Prästgatan
Overview
 
Prästgatan is a street
Street
A street is a paved public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable...

 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....

, stretching from a cul-de-sac west of 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...

 to the street Österlånggatan
Österlånggatan
Österlånggatan is a street in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Stretching southward from Slottsbacken to Järntorget, it forms a parallel street to Baggensgatan and Skeppsbron...

 in the southern corner of the old town. Prästgatan forms a parallel street to 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....

, Trångsund, Skomakargatan
Skomakargatan
Skomakargatan is a street in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden, Stretching between the square Stortorget and the streets Kindstugatan and Tyska Brinken, it forms a parallel street to Prästgatan and Svartmangatan....

, and Svartmangatan. It is intercepted by Storkyrkobrinken
Storkyrkobrinken
Storkyrkobrinken is a street in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden.Leading from Högvaktsterrassen near the Royal Palace down to Myntgatan and Riddarhustorget it forms a parallel street to Salviigränd and Stora Gråmunkegränd and is crossed by Trångsund, Prästgatan, and...

, Ankargränd
Ankargränd
Ankargränd is an alley in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden, connecting the streets Trångsund and Prästgatan, just west of church Storkyrkan...

, Spektens Gränd
Spektens Gränd
Spektens Gränd is an alley in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. With its location just west of church Storkyrkan, it connects the streets Trångsund and Prästgatan. It is a parallel street to Storkyrkobrinken, Ankargränd, Solgränd and Kåkbrinken....

, Solgränd
Solgränd
Solgränd is an alley in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. It connects the Stortorget square to the street Prästgatan...

, Kåkbrinken
Kåkbrinken
Kåkbrinken is a street in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Stretching from the western waterfront Munkbroleden to the central square Stortorget, it forms a parallel street to Yxsmedsgränd, Solgränd, and Bedoirsgränd, while being crossed by Munkbrogatan, Lilla Nygatan, Stora Nygatan,...

, Tyska Brinken
Tyska Brinken
Tyska Brinken is a street in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. Extending Kindstugatan passed the German Church down to the square Mälartorget, it is crossed by Skomakargatan, Prästgatan, Västerlånggatan, Stora Nygatan, Lilla Nygatan, and Munkbrogatan, while forming a parallel...

, Tyska Stallplan
Tyska Stallplan
Tyska Stallplan is a street in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. Stretching south from Svartmangatan to Prästgatan, it is connected to Baggensgatan and Mårten Trotzigs Gränd, while forming a parallel street to Österlånggatan and Tyska Brinken.By the street are the public...

, Mårten Trotzigs Gränd
Mårten Trotzigs Gränd
Mårten Trotzigs gränd is an alley in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Leading from Västerlånggatan and Järntorget up to Prästgatan and Tyska Stallplan, the width of its 36 steps tapers down to a mere 90 cm, making the alley the narrowest street in Stockholm.The alley is named...

, and Norra Benickebrinken
Prästegathen (1586)
Helwitesgatun (1529), Helgemesse grenden (1646), Helgeandz grenden (1669), Helgonegrenden (1697), Helvichs gränd(1726), Hellwigs gränden, Helvitii gränd (1723), Helvetii Gränd (1821), Helvetiegränden (1885)
sahlig Gref Stenbergs Huus (1700), Stenbergs gr[änd] (1733), Stenbergs gränd (1885)


The street was given its name in reference to the residences of three chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

s and a bell-ringer
Bell-ringer
A bell-ringer is a person who rings, tolls or peals a large bell, usually a church bell, by tugging on a long rope. Since the invention of the carillon, the need for bell ringers has declined...

 built there during the 16th century, the four small buildings were demolished in 1708 to give room to the parsonage still present.
Quotations

Nothing is more dangerous to reason than the flights of the imagination and nothing has been the occasion of more mistakes among philosophers. Men of bright fancies may in this respect be compared to those angels whom the scripture represents as covering their eyes with their wings.

A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume, Book 1, Section 4, p.225

Philosophy makes progress not by becoming more rigorous but by becoming more imaginative.

Introduction to Truth and Progress: Philosophical Papers by Richard Rorty, Volume 3, 1998.

The conception of the necessary unit of all that is resolves itself into the poverty of the imagination, and a freer logic emancipates us from the straitwaistcoated benevolent institution, which idealism palms off as the totality of being.

Our Knowledge of the External World by Bertrand Russell

The true function of logic,... as applied to matters of experience,... is analytic rather than constructive; taken a priori, it shows the possibility of hitherto unsuspected alternatives more often than the impossibility of alternatives which seemed prima facie possible. Thus, while it liberates imagination as to what the world may be, it refuses to legislate as to what the world is.

Our Knowledge of the External World by Bertrand Russell

Science does not know its debt to imagination.

Poetry and Imagination by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1872.

Cowardice, as distinguished from panic, is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination.

Introduction to Men at War by Ernest Hemingway, 1942.

There is no life I knowthat compares to pure imaginationLiving there you'll be freeif you truly wish to be

Pure Imagination|Pure Imagination by Gene Wilder, 1971.

Impossibility is only the figment of an insufficient imagination.

The Song Of Sin by Phil Duncan, 1998.

 
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