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.
Holmens Kanal was created when Christian IV extended Copenhagen's East Rampart straight through Bremerholm as part of his upgrade of the city's fortifications. The moat in front of the rampart was dug in 1606 and became known as the Canal of Holmen )Holmens Kanal) when 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. A street named Størrestrædet ran along the street from circa 1650. It was part of a small new neighborhood in which most of the streets—;with names such as Laksegade, Ulkegade, Hummergade and Delfingade—;were named after fish species and other sea creatures. Several public buildings was situated along the canal, including the General Commissioner's Office.
Conversion into a street
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 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 street
The new street was inaugurated in 1864. It was the first street in Copenhagen to be installed with pavements and individually numbered houses. A new building for the National Bank of Denmark designed by Johan Daniel Herholdt was built in the street between 1865 and 1870.
Egon Ove Sprogøe steals a suitcase with money from a bank in Holmens Kanal by replacing it with another suitcase at0:56:18 in the 1972 Olsen-banden film The Olsen Gang's Big Score.
