Maria Elisabeth "Maja-Lisa" Borgman (1750s – 14 May 1791), was the owner of a famed

coffee house A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, Caffè americano, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually ...

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 ...

during the reign of

Gustav III of Sweden 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 s ...

and a known local profile in contemporary Gustavian Stockholm. Maja-Lisa Borgman founded, owned and managed the coffee house ''Maja-Lisas'' on

Riddarholmen Riddarholmen (, "The Knights' Islet") is a small islet in central Stockholm, Sweden. The island forms part of Gamla Stan, the old town, and houses a number of private palaces dating back to the 17th century. The main landmark is the church Riddarh ...

, which was named after her and became one of the most successful in contemporary Sweden. Coffee houses became common in Stockholm in the 1720s and had a reputation as the center of public intellectual debate, as they normally offered newspaper-reading parlors, where the customers were offered to read the latest newspapers and discuss the latest news. The profession of coffee house-manager was dominated by women, of which Borgman was a celebrity within her profession in contemporary Sweden and known as "The High Priestess of the Goddess Coffea" in Stockholm. In the Stockholm register of 1790, Borgman is listed as an unmarried ''

Mamsell (from the French ) was a historical Swedish honorific used for unmarried middle class women from about the mid 18th-century until 1866. The title was primarily used for women in the burgher and the clergy classes. The word was replaced after the ...

'' of 33 or 38 years old, and the head of a household including a boy at the age of nine, a foster daughter, two maidservants, a servant girl and a married woman as an assistant. She was taxed for a gold watch and reportedly quite well off. During the 1780s, her coffee house was known as the first center for

Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

games in Sweden, were the chess players Daniel Djurberg and Olof Samuel Tempelman were frequent guests. It is possible that she participated herself, and she is often referred to in older Swedish chess literature. A

Chalcography Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an inta ...

in the

National Library of Sweden The National Library of Sweden (, ''KB'', meaning "the Royal Library") is Sweden's national library. It collects and preserves all domestic printed and audio-visual materials in Swedish, as well as content with Swedish association published ab ...

depicts her with the text: ::"Here you may see a Lais in the taste of the time ::United love games, coffee and tobacco."Tfs. Tidskrift för Schack. Nr. 4. Årgång 95. 1989. Maja-Lisa Borgman died of a cold. Her coffee house, ''Maja-Lisas'', was managed by its new owners under the same name, sometimes as "Former Maja-Lisas", at least until 1813.

References

* Du Rietz, Anita, Kvinnors entreprenörskap: under 400 år, 1. uppl., Dialogos, Stockholm, 2013
Gamla Stockholm. Anteckningar ur tryckta och otryckta källor
* Tfs. Tidskrift för Schack. Nr. 4. Årgång 95. 1989. {{DEFAULTSORT:Borgman, Maja-Lisa 18th-century Swedish people 1750s births 1791 deaths 18th-century Swedish businesspeople Gustavian era people 18th-century Swedish women 18th century in chess

See also

References