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The town planning activities o f Ring Christian the Fourth have proved
to be o f such importance to the general developm en t o f the town that it
seems natural to d evote a special chapter to them.
The first large-scale undertaking o f the king, a thorough reconstruction
of the mediæval fortifications that surrounded the city, has been made the
sub ject o f a special chapter entitled Fæstningen (The Fortress).
On Slotsholmen (the holm on which the castle was situated) and in the
other central parts o f the city, his various works include the characte ristic
naval base (page 60) and Børsen (the stock exchange, page 62). Rosenborg
(cf. page 59) was built at about the same time (cf. page 7b). These and other
buildings still stand as grand exam p les o f the building style o f that age.
The king was greatly in terested in the navy and the d evelopm en t o f the
harbour; fo r the sailors and w orkers attached to the navy he built rows o f
small houses, Skipperboderne (pages 65 and 66), and in 1617 the king began
the erection o f a fortress town, Christianshavn (Christian’s P o rt), partly by
filling in the shallow strip o f water on the far side o f the Southern inlet to
the harbour. This w ork is shown in the illustration at the low er picture at
page 71, while a great part o f the works from that period are shown on the
map at the upper part o f the page.
The king’s interest in the d evelopm en t o f the harbour brought about an
extensive nortluvard expansion o f the city during the follow ing period . In
1627, steps were taken to fo r tify the entrance to the harbour, where bloclc-
houses were first built (poin t A and B, page 75). The Custom House was
m oved to point A where the building o f an extensive citadel, Set. Annæ
Skanse, was comm enced (illustrations pages 81, 8b, 93, 9b and 95).
Abou t 1627 a new city was planned on lands acquired by the king fo r a
farm in 1606 (later R os en b o rg ), and protected by a new line o f fo r tifications
linking up with Set. Annæ Skanse. The first p ro je c t seems to have envisaged
an octagonal plan (cf. page 8b).
The first building enterprise on the area
—
N ybod er
—
fo r the sailors
and workers attached to Holmen (the Royal D ockya rd ) appears to have
been erected on the octagonal plan, which was later rep laced by a diagonal
system o f streets (a t pages 86 and 88, see also the map at page 9b), which
finally developed into a plan where the chess-board principle was adhered
fo as far as possible.
The fortification plan fo r the new area was lilcewise sub jected to drastic
alterations. The redoubt with the three Iiorn-shaped outworks was replaced
by a somewhat less extensive series o f bastions, the axis o f which was shifted
north, see page 93, where number b shows the redoubt coinciding with the
nucleus o f the presen t Kastel (The Citadel).
During the year 16b8, in which year the king died, a survey o f the city
and its environs was carried out (see page 76
—
80) and a map o f Copen-
liagen was produced form ing the basis fo r schemes which led to a town plan
and a fortification plan approved by King Frederik the Third in 16b9. The
original plan has been lost, but a map made by a spy, and preserved in the
Royal A n n y R ecord O ffice in Stockholm (fig. at page 9b) has apparently
form ed the basis fo r the map at page 95, which is alleged by Pu fend orff to
represent the plan approved in 16b9. Pu fend o r ff’s map is in several respects
in accordance with the one shown at page 79.
T O W N P E A N N I N G B Y li
/ Y
G C H R I S T I A N T H E F O U l i T H
THE NAVY-BASE AND
CHRISTIANSHAVN
DEVELOPMENT OF THE
HARBOUR
FORTIFICATION AND
TOWN PLAN OF 1625
—27
TOWN PLAN OF 16bi)
5 8