THE COPENHAGEN POST
It is not known whether Holger will rise from his slumber to stop his owners from selling him to foreign art collectors
Patriotic Danes were shocked to discover today that a bronze statue of the mythological Viking hero Holger Danske has been put up for sale by its owners, the Hotel Marienlyst, in Helsingør.
Many others were probably equally shocked just to find out that the two-tonne bronze sculpture – commissioned by the hotel in 1907 – actually exists, as it is not the same Holger Danske statue that is a popular tourist attraction.
That statue sits in the cellar of Kronborg Castle in Helsingør and, according to myth, will rise from its slumber to protect Denmark if it ever again comes under attack.
The sale of the virtually-unknown bronze version of the statue has provoked a strong reaction from nationalistic Dansk Folkeparti (DF), which wants parliament to buy the statue in order to prevent it from ending in foreign hands.
“In my opinion it is a national treasure that shouldn’t end up in a random person’s hands,” DF’s values spokesperson Pia Kjærsgaard told BT tabloid. “That is why I want to propose that parliament buy the statue and place it outside Christiansborg [the parliament building].”
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