Magstræde
street in Copenhagen
Snaregade and Magstræde are two of the oldest streets in the Old Town of Copenhagen, Denmark, linking Gammel Strand at their eastern end with Rådhusstræde to the west. Snaregade extends from the small square at the Gammel Strand metro station to Knabrostræde where it turns into Magstræde. The streets are among the few streets in the Old Town of Copenhagen which still feature their original cobbling. Magstræde is associated with Huset i Magstræde ("The House in Magstræde"), now officially referred to as Huset KBH ("The House CPH"", "CPH" being short for "Copenhagen"), a culture house.
History
Magstræde was created in the 1520s when the coastline was moved to present day Nybrogade. The first part of the name, Mag-, is an old word for a lavatory, referring to a public latrine, Vestre Mag ("Western Mag"), which was located at the site. Another one, Østre Mag (Eastern Mag"), was located at the end of Hyskenstræde.
Snaregade received its current name in 1607. It takes its name after Erling Jonssøn Snare, a former member of the city council who had owned a property on the street from 1501.
Notable buildings and residents
Snaregade
The building on the corner of Gammel Strand and Snaregade is Assistenshuset, a former royal pawn shop now housing the Ministry of Culture.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Magstræde” is street in Copenhagen. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Magstræde, street and Copenhagen, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “street in Copenhagen” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 30, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q12325741. Authority coordinates are 55.676, 12.576. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1607 and 1501.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Magstræde” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.