Copenhagen, Holmens kirke and Thundershield. Photo taken from the tower on top the Danish Parliament ("Folketinget"). The church left "Holmens Kirke" (Church of the Islet). The Danish king, Christian the fourth made an earlier anchor smithy into a church in 1619 and again expanded it to a cruciform church in 1649 as we it see today. That time the water and channels were filled with ships and boats and had a much greater extent in area, including most of the streets below. Along the channel right, another interesting building, by the same king, Christian the fourth, the beuatiful baroque Exchange Building ("Børsen") . The area around the current Holmen Church was originally a small islet ("Holmen") placed opposite to the city's former coastline. The navy's shipyard was placed here until the city development with increasing population made it necessary to move it farther away. Houses for the sailors and the church was build. So the old islet became "Gammelholm"(Old Islet) and the new shipyard place became "Nyholm" (New Islet). The church avoided Copenhagen's many fires and it still looks like it did that time both outside as well as inside. Really worth a visit. An interesting detail, the little tower in the middle of the church was part of the original anchor smithy. The church has always been associated to the navy and The Danish Royal House. And maybe most interesting - the Danish-Norwegian naval hero Thundershield (Tordenskjold) rests inside. His death by a fatal duel - duels was forbidden - gave some controversy with his funeral, maybe mostly because of his enimies among nobles and in the navy. His fortune disappeared during a year-long lawsuit (stolen is the right word, I guess) and at first his corpse laid in a wooden coffin in the crypt under the church. In 1819, nearly a hundred years after his death, he got a fine marble sarcophacus in the church. But a real official funeral he first got in 1995!!.. But he is still a great hero in both Norway and in Denmark. Salute!.. Rhanagaz JohnnyC :o)