Brända Tomten () is a small, triangular

public square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...

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 ...

. A few benches under a chestnut tree, the

ivy ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern ...

hanging from the surrounding façades makes the space a lush, relaxed spot. During summers, a network of storytellers gather around the benches to tell their stories both to enthusiasts and passers-by. A building located on in the corner between the streets Kindstugatan and Själagårdsgatan destroyed by fire in 1728, was apparently not rebuilt for a few decades, which gave first the lot and then the open space their names. The turning radius of

horse-drawn vehicle A horse-drawn vehicle is a piece of equipment pulled by one or more horses. These vehicles typically have two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have mostly been replaced by auto ...

s made open spaces necessary, and the city architect Johan Eberhard Carlberg (1683–1773) in 1734 mentions having proposed a turning space on the location two years earlier, on a plan naming the space ''Eckmarcks afbrände tomt'' ("Ekmarck's burnt-out lot"). Though the space is not named on maps dated 1733 and 1770, the population register of 1760 names it ''Brända tomten''. Behind the yellow façade directly facing the square, are several merged properties hiding medieval remainders and records of tenants and proprietors back to the 16th century. Over the portal of 3, Själagårdsgatan is a

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carrying the inscription IAC BSD, the initials of an unknown couple who occupied the building in 1643. While the façade is from the 19th century, the basement is from the medieval era and the decorated ceiling is from the 17th century. The famous Swedish author

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 pla ...

wrote a chamber play named 'Brända tomten', possibly inspired by the site, which was shot as a TV play in 1974.

Trivia

In Swedish 'Brända tomten' (The burnt lot) is spelled in the same way, and almost identically pronounced as the sentence 'The burnt gnome' or 'The burnt Santa Claus', something that have caused awkward moments when translators have trusted computerized translations too much.

References

External links

hitta.se - Location map and virtual walk

gamla-stan-stockholm.se - Brända tomten
Images from the location. Squares in Stockholm {{Stockholm-geo-stub

Trivia

See also

References

External links