In the history of warship construction, two elements in particular became emblematic of an individual warship's unique identity, or even its "soul:" the warship's bronze bell (a ship's "fitting"), which was typically cast with identifying commemorative inscriptions, including the warship's name and construction date; and the carved, symbolic figurehead (a structural element of the warship, in distinction to a "fitting"), which prominently appeared on the ship's prow.

Today, of the vast host of figureheads which have been individually carved for specific Danish warships over the centuries, only 16 figureheads of Danish naval vessels survive, all of which are from 19th Century Danish naval vessels.

The majority of these surviving Danish figureheads were, until recently, on display at the Copenhagen Naval Station at Holmen, in Copenhagen. However, this wonderful collection has unfortunately now been split up and dispersed, and a number of these figureheads have been relocated to other Danish naval stations.

During a period of over three hundred years, i.e., from the 1600's to the late 1800's, figureheads were the primary and most visually prominent means of symbolizing an individual warship's name and corresponding identity, in those instances where an individual warship's figurehead was sculpted into a figure which symbolically represented the warship's name.

Figureheads were carved in wood until modern times, when warships began to be built of iron and steel and when, for a short period of time and in some navies where the tradition of supplying warships with figureheads briefly continued, figureheads were created of cast metal.

Since figureheads were typically carved from wood, a highly perishable medium, figureheads (unlike bronze bells) typically would not survive long in salt water if a warship was wrecked at sea. Hence, warship wreck sites from the age of sail may contain a warship's bronze bell (which helps identify a wreck site), but rarely the warship's carved wooden ornamentation, including its figurehead - although there are significant exceptions for warship wrecks discovered in the brackish waters of the Baltic.

Not all warships during the age of sail were dignified with an individually-designed figurehead that symbolized the warship's name. During the earlier period of the age of sail, this distinction of being embellished with a figurehead that symbolized a warship's name was typically reserved for the larger and more important Danish warships. During the earliest period of the age of fighting sail (e.g., until roughly 1700), lesser Danish warships often only had a generic form of a figurehead - typically, a figure of a lion - that was not symbolic of the individual warship's name.

A warship's figurehead was often imbued with symbolism which carried double significance, representing not simply the warship's individual name, but also a name that carried significant national and patriotic symbolism, such as a warship named the DANNEBROG, the name of Denmark's national flag; or a warship named after the Danish king, e.g., the CHRISTIAN DEN OTTENDE; or a name which commemorates a significant Danish national hero, such as the Danish fleet admiral NIELS JUEL; or a name involving a subject that was infused with symbolism with significant national and cultural implications, such as (for a Danish warship), a figure from Norse mythology, e.g., the gods THOR or HEIMDAL, or the goddess GEFION, or the Norse god Odin's warrior-maidens, the VALKYRIEN.

Until the beginning of the 19th Century, warship figureheads were not preserved for posterity once a warship was broken up at the end of her service life. However, at the beginning of the 19th Century, an appreciation and consciousness began to develop in Denmark to preserve warship figureheads for posterity, due to their historical and cultural value, and artistic merit.

The paucity of surviving Danish figureheads was doubtlessly compounded by the unfortunate loss of the entire Danish fleet, including almost all of Denmark's major warships, through seizure by the British during the British sack of Copenhagen in 1807. In this regard, it is reasonable to believe that had these major Danish warships remained in Danish hands, some of these warships' figureheads may have been preserved for posterity.

When this unitary collection of surviving figureheads were originally displayed at the Copenhagen Naval Station, most were displayed outdoors, in the open, against a background comprising the ancient brick walls of old naval buildings at Holmen, which were covered with green vines. This outdoor setting and backdrop provided a very striking and luxuriant contrast for the predominately white warship figureheads and, therefore, presented a compelling overall visual effect that enhanced the artistic merit of the individual figurehead sculptures, an effect which was enhanced because the figureheads themselves are on a scale that is larger than life.

Unfortunately, for a nation with a rich and lengthy naval heritage during the age of sail, but with only a few surviving naval artifacts to exemplify and commemorate this extensive naval heritage, two of the sixteen surviving Danish warship figureheads are located in Germany.

The list of surviving Danish warship figureheads is provided below. However, the "Kongechalup" and the royal yacht SLESVIG, a paddle-steamer, are technically not Danish warships, but are included in this list. In this regard, the SLESVIG's figurehead is now preserved at the Flådestation Korsør, and the figurehead of the Kongechalup is in the Danish navy's Orlogsmuseet, underscoring the SLESVIG's and the Kongechalup's connection with the Danish navy. Furthermore, Danish royal yachts, as is typically the case with the royal yachts of other nations, are manned by naval personnel, thereby making the figureheads of Danish royal yachts an integral element in the history of figureheads of Danish naval vessels.

• KONGECHALUP (1760). The entire "chalup" (i.e., shallop) with its "Neptune" figurehead, is on display at the Orlogsmuseet, in Copenhagen.

• Ship-of-the-Line DRONNING MARIE (1824). Formerly on display at the Copenhagen Naval Station, at Holmen; now located at Flådestation Frederikshavn.

• Corvette FORTUNA (1825). Now on display at the Orlogsmuseet. Picture - in article

• Corvette THETIS (1840). Now displayed in the Museum of Skagen's Antiquities Skagen By og Egnsmuseum) at Skagen, Denmark.

• Ship-of-the-Line CHRISTIAN DEN OTTENDE (1840). Now located at Gottorp Castle, Germany. The figurehead is in a damaged state, and no apparent attempts have been made to conserve this important Danish naval artifact.

• Ship-of-the-Line DANNEBROG (1842). Now on display at the Copenhagen Naval Station, at Holmen.

• Frigate GEFION (1843). Now on display at the town hall in Eckernførde, Germany.

• Royal Yacht, paddle-wheeler SLESVIG (1845, 1849). Formerly on display at the Copenhagen Naval Station, at Holmen; now located at Flådestation Korsør.

• Corvette VALKYRIEN (1846). Formerly on display at the Copenhagen Naval Sation at Holmen; now located at the Søværnets Materiaelkommando, in Nykøbing Sj., Denmark

• Screw-Corvette THOR (1851). Formerly on display at the Copenhagen Naval Station, at Holmen; now located at the Flådestation Korsør.

• Screw-Frigate NIELS IUEL (1855). Formerly on display at the Copenhagen Naval Station, at Holme; now located at Flådestation Frederikshavn.

• Screw-Corvette HEIMDAL (1856). Now on display in the Naval Officers' School at the Copenhagen Naval Station, at Holmen.

• Screw-Frigate SJÆLLAND (1858). Now located at the Copenhagen Naval Station, at Holmen.

• Screw-Frigate JYLLAND (1860). Now displayed as a natural, integral structural component of the museum-ship JYLLAND at Ebeltoft, Denmark. Picture - in article

• Screw-corvette DAGMAR (1861). Now on display at the Copenhagen Naval Station, at Holmen.

• Naval Training Brig ØRNEN (1880). Now on display at the Danish Maritime Museum at Kronborg - the Handels-og Søfartsmuseet på Kronborg - in Elsinore, Denmark.

In addition to the foregoing figureheads, although the Danish royal yacht DANNEBROG (1931), which is still in service, does not have a figurehead, its bow or beakhead (i.e., the location where a figurehead traditionally appeared) is decorated with a scroll of foliage surmounted by a small crown, i.e., a significantly reduced form of ornamentation on a vessel's prow, in lieu of a traditional figurehead.

The screw-corvette DAGMAR (1861), listed above, was decorated - as the royal yacht DANNEBROG is now - with a simplified beakhead decoration (in lieu of a figurehead) until 1886, when she was converted to a cadet ship, at which time DAGMAR also received a figurehead which replaced her beakhead decoration. The DAGMAR's sculptural beakhead decoration, consisting of a shield which displays the Danish Royal Arms, has been preserved to the present day; this surviving, original bow ornament is now located in the Orlogsmuseet.

Aside from the foregoing list of surviving figureheads of Danish naval ships, and the two simplified sculptural beakhead ornaments (in lieu of figureheads) of Danish "naval" ships also noted above, only a very few other fragments of ancillary decorative sculptures of Danish naval vessels also survive today.