The Royal Danish Nautical Charts Archive () was a Danish Navy department, responsible for making accurate

nautical charts A nautical chart or hydrographic chart is a graphic representation of a sea region or water body and adjacent coasts or banks. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water (bathymetry) and heights of land (topography), na ...

for the Danish government, primary the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

, for nearly 200 years. Its former building at Toldbodvej, now Esplanaden, was also the first home of the

Danish Meteorological Institute The Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI; ) is the official Danish meteorological institute, administrated by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities. It makes weather forecasts and observations for Denmark, Greenland, and the Faroe Is ...

. The building was used as an extension office for Maersk Group services, but is being renovated and will soon house the Maersk Foundation offices.

History

The Royal Danish Nautical Charts Archive was initiated by royal resolution of 25 October 1784, at the initiative of a naval captain, Poul Løvenørn, who would also become the first director of the department. It was originally located on Holmens Kanal, next to

Holmen Church The Holmen Church () 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 hosted the wedd ...

. On 1 April 1973 the department, together with Lodsvæsenet (the pilot service), Fyrvæsenet (the lighthouse service) and Redningsvæsenet (the rescue service), was merged into Farvandsdirektoratet, in that process changing its name to ''Nautisk Afdeling'' and gaining a few more responsibilities. By royal resolution of 9 October 1987, the nautical chart production part was detached and combined with

Geodætisk Institut Geodætisk Institut (1928–1987) was a Danish state-run cartographic institute. It was created by law number 82, of 31 March 1928, combining Generalstabens Topografiske Afdeling and Den danske Gradmaaling, two institutions that did somewhat o ...

and Matrikeldirektoratet to form Kort & Matrikelstyrelsen, where it today is a department called ''Søkortområdet''. According to resolution of 1816, nautical charts produced by ''Søkortarkivet'' have no copyright expiration date. They are permanently copyright protected by the Danish government. This order is still valid, according to the Danish copyright law § 92.Schønning, Peter (2008) ''Ophavsretsloven med kommentarer'', 4th ed. . Copenhagen: Forlaget Thomson, p. 746. .

Directors

* 1784–1826 Poul de Løvenørn * 1826–1853 Christian Christopher Zahrtmann * 1853–1888 Hans Peter Rothe * 1889–1898 Carl Frederick Wandel * 1899–1909

Gustav Frederik Holm Gustav Frederik Holm (6 August 1849 – 13 March 1940) was a Danish naval officer and Arctic explorer born in Copenhagen. Career He was made commander in the Royal Danish Navy, navy in 1899, was chief of the hydrographic bureau from 1899 to ...

* 1909–1919 Christian Bloch * 1919–1933 H. O. Ravn

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Det Kongelige Danske Sokortarkiv Government agencies of Denmark Royal Danish Navy Hydrology organizations Cartography by country Maps of Scandinavia