Søren Kierkegaard's Grave

The first thing I did when I got to Copenhagen was to go to the tourist information office and ask if they had any information about Kierkegaard.

“Ah, Kierkegaard,” the clerk repeated, correcting my pronunciation. She headed over to some shelves, and to my delight began pulling off brochure after brochure. I was very pleased. But when she came back, I found her handing me a bundle of guides to the city’s cemeteries.

“Kierkegaard” (or “Kirkegård,” as it seems to be spelled these days) means “cemetery,” or literally, “churchyard.” Which really isn’t so inappropriate a moniker for the melancholy dane that I had in mind.

“Søren Kierkegaard,” I clarified.

She shook her head. “You’ll have to go to the library for that.”

Eventually I found a guide, an Irish expat, who took me to Søren’s grave. He was buried not too far from Regine. I left flowers on both of their graves.

I visited Assistens Kirkegård in 1997. I heard a rumor that Regine’s gravestone was stolen in 2000.