Nyhavn

Introduction

Nyhavn (Danish for "new harbour") is a 17th-century canal in central Copenhagen, running about 500 m from Kongens Nytorv square to the inner harbour. Cut between 1670 and 1673 on King Christian V's orders by Swedish prisoners of the Dano-Swedish War, it was meant to bring sea trade directly into the city centre. The north side is lined with gabled townhouses in red, yellow, blue and green, mostly built between the 17th and early 18th centuries, mirrored in the water beside old wooden sailing ships - Copenhagen's most classic view. The south side historically held more substantial mansions, so the old social divide still reads across the canal. Once a quarter of sailors, taverns and brothels, it was revived by the Nyhavnsforeningen society in the 1960s and designated a museum harbour in 1977. Fairy-tale writer Hans Christian Andersen lived at Nyhavn 18, 20 and 67, and plaques on the facades still mark his years here. The Memorial Anchor at the canal mouth, from the 1872 frigate Fyn, honours more than 1,700 Danish seafarers lost in World War II. Today the quays are lined with open-air restaurants and cafés, and this is the main departure point for canal tours.

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