Moravian Brethren Mission House

The Moravian Brethren Mission House, built in 1747, is the oldest surviving wooden building in Nuuk. The timber-frame structure was prefabricated in the Netherlands and shipped to Greenland in sections — a remarkable logistical achievement for the mid-eighteenth century. The building is in the southern part of the old town, away from the more visited colonial harbour area.

The mission house is now a protected historical monument and can be viewed from outside. Interior access is occasionally available for guided tours; enquire at the National Museum. The building's survival for nearly three centuries in Greenland's climate is itself a testament to the quality of eighteenth-century Dutch timber construction.

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A story
The Moravian Brethren arrived in Greenland in 1733, twelve years after Hans Egede's Lutheran mission, and established their own separate settlement south of Nuuk at Lichtenau (now Alluitsup Paa). The Nuuk mission house dates from 1747 and was built from timber shipped from the Netherlands — the Moravians' European base. The Moravian approach to mission differed from the Danish Lutheran one: the Brethren learned Greenlandic quickly, encouraged Inuit-led worship, and generally left local customs more intact. This made them more popular in some communities and more threatening to the Danish colonial administration, who saw them as competition.