AT A GLANCE

Why go?

Hans Egede's House is Greenland's oldest surviving building, constructed in 1728 by the Dano-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede as the founding residence of the colony of Godthåb — the settlement that became today's Nuuk. Built from yellow cobblestone, it was the first house in Greenland raised in the European tradition, and for nearly three centuries it has stood as a physical landmark at the origin of Greenland's modern history.↗↗↗

The house sits in the atmospheric old colonial harbour district known as Nuutoqaq (Kolonihavnen), a few metres from the Greenland National Museum and the 1849 Cathedral of Our Saviour. Today it is used for representative functions by the Government of Greenland, including ceremonial gatherings before parliamentary sessions. Visitors typically encounter it on a walk through Old Nuuk, pausing to appreciate its distinctive stone-and-painted facade set against the backdrop of the fjord and colourful colonial buildings.↗↗↗