Mynttorget
Encyclopedia
Public Square
Public Square is the central plaza in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It takes up four city blocks; Superior Avenue and Ontario Street cross through it. Cleveland's three tallest buildings, Key Tower, 200 Public Square and the Terminal Tower, face the square...
in Gamla stan
Gamla stan
Gamla stan , until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna , is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. The surrounding islets Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen, and Strömsborg are officially part of, but not colloquially included in, Gamla stan...
, the old town in central Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
.
Setting
From the square the bridge StallbronStallbron
Stallbron is an arch bridge located in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. Stretching some 20 meters over Stallkanalen it connects Riksgatan passing through the Parliament Building on Helgeandsholmen to the square Mynttorget on Stadsholmen from where Västerlånggatan extends it...
leads over to the Parliament island Helgeandsholmen
Helgeandsholmen
Helgeandsholmen is a small island in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is located north of Stadsholmen, and east of Strömsborg, with which, together with Riddarholmen, it forms Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm...
; to the west the street Myntgatan
Myntgatan
Myntgatan is a street in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. Stretching west from Mynttorget over to Riddarhustorget, it is crossed by the streets Salviigränd, Rådhusgränd, Riddarhusgränd, and Storkyrkobrinken....
leads to Riddarhustorget
Riddarhustorget
Riddarhustorget is, arguably, a public square in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden, named after its location in front of House of Knights ....
, while the quay Kanslikajen
Kanslikajen
Kanslikajen is a quay in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden, leading west along the southern shore of the canal Stallkanalen from Stallbron and Mynttorget to Vasabron....
stretches along the waterfront; Västerlånggatan
Västerlånggatan
Västerlånggatan 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 defensive wall....
stretches south through the medieval old town; and eastward the ramps of the Royal Palace, Lejonbacken
Lejonbacken
Lejonbacken is a system of ramps leading up to the northern entrance of the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden, during the 1780s named after the pair of sculpted Medici lions prominently exposed on the stone railings of the ramps....
, leads up to the palace's northern entrance, while the quay Slottskajen
Slottskajen
Slottskajen is a quay and a street in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden.Named after its location north of the Royal Palace, it stretches west from Skeppsbron and Strömbron to the square Mynttorget, overlooked by Lejonbacken, the ramps leading to the palace's northern entrance,...
passes along the canal Stallkanalen. Overlooking the square is the terrace Högvaktsterrassen
Högvaktsterrassen
Högvaktsterrassen is a street in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden passing west of Yttre Borgården, the outer court of the Stockholm Palace....
.
Its central location between the Parliament
Parliament of Sweden
The Riksdag is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members , who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years...
, Kanslihuset ("The Secretariat House" or "The Chancellery
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
"), and the Royal Palace
Stockholm Palace
The Stockholm Palace is the official residence and major royal palace of the Swedish monarch. . Stockholm Palace is located on Stadsholmen , in Gamla Stan in the capital, Stockholm...
, makes it a popular spot for political manifestations of various kinds.
On N.4 Stockholms Stads Brandförsäkringskontor ("The Stockholm Fire Insurance Office"), in short Brandkontoret, was established in 1746 as a result of the devastating fire at the Royal Palace in 1697. It is thus the oldest insurance company in Sweden, a company owned by its insured customers. In 1806 the building was acquired and the office of Brandkontoret has since then been located here. The building was earlier known as the Rosendal Palace (Rosendalska palatset), designed by C F Adelcrantz
Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz
Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz was a Swedish architect and civil servant. Adelcrantz's style developed from a rococo influenced by Carl Hårleman, the leading architect in Sweden in the early years of his career, to a classical idiom influenced by the stylistic developments in France in the mid-to-late...
(1716-1796) and Erik Palmstedt
Erik Palmstedt
Erik Palmstedt was an outstanding Swedish architect working for the court circle of Gustav III, where he was in the forefront of Neoclassical style and at the heart of a social and intellectual circle that formed round him...
(1741-1803) in a transitional style bridging Rococo
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
and Gustavian Classicism
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
, in 1773-1780 the location of the Royal Academy of the Arts
Royal Swedish Academy of Arts
The Royal Swedish Academy of Arts or Kungl. Akademien för de fria konsterna, founded in 1773 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden...
.
The insurance company Skandia
Skandia
Skandia is a Swedish insurance company that was started in 1855. It has operations in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia. Skandia also operates an internet bank called Skandiabanken....
, today one of the dominant actors, was founded in 1855, originally occupying only three rooms in 1, Mynttorget, the building on the square's southern side. The building is today occupied by the Parliament.
History
Mynttorget is named after the vicinity to the royal mintMint (coin)
A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins for currency.The history of mints correlates closely with the history of coins. One difference is that the history of the mint is usually closely tied to the political situation of an era...
(Kungliga myntet), during the period 1696-1850 located by the square, and the name appears on a map dated 1733. While coins have been stamped in the capital since 1310 and the original location of the royal mint is not known, the facility was located west of the palace Tre Kronor
Tre kronor (castle)
Tre Kronor or Three Crowns was a castle located in Stockholm, Sweden, on the site where Stockholm Palace is today. It is believed to have been a citadel that Birger Jarl built into a royal castle in the middle of the 13th century...
in the early 15th century (e.g. directly south of the square), to be moved between the residences of the various Mint Masters during the late Middle Ages. During the regency of Gustav Vasa
Gustav I of Sweden
Gustav I of Sweden, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known simply as Gustav Vasa , was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death....
, the mint was located on a former islet near today's Nationalmuseum called Kyrkholmen or even Myntholmen. Later, it was relocated first to Riddarholmen
Riddarholmen
Riddarholmen 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 from the 17th century...
and then Helgeandsholmen
Helgeandsholmen
Helgeandsholmen is a small island in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is located north of Stadsholmen, and east of Strömsborg, with which, together with Riddarholmen, it forms Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm...
.
As the northern gate of the city was rebuilt in the 17th century, a defensive tower, Norre port, was demolished in 1672 to give space to a new mint by the square, completed in 1696. This latter building was however demolished in 1784, to be replaced by a new building housing the Government Offices, completed in 1790 and furnished with the four doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
columns today reused for the portico of Kanslihuset.