Holmens Kanal is a short street in central
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
. Part of the main thoroughfare of the
city centre
A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...
, it extends from
Kongens Nytorv
Kongens Nytorv ( lit. "The King's New Square") is a public square in Copenhagen, Denmark, centrally located at the end of the pedestrian street Strøget. The largest square of the city, it was laid out by Christian V in 1670 in connection wit ...
for one block to a junction with a statue of
Niels Juel
Niels Juel (8 May 1629 – 8 April 1697) was a Danish admiral and a naval hero. He served as supreme command of the Dano-Norwegian Navy
The history of the Danish navy began with the founding of a joint Dano-Norwegian navy on 10 August 1510, ...
where it turns right towards
Holmens Bro while the through traffic continues straight along
Niels Juels Gade. The street was originally a canal, hence the name, but was filled in the 1860s. Today it is dominated by bank and government buildings.
History
The canal
Holmens Kanal was created when
Christian IV
Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian monar ...
extended Copenhagen's East Rampart straight through
Bremerholm
Gammelholm ( lit. "Old Islet") is a predominantly residential neighbourhood in the city centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is bounded by the Nyhavn canal, Kongens Nytorv, Holmens Kanal, Niels Juels Gade and the waterfront along Havnegade. For ce ...
as part of his upgrade of the city's
fortifications
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
. The moat in front of the rampart was dug in 1606 and became known as the Canal of Holmen (Holmens Kanal) when it was expanded to serve as a new harbour for the
Royal Fleet after its ships had become too large to enter the
Arsenal Harbour further south.
A street named Størrestrædet ran along the street from circa 1650. It was part of a small new neighborhood in which most of the streets—;with names such as
Laksegade, Ulkegade, Hummergade and Delfingade—;were named after fish species and other sea creatures.
Several public buildings was situated along the canal, including the General Commissioner's Office (''Generalkommissionariatet'').
Conversion into a street
The canal lost its practical use after the naval fleet relocated to
Nyholm, a newly reclaimed area north of
Christianshavn
Christianshavn (literally, "ingChristian's Harbour") is a neighbourhood in Copenhagen, Denmark. Part of the Indre By District, it is located on several artificial islands between the islands of Zealand and Amager and separated from the rest of th ...
on the other side of the harbour. Holmens Kanal deteriorated into an open sewer fed by the city's extensive system of
gutter
Gutter may refer to:
Water discharge structures
* Rain gutter, used on roofs and in buildings
* Street gutter, for drainage of streets
Design and printing
* Gutter, in typography, the space between columns of printed text
* Gutter, in bookbi ...
s and a notorious nesting ground for rats which were a menace to the adjacent
Royal Theatre and other prominent buildings in the area.
The severe cholera outbreak which hit Copenhagen in the summer of 1853 made it clear that the canal posed a hazard to the health of the population. When the Navy decommissioned their last operations in the area in 1859, it was decided to fill the canal in connection with the redevelopment of the
Gammelholm
Gammelholm ( lit. "Old Islet") is a predominantly residential neighbourhood in the city centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is bounded by the Nyhavn canal, Kongens Nytorv, Holmens Kanal, Niels Juels Gade and the waterfront along Havnegade. For cen ...
neighbourhood, converting it into a street.
The street
The new street was inaugurated in 1864. It was the first street in Copenhagen to be installed with pavements and individually numbered houses.
[
A new building for the ]National Bank of Denmark
Danmarks Nationalbank (in Danish often simply ''Nationalbanken'') is the central bank of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is a non-eurozone member of the European System of Central Banks ( ESCB). Since its establishment in 1818, the objective of the ...
designed by Johan Daniel Herholdt
Johan Daniel Herholdt (13 August 1818 – 11 April 1902) was a Danish architect, professor and royal building inspector. He worked in the Historicist style and had a significant influence on Danish architecture during the second half of the 19th a ...
was built in the street between 1865 and 1870.
Buildings
* No. 2: Erichsen Mansion
The Erichsen Mansion (Danish: Erichsens Palæ) is a historic building located at Kongens Nytorv in central Copenahgen9, Denmark. It is now part of Danske Bank's headquarters.
History Erich Erichsen's house
The Erichsen Mansion was built for mer ...
* No 7: Grøns Varehus
* No. 22: Church of Holmen
The Holmen Church ( da, Holmens Kirke) is a Parish church in central Copenhagen in Denmark, on the street called Holmens Kanal. First built as an anchor forge in 1563, it was converted into a naval church by Christian IV. It is famous for having ...
File:Arne jacobsen, national bank, copenhagen, 1961–1978..jpg, Danske Bank
Danske Bank A/S is a Danish multinational banking and financial services corporation. Headquartered in Copenhagen, it is the largest bank in Denmark and a major retail bank in the northern European region with over 5 million retail customers. ...
headquarters seen along Holmens Kanal with Arhe Jacobsen's National Bank in the background
File:Grøns Pakhus København.jpg, Grøns Varehus
Image:Forsvarsministeriet.jpg, Ministry of Defence
Niels Juel statue
The large statue of Niels Juel
Niels Juel (8 May 1629 – 8 April 1697) was a Danish admiral and a naval hero. He served as supreme command of the Dano-Norwegian Navy
The history of the Danish navy began with the founding of a joint Dano-Norwegian navy on 10 August 1510, ...
was installed in 1881 to commemorate his achievements in the Battle of Køge Bay in 1677. It was designed by the sculptor Theobald Stein
Theobald Stein (7 February 1829 – 16 November 1901) was a Danish sculptor. He was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and served as its director from 1883 to 1886.
Among his most well-known works are the Niels Juel statue ...
and cast in bronze. In 2002 the City Council decided to move the statue to a new site on the waterfront to make way for a more efficient distribution of the traffic at its busy junction. This decision was met with severe criticism, including protests from the Royal Naval Museum
The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, formerly known as the Royal Naval Museum, is a museum of the history of the Royal Navy located in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard section of HMNB Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The ...
, and in 2003 the Danish Heritage Agency
The Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces ( da, Slots- og Kulturstyrelsen) is an agency under the aegis of the Danish Ministry of Culture. The agency carries out the cultural policies of the Danish government within the visual and performing arts, ...
decided to stop the move.
Cultural references
Egon Ove Sprogøe
Ove Wendelboe Sprogøe Petersen (21 December 1919 – 14 September 2004) was a Danish actor.
Life
Born in Odense, his parents were Arthur and Inger Sprogøe Petersen. He married Eva Rasmussen in 1945, with whom he had three children. O ...
steals a suitcase with money from a bank in Holmens Kanal by replacing it with another suitcase at0:56:18 in the 1972 ''Olsen-banden
The ''Olsen Gang'' ( da, Olsen-banden, no, Olsenbanden, german: Die Olsenbande) is a Danish comedy film series created by Danish director Erik Balling and special effects expert Henning Bahs about the eponymous fictional criminal gang. The gang's ...
'' film ''The Olsen Gang's Big Score
''The Olsen Gang's Big Score'' ( da, Olsen-bandens store kup) is a 1972 Danish comedy film directed by Erik Balling and starring Ove Sprogøe. The film was the fourth in the ''Olsen-banden''-series.
Cast
* Ove Sprogøe as Egon Olsen
*Morten G ...
''.
See also
* Sankt Annæ Plads
Sankt Annæ Plads (English: St. Ann's Square) is a public square which marks the border between the Nyhavn area and Frederiksstaden neighborhoods of central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is a long narrow rectangle which extends inland from the waterfron ...
References
External links
Source
{{coord, 55.6778, 12.5858, dim:1000_region:DK, display=title
Streets in Copenhagen
Former canals in Copenhagen