Helsingborg

Helsingborg stands at the narrowest part of the Øresund, across the water from Helsingør. Its medieval castle commanded a vital passage between the Baltic and the western seas. The great brick tower built under the Danish king Erik Menved in the early fourteenth century rose above a fortified enclosure containing halls, stores and a chapel. Within the outer walls were quarters for the garrison and places to store provisions and taxes collected for the crown. The town below grew in the shadow of one of Denmark's strongest fortresses, facing the Danish coast across only a short stretch of water.

Scania passed to Sweden in 1658, and the old walls were replaced by earthworks and bastions suited to artillery. During the Scanian War Danish forces took the town and castle in 1676; the Swedes recovered them the following year. In the 1680s Charles XI ordered the fortifications dismantled, preferring to strengthen Landskrona. The tower survived and later became known as Kärnan. It served as a store and prison after the fortress had lost its earlier military role.

Denmark tried once more to recover Scania during the Great Northern War. In 1710 a Swedish army under Magnus Stenbock defeated the Danish force outside Helsingborg, ending the invasion. The narrow sound remained a busy waterway, watched by the solitary tower that had once formed the heart of a royal castle.