In the 16th century cannons became more frequent tools of war and thick walled fortresses like Koldinghus partly lost their defensive significance. For this reason King
Christian III added several buildings to the fortress and eventually turned it into a royal residence. The new residence became popular among the royal family and Prince
Frederick, the heir apparent, grew up at Koldinghus. Christian III sometimes held court at the castle and it was here on 1 January 1559 that he died. When
Christian IV became king in 1588 he choose to expand it further with the addition of the “Giant tower”, so named because of the four statues of giants from
Greek and
Roman mythology: (
Hannibal,
Hector,
Scipio and
Hercules) which adorned it. Today, the only statue on the tower is that of Hercules, since Hannibal and Hector were crushed during
the 1808 fire and in a storm in 1854, Scipio fell to the ground. On December 25, 1658, the troops of the
Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, under the command of
Stefan Czarniecki, after a naval landing, captured the fortress, liberating Kolding from the Swedish forces. Over the course of time
Copenhagen became the focal point of the political power and the outlying local royal residences were used less and less frequently. When
Frederik IV became king he decided to remove most of the remaining surrounding walls leaving Koldinghus as it can be seen today. == Fire ==