Hans Christian Andersen’s Odense

Author of novels, plays, travel writing, and other genres, Hans Christian Andersen is most known for his literary fairy tales, such as The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, and The Princess and the Pea. Widely celebrated as one of the world’s most famous writers and as a Danish national cultural symbol, “his person and his work inextricably linked to the common past and present of the nation as a heritage that belongs to Denmark” (Bom & Schaffalitzky de Muckadell, 2020; 413). Having lived most of his life in the Danish capital, the author travelled extensively, and his travels constitute a significant source of literary inspiration. According to Tangherlini and Chen (2024), “the interdependence of Andersen’s genres is a well-known phenomenon, with his travel writing and his novels sharing considerable overlap” (521), particularly his fairy tale corpus and the travel writing one. Published in 1835, the volumes Improvisatoren, based on his journeys through Italy, and Fairy Tales Told for Children. First Collection, are regarded as the key milestones of his career, solidifying his prestige. Since then, many of his writings have been translated, reinterpreted, and adapted to the screen, particularly his eventyr – the Danish word for fairy tales – as is the case of Renoir’s and Tédesco’s 1928 The Little Match Girl, Toei’s 1978 Japanese anime Thumbelina, Disney’s 1989 The Little Mermaid, among others.

However, intersemiotic translations are not the sole contemporary rebranding of Andersen’s work: amid the “heritage race” (Harrison, 2013) lies the city of Odense, the author’s birthplace, located on the southern island of Fyn and served by Hans Christian Andersen Airport. Odense is nowadays quite diverse than in 1805, the year of Hans’ birth. Nonetheless, among its preserved historical monuments lie the Egeskov Castle, the Funen Village, St. Knuds Church and several landmarks of the author’s life. “H. C. Andersen’s Odense” is the contemporary slogan of the city, and one can visit museums and buildings dedicated to Andersen and his fairy tales. Among such landmarks are the H. C. Andersen Birthplace, the H. C. Andersen Childhood Home, The H. C. Andersen Museum and the H. C. Andersen New Museum, or House of Fairytales. In September, visitors can participate in the H. C. Andersen Marathon, established in 2000, or explore the Munke Mose Park, which is adorned with fairy tale sculptures.

Among these landmarks, the Birthplace was the first to be opened to the public as the original Andersen Museum in 1908 and was subsequently integrated into the H. C. Andersen New Museum, established in 2021. Concerning the Birthplace, the H. C. Andersen Centre at the University of Southern Denmark acknowledges some ambiguity: “Whether this really is the birthplace remains uncertain. Andersen himself categorically rejected the idea”. The Childhood Home, inaugurated in 1930, provides a tangible representation of the memories documented by the author in his autobiography. In 2018, a garden was introduced, further enriching the visitor experience at this site. The former H. C. Andersen Museum, alongside the Birthplace, was replaced in 2021 by the new museum, referred to as the “House of Fairytales”, an immersive and interactive experience designed by the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. In addition to the building and gardens, the new location houses “Ville Vau – a wonder world for children”, which features a variety of fairy tale-themed play areas and rooms equipped with costumes and educational activities for children.

The promotion of specific destinations through their literary symbols is a process that emphasises specific associations, as literary tourism can manifest in various forms, including “author-related, fictional-related, book and festival-related” (Hoppen, Brown, & Fyall, 2014; 37) ones. This diversity is exemplified by UNESCO’s Cities of Literature programme, a global network of cities recognised for their varied types of literary heritage, encompassing fiction, author, and book-related forms. In Odense, the featured experience is dual: the city constitutes both H. C. Andersen’s universe and a gateway to the fairy tale world, even though fictional places are not explicitly or necessarily associated with specific landmarks. It is, therefore, an author-related type of touristic branding that consequently originates fiction-related experiences: in other words, by promoting a location or attraction through its connection to an author, tourist experiences are developed that revolve around the author’s fictional worlds or narratives. Authenticity is thus sanctioned by the fact that the author was born there, even though most of his life was spent in other locations. By promoting Andersen himself within the local heritage, institutions focus on nostalgia as a tourist trigger, for most of his widely known works have been gradually placed within the scope of childhood literature, as the intersemiotic translations confirm. Tourists deal with their own childhood memories of such tales, developing an emotional attachment to the author through nostalgia, a concept briefly summarised by cultural theorist Svetlana Boym (2001) as “a romance with one’s own fantasy” (xiii).

Fantasy (or imagination) is another pivotal term in comprehending “H. C. Andersen’s Odense” since this specific place’s prestige in literary history is a consequence of promoting domestic spaces as historical landmarks. These sites are fundamental to embodying a lively cultural, emotional, and spatial experience that can only take place in Odense. The city’s imaginary thus merges with the fairy tale dreamlike landscapes since the perception of such place is that of a deep connection with the author’s own imagination and, therefore, his creations. Fictional and historical landscapes intertwine, as observable in the museological design of the House of Fairytales or New H. C. Andersen Museum. The interactive and technological exhibition centered on the narratives is preceded by the author’s own life history, which is both narrated and illustrated through objects. “Place” is another key element in this project, architecturally designed to integrate the exterior into the interior environment, granting the landscape (and the city) its prominent role.

In Odense, Andersen’s work symbolic value originated perceptions of such a city as heritage in its own right: as argued by scholar Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (1998), “to make locations into destinations, tourism is staging the world as a museum of itself” (14). The insertion of Odense in the literary tourism map reveals such processes of transforming places into destinations, thus “creating heritage for tourism” (Palmer & Tivers, 2019; 1), and literature’s impact on economic, sociocultural, and political agendas.

How to cite this entry: Lemos, M. I. (2025). Hans Christian Andersen’s Odense. In R. Baleiro, G. Capecchi & J. Arcos-Pumarola (Eds.), E-Dictionary of Literary Tourism. University for Foreigners of Perugia. https://doi.org/10.34623/zdg2-hn59