Berzelii Park is a small park in central

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The park is the location of the China Theater (''

Chinateatern Chinateatern or commonly known as ''"China"'' (in English: ''The China Theatre'') is a private theatre in Stockholm, Sweden, located at Berzelii Park in Stockholm city. Originally built 1928 as a movie theatre but has over the years simultaneous ...

''), and the Berns Salonger Restaurant and Theater.

History

Planning and construction

Berzelii Park was named after the Swedish chemist

Jöns Jacob Berzelius Baron Jöns Jacob Berzelius (; by himself and his contemporaries named only Jacob Berzelius, 20 August 1779 – 7 August 1848) was a Swedish chemist. Berzelius is considered, along with Robert Boyle, John Dalton, and Antoine Lavoisier, to be on ...

. The work on establishing the park was begun in 1852, under the leadership of Knut Malte Forsberg. The park's opening ceremony took place on the morning of July 13, 1858.

Monuments added

The

Academy of Sciences An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unite ...

initiated funding for a statue honoring Berzelius, which was to stand in the middle of the park. Artist

Carl Gustaf Qvarnström Carl Gustaf Qvarnström (23 March 1810, Stockholm - 5 March 1867, Stockholm) was a Swedish sculptor and painter. Biography His father, , was a chamber servant (kammartjänare) for Princess Sofia Albertina. At the age of eleven, he entered the ...

(1810-1867) was commissioned to do the work. He went to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

to model the statue and had

Ferdinand von Miller Ferdinand von Miller (18 October 1813 – 11 February 1887) was a German artisan who is noted for his furtherance of bronze founding. Biography Von Miller was born in Fürstenfeldbruck. After a sojourn at the academy in Munich and a preliminar ...

cast it in bronze. It became the first public statue of a "

commoner A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...

" to be produced in full figure. As the new park installations were still considered too fragile to receive a large crowd, the statue was secretly inaugurated in the middle of the night following the opening ceremony. Other monuments have been added in and around the park, including art by

Carl Milles Carl Milles (; 23 June 1875 – 19 September 1955) was a Swedish sculptor. He was married to artist Olga Milles (née Granner) and brother to Ruth Milles and half-brother to the architect Evert Milles. Carl Milles sculpted the Gustaf Vasa statu ...

, and a humorous statue of

Hans Alfredsson Hans Folke "Hasse" Alfredson (28 June 1931 – 10 September 2017) was a Swedish actor, film director, writer, and comedian. He was born in Malmö, Sweden. He is known for his collaboration with Tage Danielsson as the duo Hasse & Tage and their p ...

(seen sticking his head out of a sewer).

Location

The park today is located in or near the city districts of

Norrmalm Norrmalm is a city district in Stockholm, Sweden. History Norrmalm is part of the larger borough of Norrmalm (''Norrmalms stadsdelsområde''). The southern part of the district, Lower Norrmalm (''Nedre Norrmalm''), also known as City, const ...

and

Östermalm Östermalm (; "Eastern city-borough") is a 2.56 km2 large district in central Stockholm, Sweden. With 71,802 inhabitants, it is one of the most populous districts in Stockholm. It is an extremely expensive area, having the highest housing p ...

, next to the

Nybroplan Nybroplan (Swedish for "New Bridge square") is a public space in central Stockholm, Sweden. Located on the border between the city districts Norrmalm and Östermalm, Nybroplan connects a number of major streets, including Birger Jarlsgatan, Stra ...

and the

Norrmalmstorg Norrmalmstorg () is a town square in central Stockholm, Sweden. It connects shopping streets Hamngatan and Biblioteksgatan and is the starting point for tram travellers with the Djurgården line. Close to the southwest is the park Kungsträdgår ...

. The area surrounding Berzelii Park was part of

Nybroviken Nybroviken (Swedish for "New Bridge Bay") is a small bay in central Stockholm, Sweden. Nybroviken separates the city district Östermalm from the peninsula Blasieholmen. North of the bay is Berzelii Park and Norrmalmstorg. To the south Ny ...

bay until the mid-19th century. In the mid-1830s, a new bridge across the bay was being planned for the 25th anniversary of King

Charles XIV Charles XIV John ( sv, Karl XIV Johan; born Jean Bernadotte; 26 January 1763 – 8 March 1844) was King of Sweden and King of Norway, Norway from 1818 until his death in 1844. Before his reign he was a Marshal of France during the Napoleonic Wars a ...

. On the request of the king, the part of the bay inside the bridge was replaced with landfill, which transformed the existing bridge into more of a

quay A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring location ...

. This old bridge, ''Ladugårdslandsbron'', was demolished in 1845, but the replacement bridge wasn't opened until 1848 due to technical problems (caused by the load from the landfill). One of the cast iron railings from the old bridge is still found in the park today.Järbe, pp 39-43.

Later development

Berzelii Park initially failed to develop as intended. A report published in 1890 described its lawns as "consisting mostly of dandelions," and the raised area surrounding the statue as a "sand hill". However, the situation improved when Alfred Medin became city gardener, and the same journalist later wrote enthusiastically about the park.

References

Sources

* Parks in Stockholm {{Stockholm-geo-stub