Elvis Presley fans are likely to be ‘all shook up’ this week when a replica of the King’s Graceland estate opens in Denmark. Built in the town of Randers towards the north of the country, the house; which is twice the size of the original due to the additions of an onsite shop, museum and restaurant; will be known as Graceland Randers.
Organisers are hoping to attract at least 50,000 Elvis fans a year, although tourism officials in the town estimate that as many as 125,000 visitors could make the trip to see the 6,000 items of Elvis memorabilia on show. Letters, clothes and the King’s guitars will all be on display.
Henrick Knudsen, who already runs an Elvis museum in Randers which attracts 25,000 visitors a year, came up with the idea of the new Graceland project, which he says has the backing of Elvis’s widow Priscilla.
“I had the chance to meet her in January 2008 and I talked to her about the project and everything, and she signed a very nice picture to me on which she wrote: ‘To Graceland Randers, Priscilla Presley,'” Knudsen said in an interview with the BBC.
“She said that Elvis was a very shy guy and he wasn’t really that secure of himself. She believed that if Elvis had the chance to see this today he would be very proud because he wasn’t sure that next year anybody would care about him,” he added.
The attraction officially opened on Friday (April 22) after years of planning. It is estimated that as many as 2,000 fans turned up to see former rocker Suzi Quatro cut the ribbon at the DEK 26 million (EUR 3.5 million) facility.