🔗 Share this article

In the mirror, I appear to be wearing oversized gilded pantaloons, visible only to me. Youngsters play in a stone basin acting as ocean creatures, and adjacent rests a chatting legume in a display case, next to a towering pile of mattresses. It embodies the domain of the beloved author (1805-1875), one of the 19th century’s highly cherished authors. I’m in Odense, on the island of the island of Fyn in the southern region of Denmark, to discover Andersen’s lasting influence in his birthplace many decades after his passing, and to find a couple of fairytales of my own.

The Cultural Center: HC Andersens Hus

HC Andersens Hus is the local cultural center honoring the storyteller, incorporating his original residence. A museum representative states that in past designs of the museum there was little focus on the author's tales. His personal history was examined, but The Ugly Duckling were nowhere to be found. For visitors who visit this place looking for storytelling magic, it was somewhat disappointing.

The redesign of downtown Odense, diverting a primary street, made it possible to reconsider how the city’s most famous son could be celebrated. A major architecture competition gave Japanese firm the Kengo Kuma team the contract, with the curators’ new approach at the center of the design. The remarkable timber-clad museum with interwoven spiral spaces debuted to great fanfare in 2021. “We have attempted to design an environment where we avoid discussing Andersen, but we talk like Andersen: with comedy, irony and perspective,” says the curator. The landscape design take this approach: “The outdoor area for wanderers and for colossal creatures, it's created to make you feel small,” he explains, a challenge realized by clever planting, playing with elevation, size and many winding paths in a surprisingly compact space.

The Author's Influence

He authored several autobiographies and regularly contradicted himself. HC Andersens Hus adopts this philosophy seriously; often the views of his companions or excerpts of letters are shown to politely doubt the writer's personal account of incidents. “The author is the guide, but his account isn't always accurate,” notes the expert. The effect is a compelling whirlwind tour of his personal story and art, thought processes and most popular tales. It is stimulating and playful, for grown-ups and children, with a bonus lower-level imaginary world, Ville Vau, for the children.

Visiting the Town

Returning to the real world, the small city of the municipality is picturesque, with cobbled streets and historic timber buildings finished in vibrant hues. The Andersen legacy is ubiquitous: the traffic lights feature the writer with his signature characteristic hat, metal shoe prints give a no-cost guided stroll, and there’s a outdoor exhibition too. Annually in August this focus reaches its height with the annual HC Andersen festival, which marks the his influence through creativity, dance, drama and music.

This year, the multi-day festival had numerous performances, most of which were without charge. During my time in this place, I come across painted stilt-walkers, fantastical beings and an Andersen lookalike sharing tales. I listen to feminist spoken-word pieces and observe an amazing nocturnal display featuring athletic artists descending from the city building and hanging from a crane. Upcoming events in the coming months are presentations, hands-on activities and, broadening the oral history beyond Andersen, the city’s annual Magic Days festival.

All good fairytale destinations require a fortress, and Fyn features over a hundred manors and manor houses throughout the region

Cycling and Exploration

As in most of Denmark, bicycles are the perfect means to travel around in this town and a “cycling highway” curves through the urban core. Departing from the local hotel, I cycle to the public port-side aquatic facility, then into the countryside for a loop around Stige Island, a tiny landmass linked by a road to the mainland. City residents relax with food here in the evening, or take pleasure in a peaceful time angling, aquatic activities or bathing.

Returning to Odense, I visit Restaurant Under Lindetræet, where the menu is derived from the writer's motifs and tales. The verse the national ode is highlighted at the restaurant, and owner the host recites passages, presented in English, as he presents each course. This is a practice commonplace in my days in the city, the local residents enjoy storytelling and it appears storytelling is constantly on the menu here.

Manor House Visits

Each wonderful magical places need a castle, and this region boasts numerous historic homes and manor houses around the area. Traveling briefly from town, I visit the historic fortress, the continent's most intact historic fortress. While much of it are accessible to the public, Egeskov is also the personal dwelling of the noble family and his wife, Princess Alexandra zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. I wonder if she can feel a small legume through a mound of {mattresses