Kronborg Castle in Pieces
Happy holidays to everyone. I hope that this festive season has been treating you well. I have to admit, that I usually am a little torn at Christmas time. Perhaps, because I can't be two places at once and many of my family and friends are thousands of miles away over in Canada. Such is Christmas, you can't have your cake and eat it too and some people get no cake at all. I guess the moral of the story is that I should count my blessings, amen.
On that philosophical note, this year I dove into the Christmas season on a "no expectations" note and was actually feeling a little melancholy. To add insult to injury, I kind of dreaded the annual present exchange because I assumed that I'd end up with a load of gifts that I wouldn't use. You know what I'm talking about, the dozen tacky Christmas themed sweaters that pile up in the corner?
Christmas 2008 has been refreshingly different, though. I received the most special gifts, actually items that I liked. For the first I received an elephant statue and hanging plate with an elephant motif. Great, as I love elephants so much, but the crème de la resistance was yet to come. As I mentioned once before in my blog, I was married many moons ago at Hamlet's Castle in Helsingør, Denmark. That's right, the infamous Kronborg Castle immortalised in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Anyhow, once in a while, as with all historical buildings, repairs are needed, upkeep, renovations and all that jazz. A few years ago, it was no different as they needed to replace some of the roof shingles on the old lady. The shingles are made of copper and as you probably know, eventually are worn down by wear and tear of the environmental elements. Over time, they actually change colour from a brilliant coppery gold to a beautiful emerald green.
So, one inspiring day a few years ago a creative mind by the name of Karsten Lank Jensen saw the workers at Kronborg Castle removing the old roof and replacing it with a new one. He thought, there is so much history in the old tiles, surely one could use them for something, rather than just casting them aside?
That's when he came up with the idea for the necklaces called appropriately "The King's Tower." Why not use the old, discarded, weathered pieces of the roof to create unique, handcrafted necklaces? He then proceeded to create a limited edition of fifty necklaces displaying Kronborg's King Tower embedded with 2 centimetre's worth of historic Kronborg's weathered, green, copper roof. It's a piece of the roof that has actually sat on the tower since 1876.
I received one of these splendid necklaces as a Christmas gift. It is so pretty and special. Oh, the stories I can tell with it. Now, this is a gift that I will cherish. Thanks, Anton, Else, Charlotte and Preben. Now, I can walk around with an authentic piece of Kronborg Castle close to my heart wherever I may roam. As I said before, the necklaces, which can also be worn as a brooch, are created by local goldsmith called Karsten Lank Jensen in co-operation with the castle's museum boutique.
The necklaces (if there are any left) can be purchased at Kronborg castle's museum boutique or at Karsten Lank Jensen's store in Espergærde. They are made of silver with 24 karat overlay and cost 1,050 Dkr.
