Page 58 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sweden

56  ST OCKHOLM AREA B Y AREA

Street-by-Street: Slottsbacken

Slottsbacken is much more than just a steep hill linking
Skeppsbron and the highest part of Gamla Stan (Old Town).
It also provides the background for ceremonial processions
and the daily changing-of-the-guard, and is the route for
visiting heads of state and foreign ambassadors when they
have an audience with the king at the Royal Palace. Alongside
Slottsbacken the palace displays its most attractive façade,
with the entrance to the Treasury (Skattkammaren), State The Olaus Petri statue by
Room (Rikssalen) and Palace Church (Slottskyrkan). Architect Storkyrkan stands in front
Nicodemus Tessin the Younger’s ambition to make Stockholm of a tablet telling the
a leading European city in architectural terms was realized in cathedral’s history
since 1264.
1799 with the addition of the Obelisk.
Outer Courtyard

Axel Oxenstiernas
Palats (1653) is, for
Stockholm, an
unusual example of
the style known as
Roman Mannerism.
For 30 years,
Axel Oxenstierna
(1583–1654) himself
was a dominant
figure in Swedish S L O T T S B A C K E N
politics (see p41).

The Obelisk by Louis T R Å N G S U N D
Jean Desprez was
erected in 1799 to
thank the citizens
for supporting K Ö P M A N G A T A N
Gustav III’s Russian
war in 1788–90.
STORTORGET
Stock Exchange
(see p64)

5 . Storkyrkan
An impressive cathedral with
a late Gothic interior, it is full
of treasures from many
different eras.

6 Stortorget
This square is the heart of the
“city between the bridges”, with
0 metres 100
a well dating from 1778. It was
0 yards 100 the scene of the Stockholm
Bloodbath in 1520.
For hotels and restaurants in this area see pp284–5 and pp294–5

056-057_EW_Sweden.indd 56 11/07/16 11:48 am
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Starsight template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.2)
Date 23rd October 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm