
Kungsträdgården (
Swedish for "King's Garden") is a
park
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
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 ...
. It is colloquially known as ''Kungsan''.
The park's central location and its outdoor cafés makes it one of the most popular hangouts and meeting places in Stockholm. It also hosts open-air concerts and events in summer, while offering an
ice rink
An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water or an artificial sheet of ice where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ...
[, Opening hours and some more information.] during winters. There is also a number of cafés, art galleries and restaurants; for example Galleri Doktor Glas, a name taken from the novel ''
Doctor Glas'' by
Hjalmar Söderberg published in 1905.
The park is divided into four distinct spaces (south to north): (1) Square of Charles XII; (2) Molin's Fountain; (3); Square of Charles XIII and (4) "Fountain of Wolodarski" (which does not have an official name). The park is administered and events in it organized by the
Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.
Overview

A number of Stockholm landmarks are found around the perimeter of Kungsträdgården:
South of the park is the quay
Strömgatan interconnecting the bridges
Strömbron and
Norrbro, both of which stretches over to the
Stockholm Old Town and the
Royal Palace.
North of the park is
Hamngatan with the department stores
PK-huset and
Nordiska Kompaniet
Nordiska Kompaniet (colloquially NK, and literally ''The Nordic Company'') is the name of two luxury department stores located in Stockholm and Gothenburg, in Sweden.
The store in Stockholm receives some twelve million visitors annually, with ...
(NK) facing the park.
Kungsträdgårdsgatan stretches along the park's eastern side. A series of prominent buildings are lined-up along it:
Stockholm Synagogue by
Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander, 1867–70,
[Guide, MÃ¥rtelius, p 22.] Jernkontoret by
Axel Kumlien, 1875,
[Guide, MÃ¥rtelius, p 23.][Wisth] Palmeska huset by
Helgo Zettervall, 1884–86, today the headquarters of
Handelsbanken
Svenska Handelsbanken AB is a leading Nordic countries, Nordic bank with international operations, providing a comprehensive range of financial services including corporate banking, investment banking, trading, and consumer banking such as loans, ...
,
[Guide, MÃ¥rtelius, p 27.] and
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (; lit. "Scandinavian Private Bank"), abbreviated SEB, is a Swedish bank headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. In Sweden and the Baltic countries, SEB has a full financial service offering. In Denmark, Finland, Nor ...
(SEB), then the
Kungsträdgården Stockholm metro station.
On the western side are the
Royal Swedish Opera
Royal Swedish Opera () is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden.
Location and environment
The building is located in the centre of Sweden's capital, Stockholm, in the borough of Norrmalm (borough), Norrmalm, on the eastern si ...
with the Opera Bar,
Saint James's church,
Ivar Kreuger
Ivar Kreuger (; 2 March 1880 – 12 March 1932) was a Swedish civil engineer, financier, entrepreneur and industrialist. In 1908, he co-founded the construction company Kreuger & Toll Byggnads AB, which specialized in new building techniques. B ...
's
Matchstick Palace designed by
Ivar Tengbom
Ivar Justus Tengbom (April 7, 1878 – August 6, 1968) was a Sweden, Swedish architect and one of the best-known representatives of the Swedish neo-classical architecture of the 1910s and 1920s.
Tengbom was born in Vireda in Jönköping Coun ...
, and
Sverigehuset (home to a tourist information centre) designed by
Sven Markelius, 1961–69.
[Guide, Hultin, p 95.]
History
Though the royal
kitchen garden
The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...
is known to date back to the Middle Ages, it is first mentioned in historical records as ''konungens kålgård'' ("king's cabbage garden") in 1430. (See also
Trädgårdsgatan.) The royal property in the area was considerably enlarged through an acquisition in 1454 and further expanded throughout the following century. This utilitarian garden was gradually transformed into an enclosed royal
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 ...
pleasure garden
A pleasure garden is a park or garden that is open to the public for recreation and entertainment. Pleasure gardens differ from other public gardens by serving as venues for entertainment, variously featuring such attractions as concert halls, b ...
and accordingly referred to as "King's Garden"
[The garden is referred to as ''H:K: M:ttz Trägårdh'', ''Konnungz Trägårdhen'', ''Konungens Tregårdh'', and ''Kongl. Trägårdhen'' throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. King Charles XI calls it ''Kongs-Trägordhen'' during the 1690s.] throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The garden was a symmetrical composition centred on a fountain and separated from the waterfront by the
Makalös
Makalös (unequalled) was the colloquial name for the grand mansion, or palace, of the Swedish noble family De la Gardie. Situated at Norrström, south of Kungsträdgården in Stockholm and vis-à -vis the Stockholm Palace, Royal Palace, the bui ...
Palace ("incomparable").
[Stockholms gatunamn, p 175.][Guide till Stockholms arkitektur, MÃ¥rtelius, p 12.]
However, the demolition of the walls began in the early 19th century, and for the inauguration of the statue of
Charles XIII
Charles XIII or Carl XIII (; 7 October 1748 – 5 February 1818) was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 to his death. He was the second son (and younger brother to King Gustav III) of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Louisa ...
in 1821, his successor
Charles XIV John had most of the garden replaced by a gravelled open space ordered to be named "Square of Charles XIII". When Makalös was destroyed by fire in 1825 the park was extended south down to the waterfront. Notwithstanding the area became a popular spot for bourgeois social life and military drilling, Charles XIV's initiative never was appreciated, and in the 1860s the space was subsequently furnished with the tree-lined
avenues still giving the park its character and through which the old name prevailed. In addition, the park's showpiece, the tall and elaborate Molin's Fountain, was cast in bronze and given a space in the park.
The following century saw several proposals to have the northern section of the park replaced by various buildings, but during WWII a contract determined the area should remain a park and in 1970 it finally became the property of the city.
In the 1970s, construction of the
metro station caused much controversy since the plans called for the old
elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...
s to be cut down, which led to violent protests and a
tree-hugger campaign on May 12-May 13, 1971 with people chaining themselves to the trees, the so-called
Battle of the Elms. Eventually these protests not only saved the trees and caused the station entrances to be located east and west of the park, but they also marked the end of a period when many old buildings in central Stockholm were demolished.
[Wahlgren, pp 20–23.]
The park had a reputation for rioting youth, prostitution, and drug dealing in the 1980s.
Extreme-right demonstrations in the 1990s by the statue of Charles XII altered its reputation. It was redesigned in the late 1990s to it present shape.
In 2004, 285 new
linden trees were planted to replace the sick elms (of which some dated back to the 17th century) and new pavilions with cafés were added.
Squares of both Charles

The southern third of the park. called ''Karl XII:s torg'' ("Charles XII's Square") is centred on the statue of
Charles XII
Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of ...
by
Johan Peter Molin, inaugurated for the 150th anniversary of the king's death on November 30, 1868. The square, until then forming a section of the levelled park carrying the name of Charles XIII, was subsequently renamed after Charles XII and transformed into more of a park than a square.
[Wrangel, ''Stockholmiana I–IV'', p 171.]
The park is centred on the statue of
Charles XIII
Charles XIII or Carl XIII (; 7 October 1748 – 5 February 1818) was King of Sweden from 1809 and King of Norway from 1814 to his death. He was the second son (and younger brother to King Gustav III) of King Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Louisa ...
, King of Sweden from 1809 until his death in 1818, commissioned by his successor
Charles XIV John. The
Neoclassicist composition of
Gustaf Göthe (1779–1838), inaugurated in 1821, is escorted by four lions sculpted by
Bengt Erland Fogelberg (1786–1854), added in 1824, and each of which are holding a ball carrying the
Norwegian and
Swedish coat of arms alluding the
Swedish-Norwegian Union initiated by the king.
The anchor under the king's right arm reminds us of his great naval victories during the
Russo-Swedish War 1788–1790.
[Statens Fastighetsverk]
Now, Stockholmers were widely displeased with Charles XIII and therefore referred to the statue as "a gardener without a garden just as a king without honour" and, as Charles XII is surrounded by four backs from
mortars, in Swedish called ''kruka'' ("pot") and Charles XIII is flanked by four lions, again popular humour used the opportunity to throw some dirt at the latter by referring to both statues as "a lion among pots and a pot among lions".
On the location for the statue of Charles XII was the palace
Makalös
Makalös (unequalled) was the colloquial name for the grand mansion, or palace, of the Swedish noble family De la Gardie. Situated at Norrström, south of Kungsträdgården in Stockholm and vis-à -vis the Stockholm Palace, Royal Palace, the bui ...
("Peerless"), owned by the
Constable of the Realm and Count of
Läckö Jakob De la Gardie and completed in 1642. The palace was transferred to the Crown under King
Charles XI and rebuilt into an
armoury in 1690. Following the death of
Gustav III
Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf Frederick and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden.
Gustav was a vocal opponent of what he saw ...
in 1792 the palace was rebuilt into an opera house. The opera house burned to the ground during a performance in 1825, fragments from it today exhibited in the nearby
metro station. Since the exposition of 1866, the western part of the square, named ''Lagerlunden'' ("The Laurel Grove"), is renowned for the exclusive dining-rooms of the rebuilt opera house.
[Stugart, DN, 2005-10-19][Stockholms gatunamn, p 163.]
In the early 1970s, this was the location for the
Battle of the Elms (''Slaget om almarna''), protests which ended the demolition of central portions of Stockholm. In the 1990s, the square was made a popular gathering spot for
right-wing extremists and
neo-Nazis
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), to att ...
usually holding parades on November 30 every year. Occasionally, this has resulted in clashes with
left wing protesters and real battles have taken place in Kungsträdgården. Today it is mostly known for the so-called ''Tehuset'' ("Tea House") offering coffee, sandwiches, and other refreshing things.
Fountain of Molin
The fountain of
Johan Peter Molin, originally carved in plaster, was the centrepiece of a Scandinavian
art and industry exposition in 1866. While the exposition's main building, stretching 200 metres across the park and crowned by a dome 30 metres wide, was over-crowded with objects, it failed to attract an audience. The fountain was, however, appreciated to the extent a subscription was raised to have it cast in bronze, and was subsequently inaugurated in 1873 on the same location.
[Wiberg]
The mythological characters inhabiting the fountain are the ocean god
Ægir
Ægir (anglicised as Aegir; Old Norse 'sea'), Hlér (Old Norse 'sea'), or Gymir (Old Norse less clearly 'sea, engulfer'), is a jötunn and a anthropomorphism, personification of the sea in Norse mythology. In the Old Norse record, Ægir hosts the ...
and his wife
Rán with their nine daughters, all listening to the river spirit
Nix playing his harp. It symbolizes Stockholm located between the upper bowl,
Lake Mälaren, and the lower basin, the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...
. The six swans, still offering fresh water to passers-by, were late additions, the artist condescending the audience's apprehension of the sculpture as mere luxuriousness.
[Explore Stockholm]
For the inauguration of the fountain,
willow
Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions.
Most species are known ...
trees were planted in the park. These are a hybrid of the willow species
Peking Willow (''
Salix babylonica
''Salix babylonica'' (Babylon willow or weeping willow; ) is a species of willow native to dry areas of northern China, Korea, Mongolia, Japan, and Siberia but cultivated for millennia elsewhere in Asia, being traded along the Silk Road to southw ...
''), in English known as
Thurlow Weeping Willow (''
Salix × elegantissima'') but in Swedish given the name ''
fontänpil'' ("fountain willow") in recognition to still the admired artwork.
As one of thirteen objects selected for a project 1999–2006 to decorate prominent buildings and milieus in Stockholm with
fiber optics
An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...
, the fountain was furnished with a score of light sources accentuating the sculptures and cascades of water, toppled by a laterally emitting cable in the upper bowl.
[City of Stockholm, ''Nattljus'']
Fountain of Wolodarski

In August 1998, a total number of 63 ''
Sakura
The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in ''Prunus'' subgenus '' Cerasus''. ''Sakura'' usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of ''Prunus serrulata'', not trees grown for their fruit (although ...
'' trees ("Japanese cherry") were planted; each spring when they all blossom is an experience of beauty and scent in the park. Additionally, city architect
Alexander Wolodarski commissioned artist
Sivert Lindblom to design the large bronze urns now lined up along the new rectangular fountain. Lindblom has also furnished the small square
Blasieholmstorg just east of the park with
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
horses.
Wolodarski's renewal of the park has been met with protest focusing on the "Baroque" scale and geometry of his design. Others have been critical about the park being "handed over" to an entrepreneur – for example,
[Hallemar] the head of the city's garden department was upset nothing much remains of the park, notwithstanding the park was even reshaped into a golf course to suit a Mercedes-Benz campaign.
See also
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History of Stockholm
The history of Stockholm, capital of Sweden, for many centuries coincided with the development of what is today known as Gamla stan, the Stockholm Old Town.
Origins
The name 'Stockholm' easily splits into two distinct parts – Stock-holm, ...
Notes
References
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Literature
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kungsträdgården
Parks in Stockholm
World's fair sites in Stockholm