Old Nuuk Colonial Harbour

The old colonial district around Nuuk's original harbour is the most atmospheric part of the city. The coloured wooden buildings — red, yellow, and ochre — cluster around a small bay on the fjord side of the peninsula, with the Greenland National Museum occupying a group of colonial warehouses and the statue of Hans Egede dominating the slope above. On a clear day, the backdrop of the fjord and the mountains beyond is extraordinary.

The area is compact and easily explored on foot. The Greenland National Museum, Nuuk Cathedral, the Hans Egede House, and the statue of Egede are all within a few minutes' walk of each other. This is the best part of Nuuk to understand the city's colonial origins and its contemporary identity.

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A story
The old colonial harbour district was built from the 1720s onward by the Danish colonial administration. The red and yellow wooden buildings were prefabricated in Denmark and shipped to Greenland — a practical solution to the absence of timber in the Arctic. Hans Egede's original 1728 settlement was established exactly here, on the small peninsula that protrudes into the fjord, because it offered protection from ice and a reasonable anchorage. The buildings that survive today are mostly eighteenth and nineteenth century; several have been converted into museums and offices.