name lives on as a street. The anchor forge In 1562–63, Frederick II of Denmark built an anchor forge for Holmen, which was placed on the other side of the canal. The building was atypically shaped, as special consideration was given not to spoil the view from the king's castle, Christiansborg. The actual forge was hidden behind a taller building, called the tower, which was given a handsome front in Italian style facing the castle, and which was erected by Peter de Dunckers. The first church In 1617, Christian IV of Denmark has built houses for the navy's personnel between the Church of Saint Nikolaj and Holmen. This created an influx in population which made it necessary to build a larger church, which the king had set up in the former anchor forge. At first, the reconstruction into a church caused no redesign of the building's blueprints. The church was consecrated on September 5, 1619, but craftsmen were still working on the church during 1620. The building had certain similarities to a village church, with the higher tower as a bell tower in one end, but the tower was not an actual part of the church, and the bells were situated in the opposite end of the building. Not much is known about the decoration of the first church. The cruciform church The church quickly became too small, and already in 1641, it was decided to expand it into a cruciform church. The tower was incorporated into the church, and the remainder of the church was brought to the same height. The two new arms are slightly shorter than the two old ones. Leonhard Blasius was the builder of the church, but indications are that the king decided on the layout of the church, modeled after the Glücksburg Castle church. The walls are tile on a high foundation of granite blocks. The new arms were built in yellow bricks which are smaller than the stone used in the tower. In order for the building to have a uniform look, the walls were painted in yellow and red vertical stripes on which white lines were painted in order to resemble a brick wall. The spire was built in two stories with the bells in the bottom half. This spire has caused significant problems over the years, as the wooden construction of the roof was not strong enough to carry the weight.