When Christian IV planned Christianshavn in 1617, it was intended as an independent merchant's town on the island of Amager and it therefore needed a church.

The church was inaugurated 14 years later in 1695 but important interior features like the altar had a notoriously temporary character and the tower still had no spire.

The church got its permanent altar in 1732 but plans for construction of the spire was not revitalized until 1747 under the reign of Frederik V. The new architect on the project was Lauritz de Thurah.

There is a long-lived urban legend stating that the architect killed himself by jumping from the top of the spire, when he realised that the spiral turns the wrong way - anticlockwise - around.

The walls rest on a granite foundation and are made of red and yellow tiles but in a random pattern unlike what is seen in Christian IV's buildings where they are generally systematically arranged.

The huge organ with Christian V's gilded monogram was built by the Botzen Brothers from 1698 to 1700 and is mounted on the wall and supported by two elephants.

The organ has more than 4000 pipes with the original cymbelstern tinkling in the background during a special part of a music piece, and the entire instrument produces the sound that was heard in the church over 300 years ago.

The last rebuilding of the organ was in 1965, reusing older pipe work and this instrument is equipped with 57 stops spread over 4 manuals and pedals.

The top level is decorated with flat pilasters and from the uppermost cornice has a gilded penetrated clock face centrally on each side.

It has an infamous reputation for being the ugliest sculpture in Copenhagen but is intentionally made with exaggerated proportions because it is only meant to be seen from long distances.

The character Axel is made to climb the winding spire for five consecutive days by his uncle to cure him of his acrophobia before their descent into the volcano.