This is where the famous writer of fairy tales rests.
This is where the famous writer of fairy tales rests.
From theatre to fairy tales
Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense (Denmark) on April 2, 1805. At the age of fourteen, he moved to Copenhagen seeking employment as an actor. He had a pleasant soprano voice and succeeded in being admitted to the Royal Danish Theatre. His career stopped when his voice changed. Luckily - literature lasts longer than voices.
Throughout his lifetime, Andersen wrote no fewer than 3381 works. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his fairy tales, such as "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Little Mermaid", "The Nightingale", "The Snow Queen", "The Ugly Duckling", "The Little Match Girl", "Thumbelina", and many others. They have been translated into more than 125 languages and continue to be published in millions of copies all over the world inspiring ballets, plays, animated and live-action films.
A borrowed grave
Hans Christian Andersen died on August 4, 1875, in a house called Rolighed (literally "calmness"), the home of the banker Moritz Melchior and his wife. A week later, his body was interred in the cemetery Assistens Kirkegård (Copenhagen, Denmark), in the family plot of his close friends, Edvard Collin and his wife Henriette.
In 1914 the Collin's tombstone was moved to another cemetery (today known as "Frederiksbergs ældre kirkegaard"), where younger Collin family members were buried. And for a period, Andersen's, Edvard Collin's and Henriette Collin's graves was unmarked. Later, a second tombstone was placed on the grave, marking H.C. Andersen's grave, without any mention of the Collin couple. But all three still share the same plot.
Once upon a time...
So, we know how the story ended. Unmentioned, Edvard and his wife Henriette share the grave with the world-famous writer. But what was the beginning?
Do you know the reason why Andersen wasn't buried in a grave of his own in the first place? Or maybe you have an interesting theory about it!? Contact us and share your version of the story behind the story with us. Let's see where imagination can lead us. :)
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