Gamla Stan

Gamla Stan (Swedish: [ˈɡâmːla ˈstɑːn], "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 Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen and Strömsborg. It has a population of approximately 3,000.

Gamla Stan has played a prominent role in the history of Swedish architecture, with many of Sweden's most renowned architects shaping the area; these include figures such as Nicodemus Tessin and Carl Hårleman, who worked on the Stockholm Palace, still located in the area.

Other notable buildings in the old town include Tessin Palace, the Stockholm Stock Exchange Building, Bonde Palace (seat of the Swedish Supreme Court) and the House of Nobility; the last of these buildings hosted the parliament for many years.

The town dates back to the 13th century, and consists of medieval alleyways, cobbled streets, and archaic architecture. North German architecture has had a strong influence in its construction. Stortorget is the name of the scenic large square in the centre of Gamla Stan, which is surrounded by old merchants' houses including the Stockholm Stock Exchange Building. The square was the site of the Stockholm Bloodbath, where Swedish nobility were massacred by Christian II of Denmark in November 1520.

As well as being home to the Storkyrkan, Stockholm Cathedral, the Nobel Museum, and the Riddarholmskyrkan, Gamla Stan also boasts Kungliga slottet, Sweden's baroque Royal Palace, built in the 18th century after the previous palace Tre Kronor burned down. The House of Nobility (Riddarhuset) is on the north-western corner of Gamla stan.

The restaurant Den gyldene freden is located on Österlånggatan. It has been in business, continuously, since 1722 and according to Guinness World Records is the longest operated restaurant with an unchanged environment and is one of the oldest restaurants in the world. It is now owned by the Swedish Nobel Academy that have their Thursday luncheons there every week. A statue of St. George and the Dragon (sculpted by Bernt Notke) can be found in the Storkyrkan, while Riddarholmskyrkan is the royal burial church. Bollhustäppan, a small courtyard at Slottsbacken behind the Finnish Church, just south of the main approach to the Royal Palace, is home to one of the smallest statues in Sweden, a little boy in wrought iron. The plaque just below the statue says its name "Järnpojken" ("The Iron Boy"). It was created by Liss Eriksson in 1967.

From the mid-19th century to the early-mid 20th century Gamla Stan was considered a slum, many of its historical buildings left in disrepair, and just after World War II, several blocks together five alleys were demolished for the enlargement of the Riksdag (see Brantingtorget). From the 1970s and 1980s it has become a tourist attraction, as the charm of its medieval, Renaissance architecture and later additions have been valued by later generations.

While the archaeology of the 370 properties in Gamla Stan remains poorly documented, recent inventories done by volunteers have shown many buildings previously dated to the 17th and 18th centuries, can be up to 300 years older.