Myntgatan () is a
street
A street is a public thoroughfare in a city, town or village, typically lined with Building, buildings on one or both sides. Streets often include pavements (sidewalks), pedestrian crossings, and sometimes amenities like Street light, streetligh ...
in
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 ...
. Stretching west from
Mynttorget over to
Riddarhustorget, it is crossed by the streets
Salviigränd,
Rådhusgränd,
Riddarhusgränd, and
Storkyrkobrinken.
Most of the buildings surrounding the street are occupied by either the
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
or the
Supreme Court
In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
.
History
While the square ''Mynttorget'' was named for its proximity to the Royal
Mint
Mint or The Mint may refer to:
Plants
* Lamiaceae, the mint family
** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint"
Coins and collectibles
* Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins
* Mint condition, a state of like-new ...
and is present on a map dated 1733 AD, the name of the street ''Myntgatan'' is most likely much younger. On a map from the 1630s it is called ''Skattmestere Gattun'' ("Treasurer's Street"), probably in reference to
Gabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna (1586–1656) who owned a single land parcel by the street. It has also been referred to as
Salviigränd.
[''Gatunamn'', p 61-62]
Following the completion of
Stora Nygatan in the 1660s, it was realized that this new
boulevard
A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway or wide road in a commercial district.
In Europe, boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former ...
-like street, a pride for a still largely medieval Stockholm, could not end up blindly in what was then a peripheral end of the city – an insight which led to the gradual creation of Myntgatan which forms a perpendicular angle to Stora Nygatan in the
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 ...
manner of the era.
[Hall, p 61]
The street was thus extended east to Mynttorget as the latter was created in 1672 and the old defensive tower, ''Norre port'', was demolished. It was then called ''Riddargatan'' ("Knight's Street") or ''Riddarhusgatan'' ("Knight's House Street") until the late-19th century in references to
Riddarhuset, but apparently different names were used for the eastern and western ends of the street.
See also
*
List of streets and squares in Gamla stan
*
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
*
*
External links
hitta.se - Location map and virtual walk
Streets in Stockholm
Odonyms referring to a building
{{Stockholm-road-stub