Sweden Guide
Stockholm
Gamla Stan
The islands of Riddarholmen, Staden and Helgeandsholmen make up the oldest part of Stockholm, a historic cluster of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Baroque and Renaissance buildings backed by narrow alleys. Here, on these three adjoining polyps of land, Birger Jarl erected the first fortification in 1255, and for centuries this was the nucleus of the first city of Stockholm. Rumours abound about the derivation of the name Stockholm, but it's generally thought that it means "island cleared of trees" – trees on the island that is now home to Gamla Stan were probably felled to make way for settlers. Incidentally, today the words holm ("island") and stock ("log") are still in common use.
Strictly speaking, the Gamla Stan or Old Town area refers only to the streets of the largest island, Staden, although in practice the name is usually applied to all three islands. Nowadays Gamla Stan is primarily a tourist enclave, a rich tableau of cultural history embodied by the royal palace, parliament and cathedral. The central spider's web, especially if you approach it over the bridges of Norrbron or Riksbron, invokes potent images of the past, with sprawling, monumental buildings and airy churches forming a protective girdle around the narrow streets. The tall, dark houses in the centre were mostly those of wealthy merchants, still picked out today by intricate doorways and portals bearing coats of arms. Some of the alleys in between are the skinniest thoroughfares imaginable, steeply stepped between battered walls; others are covered passageways linking leaning buildings. It's easy to spend hours wandering around here, although the atmosphere these days is not so much medieval as mercenary: there's a dense concentration of antique shops, art showrooms and chichi cellar restaurants, though the frontages don't really intrude upon the otherwise light-starved streets. Not surprisingly, this is the most exclusive part of Stockholm in which to live.