The Kings Library in Koldinghus.

Sometimes history just is amazing, and one ‘old’ is turned into another ‘old’. Hans Christian Andersen (the author ‘The ugly Duckling” etc) was one of the first, to suggest to preserve the old Koldinghus Castle . In my perception preservation is something you do ‘now’, but of course ‘now’ is ever changing. Hans Christian Andersen suggested this around 1830.

In my World, Hans Christian Andersen is from ancient times, before cars, tv, iPhones and skyscrapers. He suggested preservation around the time when Sydney in Australia was founded. I saw excavations in Sydney uncovering the beginning of the 20th century!

The old castle had it’s time of pride, and one of the most famous kings in Denmark Christian IV spend a large part of his childhood here, that was in the 16th century. However, a terrible fire in 1808 burned half the castle almost to the ground. The castle wasn’t restored until the 1970s.

This magnificient library survived the terrible fire.

–Jacob Surland