Bollhusgränd (
Swedish: "Ball House Alley") is an
alley
An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, footpath, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane), or a path, w ...
in
Gamla stan
Gamla Stan (, "The Old Town"), until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna ("The Town between the Bridges"), is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla Stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. Gamla Stan includes the surrounding islets ...
, the old town in central
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. Named after
Bollhuset
Bollhuset, also called (The Big Ball House), (Ball House Theater), and Gamla Bollhuset (Old Ball House) at various times, was the name of the first theater in Stockholm, Sweden; it was the first Swedish theater and the first real theater buildin ...
, a historical theatre, it connects
Slottsbacken to
Köpmantorget, and as
Baggensgatan extends the alley further south beyond
Köpmangatan, together they form a parallel street to
Österlånggatan
is a street in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Stretching southward from Slottsbacken to Järntorget (Stockholm), Järntorget, it forms a parallel street to Baggensgatan and Skeppsbron. Major sights include the statue of Saint Ge ...
and
Själagårdsgatan.
History
The alley is named after its vicinity to the two royal
ball game
This is a list of ball games and ball sports that include a ball as a key element in the activity, usually for scoring points.
Games that include balls
Ball sports fall within many sport categories, some sports within multiple categories, inclu ...
buildings constructed in 1627-1792 and 1648–53, the
bigger of the two used as a theatre from 1667 and torn down in 1792–93, the smaller transformed into the
Finnish Church in 1725 and still existent. In 1648 the alley was known as ''Donat Apotechars grend'' ("Alley of Pharmacist Donat") in reference to a Donat Deutschman living on the southeasternmost corner house facing the square Köpmantorget.
On the north-west side of the street is the
Tessin Palace, and on the opposite corner is the
Royal Coin Cabinet. On the latter location was until 1903 a restaurant called ''Skomakare-Källaren, Café & Restaurant'' ("Shoemaker-Basement") known as one of the best eating houses in town and decorated with a
coffer
A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault.
A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, al ...
ed ceiling,
pilaster
In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...
s,
cocklestove
A masonry heater (also called a masonry stove) is a device for warming an interior space through radiant heating, by capturing the heat from periodic burning of fuel (usually wood), and then radiating the heat at a fairly constant temperature fo ...
, and the symbol of the shoemaker's guild, a silver shoe with a jingle on the toecap. The restaurant was preceded by another called ''Drufvan'' ("The Grape"), later renamed to ''Draken'' ("The Dragon"). The restaurant is today part of the museum of the Royal Coin Cabinet.
Together with Baggensgatan, Bollhusgränd used to run along the interior of the eastern city wall, from the open space surrounding the castle
Three Crowns
Three Crowns () is the national emblem of Sweden, present in the coat of arms of Sweden, and composed of three yellow or Gilding, gilded coronets ordered two above and one below, placed on a blue background. Similar designs are found on a numbe ...
(today still present as
Slottsbacken) south to the
Blackfriars monastery (until the
Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
located north of
Järntorget between
Svartmangatan and
Prästgatan).
While the northern end of the alley is narrow, it widens where the carriages and horses of
Tessin entered their palace on the alley's east side. The
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
portal on Number 3A indicates the building was the private palace of the councillor
Per Banér, as it displays his and his wife's (Hebbla Fleming) coat of arms together with two lions.
Gallery
Image:Bollhusgränd 3A 070329.JPG, Portico of 3A.
Image:Bollhusgränd 3A mars 2007.JPG, Close-up.
Image:Bollhusgränd Tessinska stallportar mars 2007.JPG, Old stable doors of the Tessin Palace at Number 4.
Image:Bollhusgränd 5 stentavla mars 2007.JPG, Stone table at Number 5.
Image:Järnpojke, little boy who looks at the moon.jpg, Järnpojke, little boy looking at the Moon, the smallest statue in Stockholm.
See also
*
List of streets and squares in Gamla stan
*
Bollhustäppan
References
External links
*
hitta.se - Location map and virtual walkStockholmskällan - Historical photos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bollhusgrand
Streets in Stockholm
Odonyms referring to a building