Description of Stockholm

Stockholm is the largest city in Sweden and also its capital. The city was found in the 13th century on a small island in Strommel channel between Baltic Sea and Lake Malaren. Over a course of next several centuries Stockholm rose to control much of the region around the Baltic sea. The wealth flowed into the city and it eventually spread over 14 islands. Most of sights in Stockholm are accessible by a subway or Tunnelbana as well as several buses. Additionally you can take a ferry around the town.

 

Royal Palace (Stockholm)   Kingliga Slottet Tel. 08- 402 6130 Subway: Gamla Stan Bus: 2, 43, 55, 71, 76 Open: mid- May- mid- Sept: daily mid- Sept- mid- May: 12- 3pm Tue- Sun www.kungahuset.se   Royal Palace or Palace of Three Crowns (Tre Kronor) is the official office of the Swedish king. It was originally completed in the 13th century as a military fortress. Eventually it became used as an official residence of the royal family in the 14th century. In 1697 palace was destroyed by fire. Shortly thereafter it was rebuilt under supervision of the architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger (1654- 1728). Its exterior was influenced by Italian Renaissance while the interior has distinct Italian and Swedish influence. Royal Palace of Stockholm was completed in 1754.   Today part of the Royal Palace is open to the public. It is difficult to visit all 500 rooms at once. This includes Armory, Royal Chapel, Antiquity Museum of Gustav III and many others. Hall of State is one of the most beautiful rooms in the Palace. Its Swedish Rococo and Classical interior is covered by ivory and silver saltcellar, especially designed by famous Flemish painter Rubens. At the Western courtyard of the Royal Palace you can see daily ceremonial change of the guard.

 

 

Vasamuseet   Galarvarvsvagen 14, Djurgarden Tel. 08- 519 548 00 Bus: 44, 69 Trolley: 7 Water Taxi: Djurgardstfarja Museifartygen Tel. 08- 519 548 83 Open: Jun 10- Aug: afternoon daily www.vasamuseet.se Vasamuseet is one of the most interesting museum in Stockholm. It is entirely dedicated to a massive royal warship Vasa. It became famous as one of the most unfortunate ships in maritime history. During its maiden voyage in 1628 it capsized and sank in the Stockholm harbor. Dark murky waters of the Baltic Sea kept its wooden parts in perfect preservation. In 1995 Vasa was rediscovered with 95 % of its structure still intact. On April 24, 1961 ship was lifted from the seabed.

 

History

The emergence of Stockholm, which was settled and later as a city, is intimately linked to the isolation of Lake Mälaren from the Baltic , which has been going on since the last ice age , when the melting inland ice eased the pressure on the earth's crust . The land rise in the Stockholm area is part of the post-glacial land rise in Scandinavia . Both the land rise and water levels have together shaped changes in the shoreline around the Baltic Sea.

The oldest documents that have been found, with a secure date, where the name Stockholm appears, are two: one from July 1252 issued by King Valdemar and Birger Jarl and the other a letter of protection from 19 August 1252 issued by Birger Jarl. Stockholm was granted city ​​privileges on May 1, 1436. The letter of privilege is considered to mark the beginning of Stockholm's national political era and is usually used as a reference for the start of Stockholm's role as the capital of the state.

The oldest stated date for the city's founding in medieval sources is 1187 and it is found in the Visby Chronicle . According to this listing, Stockholm was founded as a result of the Harassment of Sigtuna in 1187 as a replacement for the burnt-out trading place. According to Erikskrönikan , otherwise Stockholm must have been founded by Earl Birger (about 1210–1266) in the middle of the 13th century on the basis of the buildings that had started to be established at Stadsholmen (with Helgeandsholmen and Riddarholmen). A castle was erected around the archipelago to protect Stockholm and other important cities further into Lake Mälaren as Sigtunaagainst attacks by hostile war fleets. The city became a difficult obstacle to the sea for enemies into Lake Mälaren and Sweden's central parts. Through the land rise , it became impossible until the 16th century to get past the central parts of the Stockholm sea route, which further strengthened the opportunity to defend Stockholm and the Mälar region.

Stockholm was early an important trading town for the iron trade from the mines in Bergslagen where the heavy transports went by boat via Lake Mälaren to the coast. Stockholm as a trade center for all kinds of goods was strongly developed by the many immigrant merchants from Germany who had their own trading centers on the Baltic Sea coast of northern Germany. Already in the 1300s there was a scattered settlement on the ore. By the middle of the 15th century, the population had grown to between five and six thousand inhabitants. The Battle of Brunkeberg on October 10, 1471 and the Stockholm massacre on November 8, 1520 are two events that had a major impact on Stockholm's development and the country as a whole.

The city expanded greatly after Gustav Vasa 's accession to the throne and around 1600 the number of inhabitants amounted to about 10,000. It was during the 1600s that Sweden developed into a European great power, which also became noticeable in Stockholm's development. Between 1610 and 1680, the population was six-fold. During Gustav Vasa's time, Stockholm's defense in the inland area was not strengthened, but was moved to Vaxholm where, as early as 1548, a smaller wooden fortification was erected which later in the 1600s became the foundation for Vaxholm's fortress.

 

 

Etymology
The former 'stock' in the name of Stockholm is believed to derive from the defense devices - pile rafters - in the form of wooden sticks anchored in the seabed (compare the word steak ), which were in the strait between Mälaren and Saltsjön . The first permanent settlements had been established at the pile barrier. The purpose of the barrier was to make it more difficult for enemy vessels to enter Mälaren and the early cities that were built in Lake Mälaren where Sigtuna early became the most significant city before Stockholm had established itself as a larger city. Another interpretation is that the name would refer to fixed fishing establishments in the form of fishing rods. The term " islet " may refer to the island that is now calledStadsholmen , and which for several centuries mainly constituted the city of Stockholm. Another possibility is that from the beginning the name did not refer to Stadsholmen, but to one of the small islets that existed in Norrström in the Middle Ages.

An alternative theory is that the word stock in Old Swedish has the meaning "a collection of ".Stockholm could therefore have significance; "a collection of islets".

Gustaf Brynnel presented his own theory in the publication Stock, Stocken, Stockholm from 1965. Brynnel, who was a file mag and lecturer, had researched about place names in the Nordic countries where "stock" is included. His conclusion was that this was not about logs but about tapered or shallow water; that the water is "boiling". Stockholm would thus mean "the islet in the log".