Møntergade
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 Møntergade with the Møntergården office building in the middle of the picture | |
| Length | 285 m (935 ft) |
|---|---|
| Location | Indre By, Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Postal code | 1116 |
| Nearest metro station | Nørreport |
| Coordinates | 55°40′56″N 12°34′48″E / 55.6821°N 12.5799°E |
Møntergade (lit. "Minter Street") is a street in the Old Town of Copenhagen, Denmark. It runs from Pilestræde in the west to Gothersgade in the east.
Møntergade has probably existed since the Middle Ages but the first reference to the street is from 1528 when it is referred to as "the city's street which runs to the rampart ("byes stræde, som løuer till wollen"), a reference to the city's East Rampart which then followed the course of present-day Gothersgade.[1] The current name of the street is first recorded in 1623. It refers to the Royal Mint which took over St. Clare's Monastery after it was confiscated by the crown during the Reformation.[2] In 15659, most of the residents in the street were craftsmen such as carpenters, weaversn coopers, wood carvers, wheelwrights, glove makers and basket makers.[1]
Poul Fechtel, who had been Royal Mint Master from 1536 until 1565, created a charitable housing development on a lot granted by the king in 1570. It became known as Poul Fechtels Hospital and was destroyed along with the rest of the street in the Copenhagen Fire of 1728 but rebuilt in 1732. Poul Fechtels Hospital moved to a new building on Frederikssundsvej in 1908 and its old buildings were demolished the following year when the street Christian IX2 Gade was created.
The so-called Brøndstræde Quarter, a run-down and crowded area between Møntergade and Landemærket to the north, was demolished in 1910 in the first public urban regeneration programme of its kind in the city.[3]
