Kattesundet ( lit. "The Cat Strait") is a side street to the shopping street

Strøget Strøget () is a pedestrian, car free shopping area in Copenhagen, Denmark. This popular tourist attraction in the centre of town is one of the longest pedestrian shopping streets in Europe at 1.1 km. Located at the centre of the old city o ...

in the Old Town of

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 = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. It runs from

Vestergade Vestergade ( lit. "West Street") is a street in central Copenhagen, Denmark, linking Gammeltorv in the northeast with the City Hall Square in the southwest. The street defines the southern boundary of Copenhagen's Latin Quarter. Most of the buil ...

in the northwest to Lavendelstræde-Slutterigade in the southeast, linking Larsbjørnsstræde with Hestemøllestræde. The buildings that line the southwest side of the street (even numbers) all date from the years after the

Copenhagen Fire of 1795 The Copenhagen Fire of 1795 (''Københavns brandes 1795'') started on Friday, 5 June 1795, at or around 3 pm by the Navy's old base south east of Kongens Nytorv on Gammelholm, in the Navy's magazine for coal and timber, the so-called Dellehave. ...

. Six of them, No. 2 and No. 10-18, are listed in the Danish registry of protected buildings and places. The other side of the street is dominated by the rear side of

Copenhagen Court House The Copenhagen Court House ( da, Københavns Domhus) is a historic building located on Nytorv in Copenhagen, Denmark. Originally built as a combined city hall and courthouse, it now serves as the seat of the District Court of Copenhagen. Inaugura ...

(No. 13) and the

Anton Rosen Anton Rosen (13 September 1859 – 2 July 1928) was a Danish architect, furniture designer, decorative artist and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In his architecture, he combined a free Historicist style with inspiration ...

Jugendstil ''Jugendstil'' ("Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of ...

Metropol Building from 1908.

Etymology

The street name is also seen in a number of other towns in Denmark, Sweden and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The origins of the name is unclear. Although some speculate that it was originally used by sailors as a name for a narrow, treacherous strait (that only a cat could pass through). This name was later changed to narrow alleys. The name may, however, more specifically, have referred to a narrow strait between the old coastline at Løngangstræde and a small isle approximately where the National Museum is now located.

History

The southern part of Kattesundet is one of the oldest streets in Copenhagen. In the Middle Ages, Hestemøllestræde, its southern extension, was also known under the name. Diderich Fyrens (Fuirens) Gang, a just three metres wide alleyway, connected the street (at No. 14-16) to Mikkel Bryggers Gade (at No, 7-9) to the southwest. It took its name after the merchant Henrich Fuiren. The street was completely destroyed by the

Copenhagen Fire of 1728 The Copenhagen Fire of 1728 was the largest fire in the history of Copenhagen, Denmark. It began on the evening of 20 October 1728 and continued to burn until the morning of 23 October. It destroyed approximately 28% of the city (measured by cou ...

. When the city was rebuilt, Kattesundet was extended northwards to Vestergade across the new street Frederiksberggade. The street was again destroyed by the

. Diderich Fyrens (Fuirens) Gang was not rebuilt after the fire, and the new City Hall was some 20 years later built at the northeast side of the street. Most of the buildings at the corners of the more busy intersecting streets Frederiksberggade and Vestergade were replaced by modern commercial buildings in the 1900s.

Notable buildings and structures

The Neoclassical corner building at No. 2, was built in 1797-98 by the master builders Frantz Philip Lange and Lauritz Thrane, It was listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1959. The Neoclassical corner building at No. 18 was built by master builder Carl Christian Martens in 1802. It was listed in 1964. The two small houses at No. 10 (1795-1800), No. 12 (1797-1799), No. 14 (1799-1801) and No. 16 (1828) are also listed. Kattesundet - Domhuset

The former City Hall, now

(No. 13), was designed by

Christian Frederik Hansen Christian Frederik Hansen (29 February 1756 – 10 July 1845), known as C. F. Hansen, was the leading Danish architect between the late 18th century and the mid 19th century, and on account of his position at the Royal Danish Academy of Art (''D ...

. The building houses Københavns Byret. The Metropol Building (Kattesundet 3 / Vestergade 9 / Frederiksberggade 16), a former department store, was built in 1908 to a

design by

. In 1924, it was converted into a cinema by Viggo Jacobsen and Albert Oppenheim. Kattesundet 04

The corner building at Kattesundet 9-11 / Frederiksberggade 11 is the former headquarters of Revisionsbanken. The building was completed to a

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

design by Carl Thonning and Alfred Møller. Kattesundet 1 / Vestergade 13 was built for the tobacco company Brødrene Bruun in 1906-1907 and was also designed by Carl Thonning.

Transport

The street is only open to one-way traffic in the direction from Vestergade to Lavendelstræde. The nearest

metro station A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in the ...

Rådhuspladsen City Hall Square ( da, Rådhuspladsen, ) is a public square in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark, located in front of the Copenhagen City Hall. Its large size, central location, and affiliation with the city hall makes it a popular venue for a ...

References

External links

Kattesundet
on indenforvoldene.dk

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411033137/http://www.etinarcadiaego.dk/Kataloger/CP_36/CP_36.htm , date=2021-04-11 Streets in Copenhagen