Sømandshjemmet Bethel, now known as Hotel Bethel, is a sailor's hostel overlooking the
Nyhavn canal 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 ...
,
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
. Today it is mainly used as a residential hotel. The site also comprises a sailor's church.
History
From the 1870s, Pastor Daniel C. Prior, pastor aty at
Church of Holmen, together with his wife, engaged in missionary work among sailors in Copenhagen. In 1876, they made contact with Ninna and Andreas Wollesen, a married couple who, for several years, had been involved in missionary work among sailors in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
before being sent to Copenhagen by an organization to continue their activity there. In 1879, Wollesen and Prior opened a seamen's room in Holbergsgade. Two years later, it was replaced by an old ship, Bethel, which was berthed at the end of the Nyhavn canal. It contained a church room seating 300, kitchen facilities and a reading room.
In 1904, ''Sømandsmissionens board acquired the property at Nyhavn on the corner of Holbergsgade and Nyhavn and engaged the architect
Jens Christian Kofoed
Jens Christian Kofoed (6 April 1864 – 3 November 1941) was a Danish architect who adopted the Historicist style inspired by Italian architecture from the Middle Ages. He is remembered above all for his churches, seamen's homes and hostels. to design a new building which was completed in 1905.
The idea of operating reading rooms and hostels for seamen had then spread to other Danish ports and the organization ''Indenlandsk Sømandsmission'' was founded on 28 March 1905. At its peak, the organization operated 75 sites in Danish ports. Now four, in Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg and Frederikshavn, are left.
[
The name Bethel originally referred to a ship that was located in the Nyhavn canal from the 1880s until it sank in 1906. It was for many years used as a hostel for seamen.
Bethel was built in 1906 to a design by
]
Nyhavn 22
In 1949, Bethel took over the neighbouring building at Nyhavn 22, a former merchant's house completed in 1779 for af Samuel Blichfeldt (1749-1787). Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.
Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...
lived in the building from 1871 to 1875. The yellow building is three storeys high and nine bays wide. It was listed in 1932 and restored by the architects Peter Koch (1905-1980) og Esben Klint (1915-1969) in 1951–52.
Church
A seamen's church was inaugurated at the site on 23 March 1952. The bell, sited on the roof of the building, was a donation from Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller. The church is located in a 200 years old storage building in the yard, previously used for overseas trading. Service is held twice a month from October through April.
References
External links
Official website
Source (Nyhavn 24)
{{coord, 55.6794, 12.5909, type:landmark_region:DK, display=title
Hotels in Copenhagen
Gammelholm