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Rang

Copenhagen's coloured quay

Nyhavn

A 17th-century canal lined with tall townhouses in yellow, red, orange and blue, and old wooden ships.

Nyhavn, Copenhagen
Photo: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Why Nyhavn is harbour yellow

Nyhavn, the new harbour, is a short canal dug in the early 1670s to bring ships from the sea to the centre of Copenhagen. Merchants built narrow townhouses along it. The oldest still standing, number 9, dates from 1681. For a long time it was a rough sailors' quarter of taverns. The writer Hans Christian Andersen lived in three different houses on the quay. The houses are painted in strong, flat colours, yellow, red, orange, blue and green, and no two neighbours match. The north side, which gets the sun, is the famous one. Restored wooden sailing ships are moored along the quay, and the street is now filled with restaurant tables.

Harbour yellow#E9B93BOxide red#B5462FBlue-grey#5F7F9EOrange#E08A3CShip tar black#262626

Values are fair approximations of what the eye sees there, not measurements.

About this page

Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Nyhavn" on Wikipedia. If you know Nyhavn and we have it wrong, tell us.

More colour cities

All colour cities
🇮🇳 Birthplace of Krishna, home of HoliMathuraKrishna's birthplace celebrates Holi for more than a week, with processions, music and coloured powder.🇮🇳 The yellow French quarterPondicherryThe old French quarter by the sea is painted mustard yellow with white trim, shaded by bougainvillea.🇮🇳 Yellow taxis, red and white sarisKolkataYellow Ambassador taxis, red-brick colonial offices and white saris with red borders mark Bengal's capital.🇮🇳 City of the kaali-peeliMumbaiBlack-and-yellow taxis, known as kaali-peeli, are the moving colour of India's largest city.🇮🇳 Goa's Latin QuarterFontainhasA small quarter of Panaji where Portuguese-era houses are painted yellow, blue and red with white trim.🇻🇳 The yellow townHoi AnAn old trading port in central Vietnam whose shophouses are washed in yellow and hung with silk lanterns.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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