Kärnan is a medieval tower in Helsingborg, in Scania in southern Sweden. It is the only surviving part of a larger Danish fortress that controlled the entrance to the Öresund. Tree-ring dating places its core in the 1310s, during the reign of Eric VI of Denmark.
Sweden received the fortress in 1658 under the Treaty of Roskilde. Danish forces retook it in 1676, and it returned to Sweden in 1679 under the Treaty of Lund. Charles XI ordered most of the fortress demolished, and the government gave the tower to Helsingborg in 1741.
A restoration in 1893 and 1894 followed instructions from the businessman and engineer Oscar Ferdinand Trapp and was led by the architect Josef Alfred Hellerström. Its crenellations date from this work. The tower is open to the public.
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