Year of birth of Mr. Andersen. Andersen, Hans Christian

Biography and episodes of life Hans Christian Andersen. When born and died Hans Christian Andersen, memorable places and dates of important events in his life. Writer quotes, photos and videos.

Years of life of Hans Christian Andersen:

born April 2, 1805, died August 8, 1875

Epitaph

To whom were you dear during your life,
To whom did you give your love?
Those for your repose
They will pray again and again.

Biography

The world's greatest storyteller, Hans Christian Andersen, was always a little offended that he was considered a children's writer. After all, he wrote his fairy tales for adults. Andersen's biography is the story of a boy from a poor family who, thanks to his talent, was able to become famous throughout the world, but was lonely all his life.

He was born in the town of Odense. Since childhood, Andersen was in love with the theater and often performed puppet shows at home. As if floating in his own fairy-tale worlds, he grew up as a sensitive, vulnerable boy, his studies were difficult for him, and his less spectacular appearance left almost no chance for theatrical success. But Andersen did not give up - at the age of 14 he moved to Copenhagen to become famous, and he succeeded. At first he was accepted into the Royal Theater - however, more out of sympathy: the boy played minor roles there, but was soon fired. There, in Copenhagen, he continued to study thanks to the intercession of good people who treated Andersen with sympathy. In 1829 he began to write, and until the end of his life Andersen wrote many fairy tales, stories and stories. Almost immediately he became famous. And when the writer presented King Frederick with a collection of his poems about Denmark, he was able to travel around Europe with the monetary reward he received. Andersen liked to travel - he drew his inspiration from trips.

During his lifetime, Andersen was awarded many awards - the title of honorary citizen of Odense, the knightly order of Danebrog, the Order of the White Falcon First Class in Germany, the rank of state councilor, etc. Andersen wrote his last fairy tale in 1872, and then a misfortune happened to the writer: he fell out of bed and received severe injuries, which he treated for another three years of his life, until his death. Andersen's death occurred on August 4, 1875; the cause of Andersen's death was liver cancer. The day of Andersen's funeral was declared a day of mourning in Denmark - they were attended by the royal family. Andersen's grave is located in the Assistance Cemetery in Copenhagen.

Life line

April 2, 1805 Date of birth of Hans Christian Andersen.
1827 Graduating from Elsinore.
1828 Admission to university.
1829 Publication by Andersen of the story “A Walking Journey from the Holmen Canal to the Eastern End of Amager.”
1835 Writing of Andersen's Fairy Tales, which made the writer famous.
1840-1860s Andersen's creation of dozens of literary works for children and adults.
1867 Obtaining the rank of state councilor.
1872 Falling out of bed, causing serious injury.
August 4, 1875 Date of death of Andersen.
August 8, 1875 Anderson's funeral.

Memorable places

1. The city of Odense, where Andersen was born.
2. Andersen's house in Odense, where he was born.
3. Andersen's house in Copenhagen, where he lived.
4. Royal Danish Theater, where Andersen played.

6. Andersen Museum in Odense.
7. Museum “The World of Hans Christian Andersen in Copenhagen”. Denmark, Copenhagen.
8. Assistance Cemetery in Copenhagen, where Andersen is buried.

Episodes of life

Even during Andersen’s lifetime, the king decided that a monument should be erected to the writer. Andersen was asked to consider several models, of which he rejected those in which he was surrounded by children - in his opinion, he was not a children's writer, although he wrote 156 fairy tales during his life.

Andersen had a wonderful voice, soprano. When he was still working in a factory in his hometown, he often sang. One day, workers in the workshop pulled down Andersen's pants to make sure that he was actually a young man with such a high voice, and not a girl. Andersen had a hard time withstanding such greasy jokes since childhood.

It is known that Andersen never had romantic relationships with either men or women. Of course, he fell in love and was tormented by the pangs of passion, but, alas, the objects of his feelings did not reciprocate his feelings. When Andersen was in Paris, he often visited brothels, but only to enjoy pleasant conversations with girls.

Andersen was tall, awkward, thin, he was even called “lamp post” and “stork” behind his back. All his life he remained a sensitive person, often suffered from depression, was touchy, vulnerable, and suffered from many phobias - for example, he was afraid of fire and that he would be buried alive. When he wasn't feeling well, he would write a note saying, "It just seems like I'm dead," and leave it on his bed.

Covenant

“Only while you are not bound by anything, the whole world is open to you.”

Autobiography of Hans Christian Andersen

Condolences

“It must have been very strange for Andersen to live among ordinary people and yet be so different from them. His explosive temperament required space that bourgeois Copenhagen could not give him, and the demand for warm and direct relationships with other people was rarely satisfied. He didn't fit in with his surroundings. He was a big and strange duckling among the beautiful little ducklings and the cheeky ducks and chickens.”
Bo Grönbeck, literary critic

The famous Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen was born on a fine spring day on April 2, 1805 in Odnes, which is located on the island of Funen. Andersen's parents were not rich. Father Hans Andersen was a shoemaker, and mother Anna Marie Andersdatter worked as a laundress, and was also not from a noble family. From childhood she lived in poverty, begging on the street, and after her death she was buried in a cemetery for the poor.

However, in Denmark there is a legend that Andersen was of royal origin, because in his early biography he more than once mentioned that as a child he had to play with the Danish Prince Frits himself, who eventually became King Federick VII .

According to Andersen's fantasy, their friendship with Prince Frits continued throughout his life and until Frits's death. After the death of the monarch, only relatives and he were allowed to the coffin of the late king...

And the stories of his father that he was some kind of relative of the king himself contributed to the emergence of such fantasy thoughts in Andersen. From early childhood, the future writer showed a great penchant for daydreaming and a wild imagination. He more than once performed impromptu home performances in the house, acting out various scenes that caused laughter and mockery from his peers.

1816 was a difficult year for young Anders, his father died and he had to earn his own living. He began his working life as an apprentice to a weaver, after which he worked as a tailor's assistant. The boy continued his work at the cigarette factory...

From early childhood, the boy with big blue eyes had a rather reserved character; he always loved to sit somewhere in a corner and play puppet theater (his favorite game). He carried his love for the puppet theater in his soul throughout his life...

From early childhood, Andersen was distinguished by his emotionality, quick temper and over-sensitivity, which led to physical punishment in schools of that time. Such reasons forced the boy’s mother to send him to a Jewish school, where various types of executions were not practiced.

Therefore, Andersen forever retained contact with the Jewish people and knew their traditions and culture very well. He even wrote several fairy tales and stories on Jewish themes. But, unfortunately, they were not translated into Russian.

Youth

Already at the age of 14, the boy went to the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen. Letting him go so far, his mother really hoped that he would return back soon. Leaving his house, the boy made a kind of sensational statement, he said: “I am going there to become famous!” He also wanted to find a job. It should be to his liking, that is, working in the theater, which he liked so much and which he loved very much.

He received funds for the trip on the recommendation of a person in whose house he had repeatedly staged impromptu performances. The first year of life in Copenhagen did not advance the boy towards his dream of working in the theater. He once came to the house of a famous (at that time) singer and, moved with emotion, began to ask her to help him get a job in the theater. To get rid of the strange and clumsy teenager, the lady promised to help him. But she never fulfilled this promise. Many years later, she somehow confesses to him that at that moment she mistook him for a person whose mind was clouded...

In those years, Hans Christian himself was a lanky, awkward teenager with a long nose and thin limbs. In fact, he was an analogue of the Ugly Duckling. But he had a pleasant voice with which he expressed his requests, and whether for this reason, or simply out of pity, Hans was nevertheless accepted into the fold of the Royal Theater, despite all his external shortcomings. Unfortunately, he was given supporting roles. He did not achieve success in the theater, and with a brittle voice (due to age), he was soon fired altogether...

But Andersen at that time was already composing a play that had five acts. He wrote a letter of intercession to the king, in which he convincingly asked the monarch to give money for the publication of his work. The book also included poems by the writer. Hans did everything to ensure that the book was bought, that is, he carried out advertising campaigns in the newspaper, announcing the publication, but the expected sales did not follow. But he didn’t want to give up and took his book to the theater, hoping to stage a performance based on his play. But even here failure awaited him. He was refused, citing the author’s complete lack of professional experience...

However, he was given a chance and offered to study. Because he had a very strong desire to prove himself in an extraordinary way...

People who sympathized with the poor teenager sent a request to the King of Denmark himself, in which they asked to allow the teenager to study. And “His Majesty” listened to the requests, allowing Hans to study at school, first in the city of Slagels, and then in the city of Elsinore, and at the expense of the state treasury...

This turn of events, incidentally, suited the talented teenager, because now he did not need to think about how to earn a living. But science at school was not easy for Andersen, firstly, he was much older than the students with whom he studied, and felt some discomfort about this. He was also constantly subjected to merciless criticism from the rector of the educational institution, about which he was too worried... Very often he saw this man in his nightmares. Later he will say about the years spent within the walls of the school that it was the darkest time in his life...

Having completed his studies in 1827, he was never able to master spelling, and until the end of his life he made grammatical errors in writing...

In his personal life he was also unlucky, he was never married and did not have children of his own...

Creation

The writer’s first success came with a fantastic story entitled “A Journey on Foot from the Holmen Canal to the Eastern End of Amager,” which was published in 1833. For this work, the writer received a reward (from the king), which allowed him to travel abroad, which he so dreamed of...

This fact became an improvised launching pad for Anderson and he began to write many different literary works (including the famous “Fairy Tales”, which made him famous). Once again the writer makes an attempt to find himself on the theatrical stage in 1840, but the second attempt, like the first, does not bring him complete satisfaction...

But in the writing field he has had some success, having published his collection called “A Book with Pictures Without Pictures.” “Fairy Tales” also had a continuation, which was published in the second issue in 1838, and in 1845 “Fairy Tales - 3” appeared...

He becomes a famous writer, and famous not only in his own country, but also in European countries. In the summer of 1847, he was able to visit England for the first time, where he was greeted triumphantly...

He continues to try to write plays and novels, trying to become famous as a playwright and novelist. At the same time, he hates his fairy tales, which brought him true fame. But nevertheless, fairy tales from his pen appear again and again. The last fairy tale he wrote appeared during the Christmas period of 1872. That same year, through negligence, the writer fell out of bed and was severely injured. He never managed to recover from the injuries received in the fall (although he lived for three more years after the fall). The famous storyteller died in the summer of 1875 on August 4. He was buried in the Assistens cemetery in Copenhagen...

Hans Christian Andersen was born on April 2, 1805 in Odense on the island of Funen. Andersen's father, Hans Andersen, was a poor shoemaker, his mother Anna was a laundress from a poor family, she had to beg as a child, she was buried in a cemetery for the poor. In Denmark, there is a legend about Andersen's royal origin, since in an early biography Andersen wrote that as a child he played with Prince Frits, later King Frederick VII, and he had no friends among the street boys - only the prince. Andersen's friendship with Prince Frits, according to Andersen's fantasy, continued into adulthood, until the latter's death. After the death of Frits, with the exception of relatives, only Andersen was allowed to visit the coffin of the deceased. The reason for this fantasy was the stories of the boy's father that he was a relative of the king. Since childhood, the future writer showed a penchant for daydreaming and writing, and often staged impromptu home performances that caused laughter and ridicule from children. In 1816, Andersen's father died, and the boy had to work for food. He was apprenticed first to a weaver, then to a tailor. Then Andersen worked at a cigarette factory. In his early childhood, Hans Christian was an introverted child with big blue eyes who sat in the corner and played his favorite game - puppet theater. Andersen became interested in puppet theater later.

He grew up as a very subtly nervous child, emotional and receptive. At that time, physical punishment of children in schools was common, so the boy was afraid to go to school, and his mother sent him to a Jewish school, where physical punishment of children was prohibited. Hence Andersen’s forever preserved connection with the Jewish people and knowledge of their traditions and culture.

In 1829, the fantastic story “A Journey on Foot from the Holmen Canal to the Eastern End of Amager” published by Andersen brought the writer fame. Little was written before 1833, when Andersen received a financial allowance from the king, which allowed him to make the first trip abroad in his life. Starting from this time, Andersen wrote a large number of literary works, including in 1835 the “Fairy Tales” that made him famous. In the 1840s, Andersen tried to return to the stage, but without much success. At the same time, he confirmed his talent by publishing the collection “Picture Book Without Pictures.”
The fame of his “Fairy Tales” grew; The 2nd edition of “Fairy Tales” was started in 1838, and the 3rd in 1845. By this time he was already a famous writer, widely known in Europe. In June 1847 he came to England for the first time and was given a triumphant welcome.
In the second half of the 1840s and in the following years, Andersen continued to publish novels and plays, trying in vain to become famous as a playwright and novelist. At the same time, he despised his fairy tales, which brought him well-deserved fame. Nevertheless, he continued to write more and more fairy tales. The last fairy tale was written by Andersen on Christmas Day 1872.
In 1872, Andersen fell out of bed, was badly hurt and never recovered from his injuries, although he lived for another three years. He died on August 4, 1875 and is buried in Assistance Cemetery in Copenhagen.

Hans Christian Andersen was born on April 2, 1805 in the city of Odense on the island of Funen (in some sources the island of Fionia is called), in the family of a shoemaker and a washerwoman. Andersen heard his first fairy tales from his father, who read him stories from One Thousand and One Nights; Along with fairy tales, my father loved to sing songs and make toys. From his mother, who dreamed that Hans Christian would become a tailor, he learned to cut and sew. As a child, the future storyteller often had to communicate with patients in the hospital for the mentally ill, where his maternal grandmother worked. The boy listened to their stories with enthusiasm and later wrote that he “was made the writer of his father’s songs and the speeches of the mad.” Since childhood, the future writer showed a penchant for dreaming and writing, and often staged impromptu home performances.

In 1816, Andersen's father died, and the boy had to work for food. He was apprenticed first to a weaver, then to a tailor. Andersen later worked in a cigarette factory.

In 1819, having earned some money and bought his first boots, Hans Christian Andersen went to Copenhagen. For the first three years in Copenhagen, Andersen connected his life with the theater: he attempted to become an actor, wrote tragedies and dramas. In 1822, the play “The Sun of the Elves” was published. The drama turned out to be an immature, weak work, but it attracted the attention of the theater management, with whom the aspiring author was collaborating at that time. The board of directors secured a scholarship for Andersen and the right to study freely at the gymnasium. A seventeen-year-old boy ends up in the second grade of a Latin school and, despite the ridicule of his comrades, finishes it.

In 1826-1827, Andersen’s first poems (“Evening”, “The Dying Child”) were published, receiving positive reviews from critics. In 1829, his story in a fantastic style, “A Journey on Foot from the Holmen Canal to the Eastern End of Amager,” was published. In 1835, Andersen's "Fairy Tales" brought fame. In 1839 and 1845, the second and third books of fairy tales were written, respectively.

In the second half of the 1840s and in the following years, Andersen continued to publish novels and plays, trying in vain to become famous as a playwright and novelist. At the same time, he despised his fairy tales, which brought him well-deserved fame. Nevertheless, he continued to write more and more new ones. The last fairy tale was written by Andersen on Christmas Day 1872.

In 1872, the writer received serious injuries as a result of a fall, for which he was treated for three years. In 1875, on August 4, Hans Christian Andersen died. He was buried in Copenhagen at the Assistance Cemetery.

• Andersen got angry when he was called a children's storyteller and said that he writes fairy tales for both children and adults. For the same reason, he ordered that all children's figures be removed from his monument, where originally the storyteller was supposed to be surrounded by children.
• Andersen had the autograph of A. S. Pushkin.
• G. H. Andersen's fairy tale “The King's New Clothes” was placed in the first primer by L. N. Tolstoy.
• Andersen has a fairy tale about Isaac Newton.
• In the fairy tale “Two Brothers” H.H. Andersen wrote about the famous brothers Hans Christian and Anders Oersted.
• The title of the fairy tale “Ole-Lukoje” is translated as “Ole-Close Your Eyes.”
• Andersen paid very little attention to his appearance. He constantly walked the streets of Copenhagen in an old hat and a worn raincoat. One day a dandy stopped him on the street and asked:
  “Tell me, is this pathetic thing on your head called a hat?”
  To which there was an immediate response:
  “Is that pathetic thing under your fancy hat called a head?”

Be like children

Christmas card with G.-H. Andersen. Illustrator Klaus Becker - Olsen

The biography of Hans Christian Andersen is the story of a boy from a poor family who, thanks to his talent, became famous throughout the world, was friends with princesses and kings, but remained lonely, scared and touchy all his life.

One of humanity's greatest storytellers was offended even by being called a “children's writer.” He argued that his works were addressed to everyone and considered himself a respectable, “adult” writer and playwright.

On April 2, 1805, the only son, Hans Christian Andersen, was born into the family of shoemaker Hans Andersen and washerwoman Anna Marie Andersdatter in the city of Odense, located on one of the Danish islands of Funen.

Andersen's grandfather, Anders Hansen, a woodcarver, was considered crazy in the city. He carved strange figures of half-humans, half-animals with wings.

Andersen Sr.’s grandmother told him about their ancestors’ belonging to “high society.” Researchers have not found evidence of this story in the storyteller's genealogy.

Perhaps Hans Christian fell in love with fairy tales thanks to his father. Unlike his wife, he knew how to read and write, and read various magical stories aloud to his son, including “A Thousand and One Nights.”

There is also a legend about the royal origin of Hans Christian Andersen. He was allegedly the illegitimate son of King Christian VIII.

In his early autobiography, the storyteller himself wrote about how, as a child, he played with Prince Frits, the future King Frederick VII, the son of Christian VIII. Hans Christian, according to his version, had no friends among the street boys - only the prince.

Andersen's friendship with Frits, the storyteller claimed, continued into adulthood, until the king's death. The writer said that he was the only person, with the exception of relatives, who was allowed to visit the coffin of the deceased.

Hans Christian's father died when he was 11 years old. The boy was sent to study at a school for poor children, which he attended from time to time. He worked as an apprentice for a weaver, then for a tailor.

Since childhood, Andersen was in love with the theater and often performed puppet shows at home.

Twisted in his own fairy-tale worlds, he grew up as a sensitive, vulnerable boy, his studies were difficult for him, and his less spectacular appearance left almost no chance for theatrical success.

At the age of 14, Andersen went to Copenhagen to become famous, and over time he succeeded!

However, success was preceded by years of failure and even greater poverty than the one in which he lived in Odense.

Young Hans Christian had a wonderful soprano voice. Thanks to him, he was accepted into the boys' choir. Soon his voice began to change and he was fired.

He tried to become a ballet dancer, but also did not succeed. Lanky, awkward and poorly coordinated, Hans Christian turned out to be a useless dancer.

He tried doing manual labor - again without much success.

In 1822, seventeen-year-old Andersen finally got lucky: he met Jonas Collin, director of the Royal Danish Theater (De Kongelige Teater). Hans Christian at that time had already tried his hand at writing; he wrote, however, mostly poetry.

Jonas Collin was familiar with Andersen's work. In his opinion, the young man had the makings of a great writer. He was able to convince King Frederick VI of this. He agreed to partially pay for Hans Christian's education.

For the next five years, the young man studied at schools in Slagelse and Helsingør. Both are located near Copenhagen. Helsingør Castle is world famous as a place

Hans Christian Andersen was not an outstanding student. In addition, he was older than his classmates, they teased him, and the teachers laughed at the son of an illiterate washerwoman from Odense, who was going to become a writer.

In addition, modern researchers suggest that Hans Christian most likely had dyslexia. It was probably because of her that he studied poorly and wrote Danish with errors for the rest of his life.

Andersen called his years of study the most bitter time of his life. What it was like for him is perfectly described in the fairy tale “The Ugly Duckling.”

In 1827, due to constant bullying, Jonas Collin removed Hans Christian from school in Helsingør and transferred him to home schooling in Copenhagen.

In 1828, Andersen passed an exam indicating his completion of secondary education and allowing him to continue his studies at the University of Copenhagen.

A year later, the young writer received his first success after publishing a story, a comedy and several poems.

In 1833, Hans Christian Andersen received a royal grant that allowed him to travel. He spent the next 16 months traveling through Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France.

The Danish writer especially loved Italy. The first journey was followed by others. In total, throughout his life he went on long trips abroad about 30 times.

In total, he spent about 15 years traveling.

Many have heard the phrase “to travel is to live.” Not everyone knows that this is a quote from Andersen.

In 1835, Andersen's first novel, The Improviser, was published, which became popular immediately after publication. In the same year, a collection of fairy tales was published, which also earned praise from the reading public.

The four fairy tales included in the book were written for a little girl named Ide Thiele, the daughter of the secretary of the Academy of Arts. In total, Hans Christian Andersen published about 160 fairy tales - despite the fact that he himself was not married, did not have, and did not particularly like children.

In the early 1840s, the writer began to gain fame outside Denmark. When he came to Germany in 1846, and the following year to England, he was received there as a foreign celebrity.

In Great Britain, the son of a shoemaker and a washerwoman was invited to high society receptions. At one of them he met Charles Dickens.

Shortly before Hans Christian Andersen's death, he was recognized in England as the greatest living writer.

Meanwhile, in the Victorian era, his works were published in Great Britain not in translations, but in “retellings”. The Danish writer's original tales contain a lot of sadness, violence, cruelty and even death.

They did not correspond to the British ideas about children's literature in the second half of the 19th century. Therefore, before publication in English, the most “unchildish” fragments were removed from the works of Hans Christian Andersen.

To this day, in the UK, the Danish writer’s books are published in two very different versions - in classic “retellings” of the Victorian era and in more modern translations that correspond to the source texts.

Andersen was tall, thin and stooped. He loved to visit and never refused a treat (perhaps this was due to his hungry childhood).

However, he himself was generous, treated friends and acquaintances, came to their rescue and tried not to refuse help even to strangers.

The storyteller’s character was very bad and alarming: he was afraid of robberies, dogs, losing his passport; I was afraid of dying in a fire, so I always carried a rope with me so that during a fire I could get out through the window.

Hans Christian Andersen suffered from toothache all his life, and seriously believed that his fertility as an author depended on the number of teeth in his mouth.

The storyteller was afraid of poisoning - when Scandinavian children chipped in for a gift for their favorite writer and sent him the world's largest box of chocolates, he refused the gift in horror and sent it to his nieces (we have already mentioned that he did not particularly like children).

In the mid-1860s, Hans Christian Andersen became the owner of the autograph of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.

While traveling around Switzerland, in August 1862 he met the daughters of the Russian general Karl Manderstern. In his diary, he described frequent meetings with young women, during which they talked a lot about literature and art.

In a letter dated August 28, 1868, Andersen wrote: “I am glad to know that my works are read in the great, mighty Russia, whose flourishing literature I partially know, from Karamzin to Pushkin and right up to modern times.”

The eldest of the Manderstern sisters, Elizaveta Karlovna, promised the Danish writer to get Pushkin’s autograph for his collection of manuscripts.

She was able to fulfill her promise three years later.

Thanks to her, the Danish writer became the owner of a page from a notebook, into which in 1825, while preparing his first collection of poems for publication, Alexander Pushkin rewrote several works he had selected.

Pushkin's autograph, now in the collection of Andersen's manuscripts in the Copenhagen Royal Library, is all that has survived from the 1825 notebook.

Among Hans Christian Andersen's friends were royalty. It is known for sure that he was patronized by the Danish princess Dagmar, the future Empress Maria Feodorovna, the mother of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.

The princess was very kind to the elderly writer. They talked for a long time while walking along the embankment.

Hans Christian Andersen was among those Danes who accompanied her to Russia. After parting with the young princess, he wrote in his diary: “Poor child! Almighty, be merciful and merciful to her. Her fate is terrible."

The storyteller's prediction came true. Maria Feodorovna was destined to outlive her husband, children and grandchildren who died a terrible death.

In 1919, she managed to leave Russia, which was engulfed in civil war. She died in Denmark in 1928.

Researchers in the biography of Hans Christian Andersen do not have a clear answer to the question of his sexual orientation. He undoubtedly wanted to please women. However, it is known that he fell in love with girls with whom he could not have a relationship.

In addition, he was very shy and awkward, especially in the presence of women. The writer knew about this, which only increased his awkwardness when communicating with the opposite sex.

In 1840, in Copenhagen, he met a girl named Jenny Lind. On September 20, 1843, he wrote in his diary “I love!” He dedicated poems to her and wrote fairy tales for her. She addressed him exclusively as “brother” or “child,” although he was nearly 40 and she was only 26 years old. In 1852 Jenny Lind married the young pianist Otto Goldschmidt.

In 2014, Denmark announced that previously unknown letters from Hans Christian Andersen had been found.

In them, the writer admitted to his longtime friend Christian Voight that several poems he wrote after Riborg’s marriage were inspired by his feelings for the girl whom he called the love of his life.

Judging by the fact that he carried a letter from Riborg in a pouch around his neck until his death, Andersen really loved the girl throughout his life.

Other famous personal letters from the storyteller suggest that he may have had an affair with the Danish ballet dancer Harald Scharff. There are also known comments from contemporaries about their alleged relationship.

However, there is no evidence that Hans Christian Andersen was bisexual - and it is unlikely that there will ever be any.

The writer to this day remains a mystery, a unique personality, whose thoughts and feelings were and remain shrouded in mystery.

Andersen did not want to have his own home, he was especially afraid of furniture, and of furniture, most of all, beds. The writer feared that the bed would become the place of his death. His fears were partly justified. At the age of 67, he fell out of bed and received severe injuries, which he treated for another three years, until his death.

It is believed that in old age Andersen became even more extravagant: spending a lot of time in brothels, he did not touch the girls who worked there, but simply talked to them.

Although almost a century and a half has passed since the death of the storyteller, previously unknown documents telling about his life, letters from Hans Christian Andersen are still found from time to time in his homeland

In 2012, a previously unknown fairy tale called “The Tallow Candle” was discovered in Denmark.

“This is a sensational discovery. On the one hand, because this is most likely Andersen’s very first fairy tale, on the other hand, it shows that he was interested in fairy tales at a young age, before he became a writer,” Einar, a specialist in Andersen’s work, said about the find Stig Askgaard from the Odense City Museum.

He also suggested that the discovered manuscript “Tallow Candle” was created by the storyteller while still at school - around 1822.

The project for the first monument to Hans Christian Andersen began to be discussed during his lifetime.

In December 1874, in connection with the approaching seventieth birthday of the storyteller, plans were announced to install a sculptural image of him in the Royal Garden of Rosenborg Castle, where he loved to walk.

A commission was assembled and a competition of projects was announced. 10 participants proposed a total of 16 works.

The winner was the project by August Sobue. The sculptor depicted the storyteller sitting in a chair surrounded by children. The project outraged Hans Christian.

“I couldn’t say a word in such an atmosphere,” said writer Augusto Sobue. The sculptor removed the children, and Hans Christian was left alone - with only one book in his hands.

Hans Christian Andersen died on August 4, 1875 from liver cancer. The day of Andersen's funeral was declared a day of mourning in Denmark.

Members of the royal family attended the farewell ceremony.

Located in the Assistance Cemetery in Copenhagen.