Torgdragargränd ( Swedish: "Market Draughter's 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 ...

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

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 ...

. Stretching from the street

Västerlånggatan Västerlånggatan ("the Western Long Street") is a street in Gamla Stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Stretching southward between the squares Mynttorget and Järntorget, it follows the course of the city's now demolished 13th-century defen ...

to the square Kornhamnstorg, it forms a parallel street to Tyska Brinken and

Funckens Gränd Funckens Gränd is an alley in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. Leading south from the street Västerlånggatan to the square Kornhamnstorg, it forms a parallel street to Torgdragargränd and Triewaldsgränd. Origin of th ...

. Prior to 1981, Torgdragargränd was closed with a gate at Kornhamstorg and a low building at the other end. The present name commemorates the people working at the market next to the alley.

Naming contest

The daily paper

Dagens Nyheter (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major nationa ...

arranged a naming contest in 1981, and the winning proposal was produced by Gunnar Rönn, a man who worked in the alley. Rönn's proposal referred to the people working at the market on Kornhamnstorg who used to literally 'draught' their goods and market stalls from the alley to the square every morning (called ''Torgdragare'', literally: "Square draughters"). He also told the paper how these people used to seek the darker corners of the alley whenever they needed something stronger to drink than water, occasionally ending up sharing a dinner, including

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

loaf A loaf (: loaves) is a (usually) rounded or oblong quantity of food, typically and originally of bread. It is common to bake bread in a rectangular bread pan or loaf pan because some kinds of bread dough tend to collapse and spread out during ...

and

schnaps Schnapps ( or ) or schnaps is a type of alcoholic beverage that may take several forms, including distilled fruit brandies, herbal liqueurs, infusions, and "flavored liqueurs" made by adding fruit syrups, spices, or artificial flavorings to n ...

, on a shutter placed upon the dustbins standing in the alley.

Gallery

Image:Torgdragargränd sun 070404.JPG, The sun reaches the alley for a short moment daily. Image:Torgdragargränd sigill 070404.JPG, Seal of the Stockholm Masonry Master's Guild (Murmestare Embetet i Stockholm)

References

External links

Stockholmskällan - Historical photos
Streets in Stockholm {{Stockholm-road-stub

Naming contest

Gallery

See also

References

External links