visited Helsingborg and Ramlösa and perhaps they felt at home here. Furthermore it is possible that being close to Denmark was tempting during the time of Scandinavism and the idea of a union between the countries could be an opportunity to have a summer castle near Denmark. Or maybe his grandson Gustav VI Adolf was right, when he said that the boat interested Oscar simply was drawn to the sea and boats and that the intensive boat traffic on the Sound was particularly tempting. After some efforts he succeeded in getting the estate, “Skabelycke”, which was named Sofiero after Oscar´s wife, Sofia. One building was constructed, designed by and engineer by the name of Forsell and who had previously designed railway stations. Many feel that this is the reason that Sofiero more looks like a railway station than a royal castle.
When Karl died in 1872, Sofiero became a place fit for royalty and king Oscar II extended the castle, an extension, which was finished in 1876. But it still could not match the Danish counterpart, Fredensborg, but it is to be remembered that it was not a state castle, but en entirely private building. In any case the area was revived until the death of Gustav VI Adolf almost 100 years later, when Sofiero stopped being a royal summer castle.
Among the leisure activities that Oscar II liked the most was the yearly hare hunting on Hven and many inhabitants on Hven still talk about these hunts. But even though Sofiero was a private summer residence, it was also used for official duties. Tsars, royalty, presidents and prime ministers from higher politics visited here. In addition to these state visits they had government meetings here in the summer and Sofiero thus had a more official status than the present royal summer residence in Borgholm on Öland.
Sofiero Castle | 
Oscar and Sofia with the children | 
Gustav Adolf and Margaretha | 
Interior from Sofiero | 
Hare hunting in Hven |
Urbanization
| | In the course of the 19th century Helsingborg developed from a coastal situated city to an important – according to Swedish conditions – industrial and trade city. |
Migration
| | Many Swedes as well as Danes emigrated overseas, mainly to America, but also the Copenhagen area attracted the population surplus from rural areas on both sides of the Sound. Gradually the urbanization increased also in the smaller towns in the Sound region in line with the industrialization. |
The Scanian towns from the Middle Ages had not developed significantly in population to the year of 1800. An exception is Malmo, which had a boom in the 1600th century, but after the war and the plague it receded significantly. Even Landskrona had an expansion period, but that took place in the 1800th century. The city that had suffered the most in connection with the war was Helsingborg.
This is the population in the cities around the Sound in 1800, arranged after size:
Malmo: 3.962
Landskrona: 3.827
Lund: 3.086
Ystad: 2.460
Kristianstad: 2.369
Helsingborg: 1.741
Ängelholm: 697
Simrishamn: 644
Skanö: 526
Falsterbo: 156
In comparison Lund in the 1200th century had around 3000-4000 inhabitants. The Scanian towns were small and often parishes were larger than towns when it came to population. There was no Scanian city that could equal any of the three largest cities in Sweden (Stockholm with 75.517 inhabitants, Gothenburg with 12.804 and Karlskrona with 10.166). But one hundred years were to change the picture completely and in the year 1900 the population number in the Scanian cities, arranged after size:
Malmo: 60.857
Helsingborg: 24.670
Lund: 16.621
Landskrona: 14.399
Kristianstad: 10.318
Ystad: 9.862
Ängelhom: 2.784
Simrishamn: 2.062
Skanör: 667
Falsterbo: 266
After having stood still for several hundred years the development exploded in a number of Scanian cities during the 19th century. The causes for this development are to be found in the industrialization and the efforts to expand the infrastructure together with the general population increase, which took place during this century, a population increase, which according to Tegnér was caused by “peace, vaccine and potatoes”. In Sweden the abolishment of the compulsory guild and the introduction of freedom of trade in 1864 a stimulating effect on everything. Malmo and Helsingborg were the cities that grew the most east of the Sound.
The Development of Copenhagen
In the period 1800 to 1900 the population of Copenhagen increased from 100.000 to 500.000. This was a gigantic urbanization process, which took place in connection with the industrial breakthrough in the Copenhagen area from around the middle of the 1900th century, where the machine industry began to play an important part. But just as important was the building industry, which arose around the capital, when they began to expand the limits of the Middle Age city and began huge construction works in connection with the expansion of the infrastructure, the laying out of residential areas, industrial areas, railways and expansion of the harbour.
Copenhagen Central Station in 1870 |
The forgotten migration
The city’s population growth was primarily a result of an increasing population deficit in the rural areas. People sought better living conditions in the metropolitan area and many emigrated, mostly to America.
This process took place all over Denmark, but to a large extent also on the other side of the Sound. The Swedish emigration to America was significantly larger than the Danish and was largely from the tight-fisted landscapes in Småland, but a substantial part also came from Scania and emigrants from here also went to the more dynamic development centre around Copenhagen. It is still discussed precisely how many, because a major part, especially in the rural areas only came as seasonal workers. Also changing market condition played a part, but a total Swedish emigration of around 80.000 is not completely off the mark.
There are good explanations of this development. The dynamic development process in the Copenhagen area went beyond the national border, Scania is not far from Zealand, the infrastructure was enlarged substantially and in southern Sweden the industrial development process apparently less substantial and it came later. In other words there was a clear need for labour and there was work to be found in the metropolitan region. One very significant difference was the wage rate, which is said to have been from one third up to twice as high than in south Sweden. The immigration came largely from rural areas in south Sweden and mostly from southwestern Scania.
A so-called Backstuge | 
Swedish immigration in Denmark |
The Working-power Moves
A great deal of the immigrants, mainly men and young people, found work in the two metropolitan municipalities (Copenhagen and Frederiksberg). The women to a large extent found work in the textile industry, but they also worked as domestic servants. In the surrounding municipalities there were larger workplaces, for instance tile works with large groups of Swedish workers. Labour also went to rural municipalities like Tårnby in Amager, partly to replace Danish labour, which went to the cities, but also to labour intensive gardening and beet growing, the latter also outside the metropolitan area.
Swedes in Denmark
Around the turn of the century it is estimated that there were approximately 16.000 Swedes, which corresponded to one third of the entire population. In the county as a whole the Swedes constituted approximately 4%, but there were variations, highest in Tårnby in Amager, where they contributed more than 5%.
With the building of the shipyard in Elsinore 700 workers were employed and the number of registered Swedes in the area is quadrupled in 1883, where there were 592 Swedish workers. 189 in the shipyard and in the textile factory in the nearby Hellebæk most of the women workers came from Scania.
At the end of the 19th century changes were made in the poverty legislation, which meant a hollowing out of the right of foreigners to provide in Denmark, partly as a result of a changed view of foreigners from 1875, partly because of changes in poverty legislation in 1891, which demanded Danish birthright in order to obtain provision rights.
From the end of the 1890´s immigration dropped heavily, which was largely due to an increasing industrialization in Malmo and Helsingborg and also in the farming industry in connection with the sugar beet growing in southwestern Scania. In time Scania was able to maintain the surplus labour also as a result of increasing wages.
Hellebæk Textile Factory | 
Frederiksholm´s Tile Works |
Swedish church in Copenhagen
Some of the roughly 16.000 Swedish immigrants found comfort aginst homesickness - and the often tough work conditions - in the church. On the initiative of the local Swedish priests and married couple, Niels and Ruth Widner,considerable amounts of money were raised for the building of a Swedish church in Copenhagen.
However, it was not until 1910 that the Svenska Gustafskyrkan was opened with a celebratory servce. It was Theodor Wählin, the architect behind the restoration of Lund Cathedral, who realized the final design in the Art Nouveau style of the period.
A remarkable gift at the opening was the oil sketch for ”Blinda Brita i bodadräkt” from the world-famous Swedish painter, Carl Larssons (1853 – 1919). One of the few paintings by this artist on Danish soil!
The Swedish Gustaf Church in Copenhagen |
Malmo – The Cradle of the Labour Movement
| | In the beginning of the 19th century Malmo was still a small town, but the population grew steadily in connection with the industrialization in the second half of the 19th century. |
In the 19th century, when the Sound once again became a link between Scania and Zealand, the opportunities to get impulses from the continent via Denmark, was opened again. Important ideas, which marked Europe in the middle of the 19th century, were liberalism, nationalism and socialism. Liberalism and nationalism were part of the ideas of Scandinavism, but even socialism had a Scandinavistic mark in the Sound region.
The Proletariate
In Scania and Sweden, where the industrialization came late, there was even before the breakthrough of the industrialism, a proletariat, which consisted of workers from the old agriculture and the farming proletariat, which was formed in connection with the agricultural revolution. These farm workers worked on the large estates and were paid in kind. They had a small home in a farm workers wing, which was a terraced house with one-room flats. In the country as well as in the growing cities poverty was great in the 19th century and Stockholm was in the middle of the 19th century one the poorest cities in Europe. Farm workers and working men had no way of making demands on the employers.
Farm Workers´ wing |
The Industrialism of Malmo
Malmo was industrialized and urbanized to a great extent between 1860 and 1900, where the population was more than tripled. Large industries were founded. Already in 1840 Frans Fredrik Kockum had founded a mechanical workshop, in which railway cars were built in the 1850´s and in the 1870´s shipbuilding began. In 1966 the Malmo wool factory was founded, which became one of the largest textile factories in the North. The Malmo Mill from 1881 became Sweden’s largest producer of wheat flour and Malmo Assorted Chocolates (Mazetti) grew to be one of the largest in the business. In 1890 The Scanian Cement Ltd started a cement factory in Limhamn. The main railway was finished in 1864 and Malmo had a railway station area, which was the largest in Sweden.
Malmo´s Harbour in the 1880´s | 
Kockum´s Factories | 
Malmo Station |
Cooperation over the Borderline
The improved communications across the Sound caused emigration to increase during the 19th century. This was particularly evident in the Malmo-Copenhagen region, which had the largest populations. Almost 2500 Malmo inhabitants emigrated to Denmark in 1840-64 and more than 1000 Danes moved to Malmo in 1841-64. The newly established links across the Sound certainly had great importance when it came to the influence of new ideas and the daily contacts were many, which also were important to the development of the labour movement in southern Sweden.
Therefore it is not strange that strikes and conflicts erupted almost simultaneously in Copenhagen and Malmo. In the 1860´s and 70´s unions were formed in Scania and among the first were the cork cutters, the tobacco workers and the glovers. The Danes influenced the forming of the unions both ideologically and practically. When there were conflicts in Copenhagen it was important that the Scanians showed solidarity and were not tempted to go to Copenhagen because the wages were higher there. The higher wages in Copenhagen could also during industrial peace tempt more workers to go to Denmark and thus press the wages. And therefore the principles of equal pay on both sides of the Sound became an objective for the cross-frontier collaboration.
At first the unions were not necessarily linked to socialism, but were partly formed by the liberalistic ideas´ of better development and the extended right to vote. The man, who started to join the labour movement with socialist ideas in Denmark, was Louis Pio and Harald Brix, who started the weekly paper “Socialisten” in 1871. In Sweden August Palm was the pioneer and his political agitation started in Malmo, to where he had returned after spending12 years in Germany and Denmark. In these countries he had found his socialist conviction.
Palm – the Speacher
November 6th 1881 Palm delivered his first speech in Malmo. The subject was, “What do the socialists want?” and this became the start of his long agitator activity. Like a revivalist he tried to wake up the Swedish working classes and make them see that socialism was the right way to go in order to obtain justice and improvements. And the workers were not always easy to wake! Palm had finished school at ten and had no academic education. In spite of this he became an orator and his listeners were fascinated by his commitment to the socialist cause.
Palm was not always allowed to speak in the halls of the establishment and was often referred to hills and slopes. Priests, factory owners, landowners and the middle classes, were frightened, but industrial and farm workers sought out his pulpit. Unflaggingly he travelled all over the country. In Stockholm he founded the newspaper “Socialdemokraten”. In the first issue (9/25 1885) a battle song was published, written by a farm worker’s son, Henrik Menander, who was an old friend of Palm. Palm had heard Menander sing the song, and now he wanted to publish it. (“Arbetets söner” was actually sung for the first time on a boat trip on the Sound August 2. 1885.)
”Arbetets söner, sluten er alla
Till våra bröder i Syd och i Nord!
Hören I ej, hur mäktigt de skalla
Ut öfver världen, befrielsens ord?
Ur den förnedrande
Träldomens grift
Upp till en hedrande
Ädel bedrift!
Oket med påskriften: ”Bed och försaka”
Länge oss nedtryckt i mörker och nöd;
Människovärdet vi fordra tillbaka,
Kämpa för rättvisa, frihet och bröd.
Icke naturen hårdhänt har dragit
Gränser, som skilja fattig och rik;
Hjärtlöst har makten under sig slagit
Alla dess håfvor, rofdjuret lik.
Mot den förödande
Guldkalfvens stod
Kämpen med glödande
Känslor och mod!
Käckt mot förtrycket ett värn vi oss dana.
Fältropet genom nationerna går:
Sluten Er under vår enighets fana,
Fällen ej modet, och segern är vår!”
Malmoe – the center
When working with the “Social-Demokraten” Palm was joined by three young committed socialists, Hjalmar Branting, Fredrik Sterky and Axel Danielsson. They were all between 20 and 25 years old when the 36-year-old Palm settled down in Stockholm in 1885. They were well educated, while Palm was almost hostile towards person with an academic degree. It could be said that he despised the intelligentsia. Both Branting and Sterky were raised in families that belonged to the upper classes. Axel Danielsson was the son of a workingman, so Palm was especially fond of him. Branting wanted to intellectualise socialism, which Palm of course opposed, but Branting won and took over the paper. Palm faded into obscurity behind Branting, but continued his life as an agitator. Axel Danielsson left Stockholm and settled in Malmo, where he started the newspaper “Arbetet” in 1887. He stayed in Malmo for 13 years.
August Palm | 
Axel Danielsson | 
The Newspaper | 
The Bricklayers´ Union |
Danielsson – without fear
Axel Danielsson´s move to Malmo had great effect for the labour movement and the development of socialism in southern Sweden. In “Arbetet” the movement had a medium, which engaged and frightened people. The brave Axel Danielsson wrote in such a way that the middle classes hated him and the workers loved him. Under the signature Marat, he made a lot of enemies because of his sharp and terse style. Danielsson was not afraid of anybody and in connection with a trial against the prison director in Malmo this was evident.
The prison director had raked together 4.704 kroner and 8 øre by selling sacks, which the inmates made. Almost 5000 kroner was a lot of money in those days. The prison director was suspended for six months, which Danielsson thought was ridiculous and in “Arbetet” he attacked the constitutional state. For this attack Danielsson was sentenced to one year in prison (1888). This was the beginning of a persecution of Danielsson and he was subject to more charges, among them a charge for blasphemy, when he interviewed God in his newspaper. In all Danielsson was in prison for 18 months. (Not only Danielsson, but also Branting and Palm were sent to prison for what they said and wrote)
Danielsson – the Reformer
When Danielsson came out of prison he started to work more and more for socialism on the ground of reformism, i.e. that the ideas had to be carried through lawfully and not through revolution. This pragmatic policy had many people reproach him for disassociating himself from the pure Marxist doctrine. This made Danielsson bitter. But one man understood his greatness. August Strindberg wrote in his blue book: “He never knew how great he was; he thought he was despised, he lived in despondency and humiliation, but underneath he was feared and admired”. Later a great deal of those who slandered him took on Danielsson´s pragmatic socialism.
Danielsson was never nice to himself, neither mentally nor physically and he died early at a sanatorium in Elsterberg in Germany the day before New Years Eve in 1899. He was 36 years old. His funeral became a great manifestation. The streets of Malmo were laced with workers from Kockum, the wool factory and from all of Scania. A fifteen-year-old Malmo boy remembers this day. His name was Per Albin Hansson.
Malmo´s importance as a workers´ city was consolidated when the city had the first Peoples´ Park in the country and the term “The Peoples´ House” was used for the first time about the “Peoples house in Malmo in 1893. These common rooms were created so that workers and their families had a place to meet. The landlords of the halls did not always welcome the labour movement as tenants.Helsingborg – swiftly
| | In the course of the 19th century Helsingborg developed from a coastal situated city to an important – according to Swedish conditions – industrial and trade city. |
„For my part I am inclined to follow those, who put Helsingborg before all else. Not because it is not possible to find landscapes more grand, just as scenic and striking at first view, but because this one interests me more in the long run. The other Swedish landscapes have grandeur, are pleasant and what not; But they have no life, they have this primeval silence, this sacrosanct solemnity, which seems pathetic in the moment, but becomes suppressive at length; here you have a painting with figures, a moving, constant varied and renewed scene; it is a nature, which is not tiresome, but you can associate with it instead of just admiring it. Get up early one spring morning, when the sun is upon the Danish coast, in these gardens, boldly situated here and there in the changeable cut cliffs, under whose shadows Helsingborg is laid out; get up, if you will, and view the Sound! This ocean, which is but a river here! But a river with hundreds of ships, East- and West Indian Sea faring ships, Americans, Britons, line ships from Archangel, fruit ships from the Mediterranean! View this blackboard, so alone in kind, so full of colour and emotion, and so dramatic.”
Thus Patrik Sturzen-Becker depicted the small town of Helsingborg in 1851, a town, which then had around 4000 inhabitants.
Consul Olsson
At this time a young man from Fleninge worked as a shop assistant in town. This young, deeply religious man’s name was Petter Olsson and he once asked the vicar, Peter Wieselgren, if he could become a priest. Since this was an expensive education and Petter Olsson was poor, Wieselgren advised him to become a teacher instead. But Petter Olsson went another way. In 1853, the year the Crimean War broke out, he dared to start his own business in corn.
England, who was in the war on the side of the Turks against the Russians, did not get enough corn during the war and a great deal of Olsson’s corn stock went to London, where the horses needed power in order to pull trams, among other things. The profit was good, of course, and with the optimism of the future, which was a mark of the 19th century, Olsson began to build an empire. He also realized the need for good communications in order to transport corn to the storehouse in Kullagatan, where he also lived and he also realized that a good harbour in order to carry the oats to the horses in London. (He did not only have his home in the storehouse, but it was also used as church service hall for the revivalist meetings he held.)
Petter Olsson | 
Workers | 
he Harbour 1893-94 | 
Consul Olsson´s Granary |
The Infrastructure
Through his municipal activities Consul Olsson could press the questions concerning improved communications. In the period 1865-85 he contributed to making it possible for Helsingborg to have railway lines in every direction. At first to Billeberga-Esløv, then to Hässleholm and to Åstorp and Värnamo. Thus the city was connected with the big railways and had railway lines to Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. At the same time the harbour was enlarged and made deeper with more new basins and Sweden´s first train ferry connection to abroad was opened on the H-H- fairway in 1892.
The enlargement of the harbour had en effect on the Helsingborg shipping business and at the end of the century the city had the third largest merchant navy. Petter Olsson started more industries, among them tileworks, the steam mill and the rubber factory, where Henry Dunker later would start the rubber shoe fabrication. He was enthusiastic about the development of the city, but also about Evangelical religion. The mission building on Kullagatan was built thanks to Petter Olsson. He was throughout his life faithful to his religious beliefs and said that he would make Helsingborg to “a city, which honoured God”. His large family spent the summers in the leisure villa “Öresundslyst” on the Danish side of the Sound.
Consul Persson
Another young man came from Allerum into town and also started to work in a shop. His name was Nils Persson and he was outgoing and sociable man. Even he dared to open his own business and started to import fertilizer, which he sold to the farmers. He started to speculate about the opportunities to manufacture on his own and soon founded “Fosfaten”, a fertilizer factory on the south side of town.
The profits were of course good and he expanded his empire, adding the copper works, where he used and processed by-products from the phosphate factory. He also started the team tile works, which was a lucky venture, since Helsingborg and Copenhagen were to build heavily in the latter part of the 19th century. (He manufactured red tile unlike Olsson´s yellow and in town they often discussed which areas the two gentlemen occupied, and yes, they could see it on the tile.) Persson donated an area on Södergatan next to the churchyard to the city, and this was to be used as graveyard, and the profits were to go to “pauvre honteux”, the needy in Helsingborg.
Nils Persson | 
The Phosphate Factory | 
The Industrial Area |
The Town of the Consuls
Olsson and Persson ruled the city. They had large industries, participated in the management of the city and also sat in the parliament. Important persons were often given consul titles and this title was given to Olsson as well as Persson. At the turn of the century Helsingborg was called “the city of consuls”. These two men were very similar, when it came to initiative and business, but privately they were opposites. While Olsson lived a simple life in his apartment next to his storehouse on Kullagatan, Persson led a dissipated life in the luxurious villa near the hospital. Olsson spent his leisure time studying the bible, while Persson visited Ramlösa. Olsson was a teetotaller, Persson was not.
Moving to Helsingborg
The two consuls´ businesses speeded up Helsingborg. Between 1860 and 1900 the population was increased five times and no other city in Sweden could show a population increase like that. In the years 1850-1920 the population of Helsingborg increased with 1149%, while the neighbouring city, Landskrona had an 493% increase and Lund a 346% increase. Malmo was close by with an increase of 867%. (The banishment of the Sound duty in 1857 also benefited Helsingborg on the expense of the nearest neighbouring city, Elsinore.)
It is said that the flow of people to Helsingborg at times was so heavy that the city´s registration office could not keep up. The vicar sometimes was so exhausted that he had to leave the pen. It is evident that the appearance of the city changed because of the active building activity. The trend of architecture at the end of the 19th century was richly represented in the city. The neo-classicism and the neo-renaissance are evident along Järnvägsgatan, Trädgårdsgatan and Drottninggatan, and the neo-Gothic style is exemplified in the Town Hall, the GA Church and the Nicolai School. The large influx of workers resulted in the building of a great deal of workmen’s houses, especially in the south part of town, where the industry was located.
A Clash of Style | 
The Town Hall in Helsingborg | 
The Gustav Adolf Church. |
Consul Trapp
Another man with a consul’s title deserves mention as he was engaged in preserving the old Helsingborg in the transformation process, which was taking place. Oscar Trapp, who lived in Frederiksdal, was interested in history and this interest combined with a municipal involvement resulted in the renovation and restoration of Kärnan, the Maria Church was renovated and excavations at some of the old middle age churches were carried out. He was also instrumental in the preservation of Jakob Hansen´s house from the 17th century. He was also the man behind Sweden´s flag. As a member of parliament he proposed that the flag should have certain nuances and not nuances of yellow and blue varying from flag to flag. His motion was carried and thus the Swedish flag in the 1906 law on the flag of the realm, got the colours it has today.
Oscar Trapp 1847-1916 | 
Fredriksdal | 
Oversæt |
Sturzen-Becker
If Malmo in the 1880´s and the 90´s had a socialist mouthpiece in Axel Danielsson´s “Arbetet”, Helsingborg had from the end of the 1840´s a radical-liberal platform in the newspaper “Öresundsposten”. Very early he spoke for the abolition of the Assembly of the Estates of the Realm, for the republic and extended suffrage. The demands for increased freedom and the diminishing of injustice were constantly recurring in the columns and tirades were shot at the church and at the time not least the well-known teetotaler and vicar, Peter Wieselgren. After Scandinavism had been toned down at the end of the 1860´s, the newspaper supported the independence of Norway and thus worked for the dissolution of the Union.
Öresundsposten had great impact in the country and became difficult for the state. The criticism against the monarchy, the injustices and the Union, resulted in the intervention of the authorities and the newspaper was closed down several times, but rose again, like Aftonbladet, with a new name. This is why the name w Öresundsposten as changed from Öresundsposten to Allmänna Öresundsposten and later changed name to Nyera Öresundsposten, and, when that was banned, to Nyaste Öresundsposten.
Sturzen-Becker | 
Öresundsposten | 
Peter Wieselgren |
The Propandagist
Öresundsposten was founded in 1847 by Oscar Patrik Sturzen-Becker, who very early turned it into the primary forum of Scandinavism in Sweden. He had worked in Uppsala and Stockholm as a writer and publicist. After having broken with the romantic ideals his literary activities became more realistic and he became the radical liberalism’s frontrunner. As a Scandinavist he wanted to make Swedish culture known in Denmark and he lectured in Copenhagen in the 1840´s.
He was on the side of August Blanche in a savage battle against the writer Carl Jonas Love Almqvist. In spite of this he supported Almqvist, when he had to go underground because of the charges against him in connection with he poisoning of a usurer in Stockholm. Sturzen-Becker hid Almqvist in this home in Helsingborg and later helped him escape across the Sound. Almqvist never returned to Sweden. When Carl Jonas Love Almqvist died in 1866, Sturzen-Becker wrote a poem, where rehabilitated Almqvist as a romantic and simultaneously reminded of the June morning in 1851, when Almqvist fled to Elsinore..
Fredrik Borg
Fredrik Borg, who is one of the most important persons in the history of ideas in Sweden in the 19th century, took over Öresundsposten in 1855. He was born in Landskrona in 1824 and after studies in Lund, where he very early was introduced to the continental radicalism, he worked in Stockholm as a writer and publicist and there he founded the first Socialist workers´ society (1850) in Sweden. He came to Helsingborg and Öresundsposten with recommendations from Lars Johan Hierta from Aftonbladet. The cooperation between Borg and Sturzen-Becker was not always frictionless, but the relationship between Borg and Wieselgren developed into friendship. Borg remained a romantic and never ceased to dream of a better world with freedom and justice as ideals.
Fredrik Borg |
The Radical
In July 1858 a big Scandinavistic meeting was held in Ramlösa and thousands of Danish participants were greeted with kettledrums and trumpets in the harbour of Helsingborg. The city had been decorated with flags and there was an intense festive atmosphere was prevalent. The meeting was not only a Scandinavistic manifestation, but developed into a strange history of ideas. Almost 12000 Scandinavists had gathered in Ramlösa, where Ploug, Ahnfelt and all the other Scandinavism-enthusiasts held speeches. Fredrik Borg mounted the platform and presented his view of women, which made the listeners gape. He explained that he thought it unfair to see women as “mother, wife, mistress”, while men at the same time not only was seen as “father, husband and lover”, but also as a fellow citizen and he demanded civil rights for women and the same rights to education and working life.
This was an equal rights policy, which was way ahead of its time, and Borg was the first to demand women suffrage in parliament in 1884, when he was active as a member. But his proposal was not met with sympathy for his convictions and it took 35 years before the parliament introduced women suffrage. The speech in Ramlösa was way ahead of its time and it was brilliant. Borg struck a note, which was to become a recurrent theme in Öresundsposten. The speech was printed in the paper July 16th 1858 and some of it is reported here as a source, but we cannot help quoting the ending here: “ Put her in the sunlight, in whose warmth her loving nature can bloom and yield fruits for society”.
Progresses and Friends
In Helsingborg Borg was at first plagued by the narrowness of the small town, but committed himself more and more to the development of the town as councilman as well as a member of parliament, and he subsequently became quite pleased with the change and development of Helsingborg. In the beginning of the 60´s he felt so “patriotic” that he bought “a comfortable and well-situated house near the town square”.
It is not to be forgotten that Borg – and not only the consuls – were instrumental for the origin of the railways in Helsingborg. It was also partly to Borg´s credit that the city had a new city library and a new theatre in 1877.
The Helsingborgsposten as well as Helsingborgs Tidning tried to overthrow Borg, but the harsh attacks from the competitors only led to the increase of subscribers for Öresundsposten. But Borg had more friends, which a comprehensive correspondence shows. Viktor Rydberg, Carl Jonas Love Almqvist, Lars Johan Hierta and Björnstjerne Björnson were all intimate friends and with the latter he cooperated intensively in the fight for the independence of Norway. Borg developed, perhaps because of these friendly connections into a pure liberalist and broke with the class-thinking of Socialism.
Other Effects
In the wake of the strong urbanization many things happened. We have already mentioned the city library and the new theatre, which by many were viewed as the most beautiful in the country and which insensitive politicians almost a hundred years later let become dilapidated and had torn down. But even sports made its entry. In 1868 the first international rowing regatta in the North was held and Karl XV, Prince Oskar and the Danish crown prince were there. The same year the Olympic Games were taken up again, the Swedish athletic championships were held in Helsingborg and in the same time around the first Swedish championship final in football was played, also in Helsingborg. (Örgryte won). Already in 1898 the sports ground Olympia was opened, which became one of Sweden´s most classic sports grounds.
Nobody can claim that the city was not going fast. Even in Stockholm there was surprise and in Aftonbladet shortly after the millennium you could read the following accurate description of the development of Helsingborg:
“It is like a fairy tale that Helsingborg in less than a generation has risen from a “hole”, who got by on a little overland trade and shipping, a little craft and a lot of trickery, to one of the largest and lovely cities, blossoming through the fruits of the far-sightedness and initiative of a few men."
The Theatre |
Elsinore
| | Around 1859 the first real harbour was laid out in Elsinore. Because of the annulment of the Sound Duty the city had extra appropriations, but at first that did not result in any radical changes. The investments in the city was still chiefly in trade. However, an industry was developing in mid-town and the Grønnehave area on the northern edge of town. |
“Take a town like Hillerød... No, leave it; but take Elsinore! A small, strange nest, isn’t it? Pressed together under tall hills along the sea, which lifts Kronborg imposingly on a shield, Kronborg, which seems to crush both church and town hall and the new railway station.
A jolly town, with a “salty “ mark on its inhabitants and buildings. Everything smells of the sea – the town has serves a small area and has to trust itself. It has done so in spite of the ups and downs of fate. What Marsk Stig and the Hanseatic towns and the Swedes, the plague and fires has been able to do, has been done; the town has endured – until the year 1857, where the Sound Duty was banned. That was a blow – and that in the time of my romantic s boyhood and holiday. Then the cheerful town suddenly changed its look – the old houses crumbled down – the large families split up – the upstarts gloated in secret; and often I stopped in the narrow street, to where the eastern wing of Hotel d´Øresund faces, and philosophically read the old inscription on the stones in the wall:
Manchem verdrueht, es, was er sieht,
Und muss doch leiden, das geschieht.
Now the town has pulled itself together, or is on its way. The position is excellent, the harbour is superb, the energy lifts its head – the future belongs to the big iron ship- and machine shipyard, which gives work to many hands, feeds the many mouths. There is keen competition with the capital, and something “edgy” has taken its place alongside the salt. You can feel it politically, socially, commercially; there is movement in the old nest, and no matter how conservative the town is, the breeze from the sea sweeps in and puts the mind and thoughts in motion. Nowhere in the world the flags are flown so often as in Elsinore. Stengade smartens itself up at any opportunity – the garrison remembers any little feat – but these waving flags are also the expression of the decorative traditions of the population. But the great days of the custom-house are never forgotten, when the money rolled and champagne corks popped loudly. They have their saga to live on – and it gives them an appetite to show off. The melancholy is washed down with Wiibroe ale – they lick their lips and think: The champagne will come again!”
With this description Holger Drachmann characterizes the development, which took place in Elsinore in the course of the 19th century, the transformation from Sound Duty town to modern industrial town.
Elsinore 1859 | 
The Old Pharmacy |
From Duty to Industri
For more than 400 years the town’s life and development had been closely linked to the trade and the administration, which was brought on by the Sound Duty. With the abolition of the Sound Duty in 1857 a new epoch in the history of the town was ushered in.
In spite of the sudden transition, which was marked by the banishment of the Sound Duty, it was a change, which had been underway for a long time. As early as the end of the 18th century people tried to start larger enterprises on private initiative, often in conflict with the influential interests of the guilds. Individuals like the Englishman J.D. Balfour and J.J. Claessen were pioneers, who also invented new production methods, but the big plans of starting the shipyard did not come off, and an enlargement of the harbour paid by the state did not start before the 1820´s and was mostly to the benefit of the activities, which was attached to the custom-house.
Elsinore new Town Hall
Elsinore new Town Hall was finished in 1855. Previously it had been the object of a heated debate, which wasn´t or isn´t unusual, when major changes were on the agenda. The reason for the new building was that the old town hall from the 16th century was in need of a renovation of the jail. On the way they realized that a rebuildig like that required that the old town hall had to be demolished.
The debate was whether the new Town Hall should be built in Axeltorv.
Finally the new Town Hall was built where the old one had been, but they didn´t avoid the budget excesses, known from the the present time.
Had they known in 1854/55 that the Sound Duty would disappear just two years later, the town probably wouldn´t have had such an impressive building.
Elsinore Town Hall 1830 | 
Elsinore Town Hall 1855 | 
Elsinore Town Hall 2007 |
The First Industries
The first real industrial enterprise with a high degree of mechanisation and division of labour was a gasworks, built in 1853 by the Danish Gas Company, backed by English capital and technology. Second to Odense it was the first gas works in the country, originally intended to renew the street lighting, but in the course of time it also supplied the private and business sector. The gas works was placed in the Grønnehave neighbourhood, which together with the town centre developed into an industrial centre. Here the town’s new waterworks was built and it replaced a plant, which dated all the way back to Frederik 2. In the present Højstrup Godthåb glassworks was situated from 1848 to 1895. Godthåb glassworks and other industries later came to the area. In general this was the first phase of the industrial process, from the end of the 1840´s to the middle of the 1850´s. The development is characterized by some new plants (glassworks, gasworks, tileworks and breweries, and an industry count from the year 1855 showed businesses with 354 employees, of these 20 businesses with more than 6 employees.
In the town middle a number of new industrial plants were started. Among other things Carl Wiibroe started as early as 1851 to brew Bavarian beer, which he stored in the casemates in Kronborg castle. In 1862 he bought the site by the harbour, where the remains of the brewery now lay opposite Hestemøllestræde, and where he in 1878 built storerooms and installed engine power. Carl Wiibroe was also very active in the public life, as early as 1842 he was elected to the municipal council, where he became chairman several times around.
Another entrepreneur in the town centre was Jens Levin Tvede, who transformed a small distillery in Sudergade to a manufacturing business in Stjernegade, where he made spirits, snaps, yeast and household beer. He was also contributory to the fact that the telephone came into use in Elsinore around 1880. J.L. Tvede was elected town council man in 1857.
Glass Hut | 
Wiibroe Beer | 
Tvede´s Factories |
The End of the Duty 1857
In order to lighten the transition from the banishment of the Sound Duty Elsinore got a special appropriation, all in all a sum of 60.000 rix-dollars, which was partly used to the support of the laying out of Marienlyst Seaside Hotel. More important was the enlargement of the harbour in 1862, at which the custom house almost symbolically disappears. With the freedom of trade law the guilds disappeared and gradually also the market town zone, which contributed to the protection of production and trade in a circumference of approximately 15 kilometres. In 1864 the north railway opened with 60.000 passengers a year and a direct link to Copenhagen via Hillerød.
The Railway Station |
The North Railway |
The North Railway |
Stagnation
In spite of these enterprises there was a decline in industry and the increase in the industry census until 1975 was very modest. At this time there were 37 businesses with a total of 478 employees, corresponding to approximately 5% of the labour force. The increase happened in the provision business (spirits, beer, margarine). In the town centre the predominant business were smaller trade businesses.
Even though Elsinore, apart from Copenhagen was the most important industrial town in Zealand, it was still very modest and towards the end of the 1870´s the development stagnated.
This could be linked to the dominant trade life of the town concentrated its efforts on increasing its trade by sea and therefore invested large sums in trade ships, mostly sailing ships. When the steamships gained ground it turned out to be a bad investment, moreover, the development also resulted in fewer ships berthed at Elsinore, and that caused an important basis of the town’s trade life disappeared.
The harbour enlargement in 1862 was not comprehensive enough and plans to make Elsinore an emporium for the Baltic Sea trade did not come off. Around 1889 the town with its 8.978 (1906: 14.534) inhabitants was in fact declining.
The Skipbuilding Yard 1882
Not until 1882, when the Elsinore Iron Ship and Machine Yard was built, the development started to turn and from then on a real industrial breakthrough was happening. The laying out with Mads Holm in the front brought with it large investments, increased mechanization and a large need for manpower. Around 700 workers were employed in the enterprise, of these approximately 300 from abroad.
The harbour was enlarged once again and in 1883 the first new ship was launched, the propeller steamship S/S Elsinore and with it approximately 1000 employees and many subcontractors the shipyard became the dominant factor in the economical development of the town towards the 1880´s.
The Harbour | 
Elsinore Shipyard | 
Workers from the Shipyard’s Forge | 
Kierulf´s Iron Foundry | 
Elsinore Weaving Mill |
Oversæt |
Infrastructure
Another important factor concerning the industrial revolution was the establishment of infrastructure, which connected North Zealand to the metropolitan area. The sea route was there, of course, but in 1864 the north railway was opened with connection to Copenhagen via Hillerød. The transportation of goods from the terminus to the town centre was done via a horse drawn line and from this the name “Trækbanen”.
Out of fear of competition from the capital there was local resistance against the establishment of the North railway and the Coast railway, which was opened in 1897. With the opening of the Hornbæk railway in 1906 a substantial improvement of the area’s infrastructure was the result with better connections to the surrounding area, among other things cloth is transported from Hellebæk, tile from Ålsgårde and paper from Havreholm. The transport development was to some extent also a result of the transformation of the area to a recreational area for the metropolitan region. And to some extent, this is still the case.
The sea trade´s fear that the new communications would certain parts of the trade transport was well-founded and with the final lifting of protection zones around the market town in 1920, the time where obstacles were put in the way of the free trade, was finally over.
Around the turn of the century the most important factors for the industrial development was provided: First of all with the establishment of the shipyard, the necessary capital and investments and labour, which also came to the town, an extension of the infrastructure and the lifting of earlier days´ restrictions on production and trade. With the establishment of Elsinore Technical School in 1885, a modern education of the work force was also begun.
The New Station for the Coast Railway |
Oversæt | 
Oversæt | 
The Railway Terrain |
The Development of the Trade Union Movement
With the beginning industrialization and the removal of the guilds the first attempt to establish a trade union was made in Elsinore. The first attempts took place inside the earlier guild-organized skilled trades in the beginning of the 1870´s, but the economic decline around 1876 stopped further developments. The first lasting unionisation took place among the printers in 1881 and in connection with the establishment of the shipyard there were other efforts. An economic crisis in the middle of the 1880´s brought about another setback, but the establishment of the Social Democratic Society in the summer of 1885, the Union of Smiths and Mechanics in 1887 and the Common Union and Workers´ Society in Elsinore of 1888, became the basis of a more lasting and united organisation.
It is evident that the changing market conditions, especially for the shipbuilding business, had a great impact on the development. This was also evident into the 1890´s and not until the middle of the 1890´s the cooperative union carried through agreements for several of the trades in the shipyard.
In 1892 the gardener Christian Hansen was elected to the town council as the first Social Democratic council member in the country and in 1894 the Social Democrats had three members elected to the town council through a joint electoral list with the Venstre-party.
Agreements and Conflicts
A final arrangement about the entering of agreements was not reached until 1896, after a comprehensive union conflict in the shipyard. It started with the lockout of the riveters and involved 900 employees. It was a major conflict according to the times, and it took a fortnight of negotiations to reach an agreement about a wage increase and a three-year agreement and the establishment of a fixed negations system, where the cooperative union negotiated on the behalf of the trades.
The negotiation results of the shipyard and their wage rates became pacesetting, but in 1899 an extensive and 3 months long conflict broke out in Elsinore, but it did not include the shipyard. The Cooperative Union had effortlessly negotiated an agreement, which involved the reduction of the working hours from 60 to 58 hours and abolished the hated fine system, which was in the shipyard’s working regulations. In 1888 the town only had 7 trade unions with less than 300 members. Around the turn of the century there were 32 unions with approximately 1800 members.
The Conditions of Life
Around the turn of the century a worker made around 15-20 kroner a week. In itself that does not say much, but unfortunately there are no surveys from Elsinore concerning the budgets and conditions of life of working families. If you compare to other places in the country, it is plausible that 25% of the income went to house rent and the rest went to food, fuel and clothes in that order.
Money was scarce and in addition they had to pay for insurance against illness, death and burial. Apart from the poor-law authorities and a pension reform in 1891 the public security system did not exist and it became an important task for the labour movement to deal with these things – also locally. In that connection they established a sick-benefit association in 1892 for the members of the
Cooperative Union.
The Cooperation
A method to reduce expenses in the daily necessities and deprive the capitalists of their dominant influence on production lies in the cooperative idea. The farmer’s cooperatives from the 1889´s, which were inspired by the English workers´ cooperative wholesale societies, could have been the inspiration, but the cooperative idea has deep roots in the labour movement. In short, the idea was by producing jointly, buying and distributing different goods and services, they were able to do it as cheaply as possible, without the expensive intermediaries and to the good of all.
The first example of cooperative wholesale in Elsinore was the establishment of “the Workers´ Coal Supplies” in 1892, but later many initiatives came along for cooperative operations and social security.Link
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