Pistolstræde is a passageway 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 = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, linking the Østergade-section of the pedestrianized 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 ...

with

Ny Østergade Ny Østergade (literal translation, lit. "New East Street") is a street in the Old Town of Copenhagen, Denmark, linking the Østergade section of the pedestrian street Strøget in the south with Christian IX's gade in the northwest. Together with ...

. It widens into a small plaza to the north and is entered through a gateway at each end. The name Pistolstræde (Pistol Alley) refers to its L-shape. its wider northern section being the "grip" of the pistol.

History

Pistolstræde is the last of a number of similar alleys in the area. It was originally connected to another one, Peder Madsens Gang, which was replaced by Ny Østergade in 1873.

Public art

The Magpie Fountain, created by Gunnar Westman, was installed at the small plaza in 1980. It features a stylized sculpture of a

common magpie The Eurasian magpie or common magpie (''Pica pica'') is a resident breeding bird throughout the northern part of the Eurasian continent. It is one of several birds in the crow family (corvids) designated magpies, and belongs to the Holarctic ra ...

sitting on a pole. Its beak sprays water into a wooden cask.

References

{{reflist

External links

Pistolstræde
at indenforvoldene.dk Streets in Copenhagen