Inside Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale world

The son of a washerwoman and a cobbler in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the city, Hans-Christian Andersen was born in this half-timbered house in the small Danish town of Odense in 1805. His mother was illiterate and his father died at a young age. Few would have thought the Danish author would become a world-famous storyteller.

At age 14, Hans-Christian Andersen left Odense to try his luck in the metropolis of Copenhagen where he hoped to become an actor. He eventually found his way to writing and at age 30, started penning fairy tales which brought him international fame.

The Hans Christian Andersen Museum, which is located in the house where he was born, underwent seven years of renovation led by the office of Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. Kuma, who is also responsible for the new Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, expanded the home to include an underground area where guests can immerse themselves in his fairy tales, including "The Princess and the Pea."

The inspiration for the underground museum came from the concept of Andersen's stories. According to architect Kengo Kuma: "The idea behind the architectural design is similar to Andersen's method, where a small world suddenly transforms into a larger universe," he told news agency AFP.

Twelve artists participated in the redesign of the underground exhibition space, which includes light and music installations. Visitor Ara Halici had traveled from the Netherlands to visit the museum. "It's wonderful to be able to escape from everyday life here," he told news agency AFP.

The museum's redesign also includes a sprawling garden. Because the Danish municipality of Odense decided to ban cars from its city center before the museum's renovation, one can enjoy the sprawling green space in peace.

In summer 2021 when the renovation work was not yet fully completed, Danish Queen Margrethe visited the redesigned museum. Andersen is considered a national hero in Denmark. Before his death in 1875, he wrote 158 fairy tales and 800 poems, including classics such as "The Emperor's New Clothes," "The Snow Queen" and "The Little Mermaid."

Recently, Disney adaptations of his fairy tales, such as "Frozen," have ensured that Hans Christian Andersen continues to enjoy worldwide fame more than a hundred years after his death: The former Hans Christian Andersen Museum was visited by 100,000 guests a year, most of them from abroad. Around 20,000 of them came from China, where Andersen enjoys immense popularity, according to AFP.

The new museum complex was only open for a few months before the omicron variant forced museums in Denmark to close in the winter of 2021. Until the reopening, there's plenty of time to read Andersen's fairy tales, such as "Snow Queen," "Ugly Duckling" and "The Emperor's New Clothes."