Holmens Kanal

Holmens Kanal is a short street in central Copenhagen. Part of the main thoroughfare of the city centre, it extends from Kongens Nytorv for one block to a junction with a statue of Niels Juel where it turns right towards Holmens Bro while the through traffic continues straight along Niels Juels Gade. The street was originally a canal, hence the name, but was filled in the 1860s. Today it is dominated by bank and government buildings.

As part of his upgrade of the fortifications of Copenhagen, King Christian IV extended the city's East Rampart, taking it straight through Bremerholm, the royal naval shipyard, to the beach. The moat in front of the rampart was dug in 1606 and became known as Holmens Kanal after it was expanded to serve as a new harbour for the Royal Fleet after its ships had become too large to enter the Arsenal Harbour further south.

The canal lost its practical use after the naval fleet relocated to Nyholm, a newly reclaimed area north of Christianshavn on the other side of the harbour. Holmens Kanal deteriorated into an open sewer fed by the city's extensive system of gutters and a notorious nesting ground for rats which were a menace to the adjacent Royal Theatre and other prominent buildings in the area.

The severe cholera outbreak which hit Copenhagen in the summer of 1953 (typo: this date should read 1853) made it clear that the canal posed a hazard to the health of the population. When the Navy decommissioned their last operations in the area in 1859, it was decided to fill the canal in connection with the redevelopment of the Gammelholm neighbourhood, converting it into a street.

The new street was inaugurated in 1864. It was the first street in Copenhagen to be installed with pavements and individually numbered houses.

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