Hans Christian Andersen: Odense to Copenhagen

Andersen was born in Odense on 2 April 1805, the son of a shoemaker who read him the Arabian Nights. A small yellow house on the corner of Hans Jensens Stræde and Bangs Boder in the old town is thought to be the place, though this is not conclusively confirmed. It reopened as the H.C. Andersen Museum in 1908.

場所の精度: The yellow house on Hans Jensens Stræde is only thought to be the birthplace; the identification is not conclusively confirmed.

訪問のヒント: Part of the H.C. Andersen museum complex in Odense's old town.

From the age of two until he was 14, Andersen lived in a little half-timbered house at 3-5 Munkemøllestræde, not far from the cathedral. His mother was an illiterate washerwoman, and he later worked as an apprentice to a weaver and then to a tailor. The house now holds an exhibition of the cobbling tools his father used and other items based on Andersen's own descriptions of his childhood.

訪問のヒント: Open as a small museum near Odense Cathedral.

At 14 Andersen moved to Copenhagen to seek work as an actor. With a good soprano voice he was accepted into the Royal Danish Theatre, but his voice soon changed. A colleague told him he considered him a poet. Theatre director Jonas Collin grew fond of him and helped send him to grammar school. The purpose-built theatre on Kongens Nytorv dates from 1872 to 1874, so it is not the building he knew.

訪問のヒント: The theatre stands on Kongens Nytorv, a short walk from Nyhavn.

Nyhavn, the canal dug between 1670 and 1675 as a gateway from the sea to Kongens Nytorv, was Andersen's address for years. Between 1845 and 1864 he lived at No. 67, where a memorial plaque now stands. From 1871 to 1875 he lived at No. 18, which today houses an Andersen-themed souvenir shop.

訪問のヒント: Look for the plaque at No. 67 along the quay.

In the 1837 tale, a young mermaid saves a prince from a sinking ship, trades her voice to the Sea Witch for legs, and learns that mermaids turn to sea foam when they die. The bronze statue by Edvard Eriksen, commissioned by Carl Jacobsen in 1909 and unveiled on 23 August 1913, sits on a rock at the waterside. It is only 1.25 metres tall. Eriksen's wife Eline was the model for the body.

訪問のヒント: On the Langelinie promenade by the water.

Tivoli Gardens, laid out on the fortified ground outside the West Gate, has its own Andersen ride: The Flying Suitcase, a 7-minute dark ride inspired by his stories. It opened in 1993 and was renovated in 2010. When the Little Mermaid travelled to Expo 2010 in Shanghai, an authorised copy sat on a rock in Tivoli's lake until she came home.

場所の精度: The ride is inside Tivoli Gardens; the pin marks the park, not the ride itself.

訪問のヒント: Tivoli is an amusement park with an entry ticket; check opening seasons.