Denmark’s National Maritime Museum is built on the site of an old dry-dock in Helsingor. One of the stipulations of the design competition was that the museum be contained entirely in the dry-dock and not extend above street level. Where most designs proposed building the museum inside the dry-dock with a roof on top, the winning tender proposed the museum be built underground around the edges of the dry-dock with walkways across, making the dry-dock a feature of the museum. It’s a wonderfully-creative idea—we loved it.
On our second day in Helsingor, we visited the Maritime Museum and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the city. Below are trip highlights from October 4th, 2019 in Helsingor, Denmark. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the location on a map. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.
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Life in the Oresund
Position: 56°2.24’N, 12°36.95’E
The sculpture Life in the Oresund by Yodogawa Technique along the Helsingor waterfront. The Oresund is the sound that runs between Denmark and Sweden and the sculpture, made from garbage, symbolizes the vulnerable ecosystem there and also the plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.
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Han
Position: 56°2.25’N, 12°36.93’E
A shiny, modern, male variation, Han, on Copenhagen’s famous Little Mermaid statue.
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Kobenhavneren
Position: 56°2.17’N, 12°36.76’E
We had a great lunch in the wonderful atmosphere at Kobenhavneren in Helsingor. It felt like a real locals’ place—we were almost certainly the only visitors there for lunch.
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Maritime Museum of Denmark
Position: 56°2.34’N, 12°36.96’E
After lunch we visited the Maritime Museum of Denmark and also wandered through the huge dry-dock containing it. The museum is underground, on either side of the dry-dock walls, with walkways through the dry-dock connecting the sections. Danish architecture firm BIG produced a fabulous and innovative design.
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Dry-dock Wall
Position: 56°2.35’N, 12°36.94’E
This cutaway shows how thick the old dry-dock wall was.
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Steam Engine
Position: 56°2.35’N, 12°36.94’E
An excellent model of a triple-expansion steam engine at the Maritime Museum of Denmark.
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Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller
Position: 56°2.32’N, 12°37.01’E
A 1:48 model of the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller at the Maritime Museum of Denmark. The actual ship is 1,309 ft (399 m) long and when it went into service in 2013, its cargo capacity of 18,270 TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) was the largest in the world. The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller was the first of Maersk’s Triple E class of container ships exceeding 18,000 TEUs. We saw two other examples recently, the Magleby Maersk dwarfing an oil tanker as we approached Skagen and the Moscow Maersk at the Port of Gothenburg.
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Tern Sea
Position: 56°2.32’N, 12°37.01’E
This model of the oil tanker Tern Sea the Maritime Museum of Denmark looked so similar to the Furtank ships we’d toured in Donso a few weeks ago that we had to look up its builder. It turns out the Tern Sea is a sister ship, also built by AVIC Group in China.
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Cafe
Position: 56°2.35’N, 12°36.94’E
Taking a break and enjoying the view to the dry-dock from the Maritime Museum cafe. We enjoyed the museum, in particular how the dry-dock was a feature of the design.
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Dirona
Position: 56°2.27’N, 12°36.88’E
View to our berth at Helsingor from the Kulturvaeftet cultural centre adjacent to the Maritime Museum.
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Industrial Buildings
Position: 56°2.28’N, 12°36.89’E
Renovated old industrial buildings behind the Kulturvaeftet cultural centre.
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Vaerftets Madmarked
Position: 56°2.35’N, 12°36.83’E
Looking across the fabulous street-food venue of Vaerftets Madmarked. We weren’t ready to stop yet, but we’ll definitely be back.
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Hamlet
Position: 56°2.41’N, 12°36.84’E
Statue of Hamlet near the Helsingor waterfront. References to Shakespeare’s protagonist abound in Helsingor, with Kronborg castle being famous as the setting for the play.
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King County Transit Police
Position: 56°2.41’N, 12°36.84’E
We were amazed to see a real King County Transit Police vehicle drive by. Seattle, our home port, is part of King County in Washington state. We can’t believe it’s really a King County Transit Police vehicle, but it’s the same logo, colors, font and vehicle type. Our speculation is that the city of Helsingor must have purchased the vehicle from King County and just not repainted it yet, or it might be a personal vehicle.
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Helsingor Marina
Position: 56°2.52’N, 12°36.66’E
Looking across Helsingor Marina, just to the north of Helsingor Havn where Dirona is berthed. Only boats less than 10 meters long can fit here.
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Marienlyst Castle
Position: 56°2.55’N, 12°36.18’E
Marienlyst Castle, completed in 1588 as a pavilion and hunting grounds for nearby Kronborg Castle.
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OE
Position: 56°2.18’N, 12°36.56’E
A delicious dinner at Asian restaurant OE in Helsingor.
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Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations on a map, with the complete log of our cruise.
On the map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps. |
that king conty car, thats mine
nice picture
That’s great — thanks for posting. If you have time to post a bit on the history of your truck, we would all be super interested. But, either way, it’s an eye catcher especially for those that come from the Seattle or the broader King County region. I would definitely slow down every time we passed :-).
i love following you on you tube.. suts a inspiration .. forsure i will go for it when or if it vil be posibil one day .. i am born in Denmark but gru op op arund the World .. came bak at 18 years an stil here ..I am erly disability pention from fire and rescue .. but the King County Transit Police car is a private oned .. its a very very expensive car to have in Denmark just the milges and then the road tax is extremly high as well so its used as a hoppy and that make them extremly rear
Yes, I’ve noticed that big, inefficient V8 engines are quite uncommon here. The taxation system is clearly the having impact :-).
not true what your wrote sorry to say