Denmark commemorates Hans Christian Andersen 150 years after his death

Denmark celebrates its most universal writer , Hans Christian Andersen , this year, marking 150 years since the death of the popular author of dozens of stories. that have dazzled millions of people of several generations around the world.

The bells of dozens of Danish churches rang out at 11:04, the hour of the writer's death, melodies inspired by his works , announcing the start of a program called "Andersen forever" , which revolves around his literary figure and with Odense, his hometown, as the center of the main activities.

Exhibitions, plays, installations, seminars, and debates on existential issues raised in his books are featured in a program that includes fifty activities and will continue until next fall.

The Hans Christian Andersen House, an interactive museum designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma and inaugurated four years ago, hosted the official opening, with an exhibition on themes such as life, death, and memory in the artist's work. The adjacent gardens will host a performance titled "Flowers of Remembrance."

The Odense Film Festival will premiere a short film about "The Shadow," one of the author's best-known works, which will also inspire a sound drama at the local theater.

The modesty of the program contrasts with the one created in 2005 to mark the bicentennial of his birth , which included everything from concerts to a major television show and the selection of celebrities from around the world as "ambassadors" to promote the author's name and attract more tourists to Denmark.

There was no shortage of controversy, such as the hiring of American singer Tina Turner, who was paid €800,000 to perform two pre-recorded songs at a mammoth gala with no defined plot, which led to the resignation of the foundation's president and then-mayor of Odense, Anker Boye.

The year Andersen ended with a multi-million dollar deficit , amid massive criticism for a program in which the weight of the writer's work was reduced to a minimum.

Few authors have achieved the same popularity as Andersen , who has been translated into nearly 150 languages and who maintains his ability to appeal to children, but also to adults, without the passage of time seeming to affect his relevance.

One of the keys to his universality is his status as the first to give children their own voice and write about how adults must learn to be children again.

The humanity of his characters, his preference for those battered by society, and the way he raises existential questions in seemingly childlike stories are some of the main merits recognized in the author of stories such as "The Little Mermaid," "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," and "The Ugly Duckling."

Although Andersen has enjoyed the status of Denmark's national author for many years, he struggled to gain recognition in his own country, and only when he had already achieved enormous success in England and the United States was he treated as a celebrity.