Kronborg Castle is a castle and fortress in Elsinore (Helsingør). The castle is one of Northern Europe's most important Renaissance castles and was in 2000 included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The castle is located on the extreme tip of Zealand, where the Sound is narrowest, a strategically important location which made it possible to control the entrance to the Baltic. Kronborg's history can be traced back to 1420, was built by Erik of Pomerania in the 1420s. Along with Helsingborg. From 1574 to 1585 rebuilt Frederik 2 the medieval castle into a magnificent Renaissance castle. Large parts of the
castle was destroyed by fire in 1629, but it was subsequently rebuilt by Christian 4 In 1658 Kronborg was besieged and captured by a Swedish army, which subsequently took a large part of the castle's artwork and interior as war booty. In 1785 the castle ceased to function as a royal residence and was converted into a barracks. The military left the castle in 1923, and after a thorough restoration Castle was opened to the public in 1938.