The famed salons of the 19th century were essentially meeting places for intellectuals. They were the cross-roads of artists, musicians, writers and scholars of the arts, eager to present and debate their latest works. A number of German intellectuals were frequent visitors of the salons of Uppsala and Copenhagen, and German salons were in turn patronized by artists such as the celebrated Swedish singer Jenny Lind and the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen; the latter stated: »It was in Germany that my works received their first clear recognition, or perhaps overestimation.«