Heleneborg is an estate on

Södermalm Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is a district and island in central Stockholm. Overview The district covers the large island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''). Although Södermalm usually is considered an island, wat ...

, a part of the city of

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 ...

. It is opposite

Långholmen Långholmen is an island between two other islands, Södermalm and Kungsholmen, in central Stockholm, Sweden. This island can be reached via two bridges; Pålsundsbron in the east and Långholmsbron in the west. Långholmen is a popular sp ...

island (home to

Långholmen prison Långholmen Prison, officially Långholmen Central Prison ( sv, Långholmens centralfängelse), was historically one of the largest prison facilities in Sweden with more than 500 cells, located on the island of Långholmen in Stockholm. It was b ...

until 1975). The property was bought in 1669 by Jonas Österling and was used by the Swedish tobacco manufacturing company (''Tobakskompaniet'') for tobacco production. However, after a conflict with both the company and the royal court, Österling went bankrupt and died in poverty in 1691. His estate was burnt down in 1701. From 1739 to 1759 the estate was owned by Olof Forsberg, who produced white clay pipes on the premises. Adolph Christiernin bought the property in 1759 and continued clay pipe production until 1766. He was a very wealthy man who spent his entire fortune on a fixed idea that he could find gold in the Swedish silver mines. He named the property Heleneborg after his wife Helena Catharina Malmin. Miserably poor, he had to abandon Heleneborg in 1767. In the 1860s Heleneborg was owned by W.N. Burmester, who housed the manufacturer and inventor

Immanuel Nobel Immanuel Nobel the Younger ( , ; 24 March 1801 – 3 September 1872) was a Swedish engineer, architect, inventor and industrialist. He was the inventor of the rotary lathe used in plywood manufacturing. He was a member of the Nobel family and ...

on the premises. There his son

Alfred Nobel Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( , ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedes, Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He is best known for having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel ...

and Alfred's brothers experimented with the safe handling of the explosive

nitroglycerin Nitroglycerin (NG), (alternative spelling of nitroglycerine) also known as trinitroglycerin (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by nitrating g ...

. After a big explosion in this plant on September 3, 1864, which killed the youngest brother,

Emil Oskar Nobel Emil Oskar Nobel ( , ; a.k.a. Oscar; 29 October 1843 – 3 September 1864) was a member of the Nobel family. Biography Emil Nobel was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He was the youngest son of Immanuel Nobel (1801–1872) and Karolina Andri ...

, Alfred Nobel created the Alfred Nobel & Company in Germany to continue his work in more isolated circumstances.
In 1874 captain Johan Adolf Berg bought the estate and renovated it to its present appearance. After his death, his widow sold Heleneborg in 1906 and the grounds were divided into lots for construction of apartment houses. Only the main building of Heleneborg was left, and today it can still be seen next to Söder Mälarstrand, close to

Västerbron () is an arch bridge in central Stockholm, Sweden. With a total length exceeding 600 m, 340 m of which stretches over water, it is one of the major bridges in Stockholm, offering one of the most panoramic views of the central part of the city cent ...

. Heleneborg has given its name to the close by street Heleneborgsgatan.

References

;Bibliography * Arne Munthe: ''Västra Södermalm intill mitten av 1800-talet'' (1959) * Birgit Lindberg: ''Malmgårdarna i Stockholm'' (1985, andra upplagan 2002) ;Notes {{coord, 59, 19, 10, N, 18, 02, 03, E, region:SE_type:landmark_source:kolossus-svwiki, display=title Geography of Stockholm