Kronborg is a castle and stronghold in the town of Helsingør, Denmark. Immortalized asElsinore in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Kronborg is one of the most importantRenaissance castles in Northern Europe and has been added to UNESCO's World Heritage Sites list (2000).^[1]>

The castle is situated on the extreme northeastern tip of the island of Zealand at the narrowest point of the Øresund, the sound between Denmark and Sweden. In this part, the sound is only 4 km wide, hence the strategic importance of maintaining a coastal fortification at this location commanding one of the few outlets of the Baltic Sea.