Monday, March 30, 2020

Old memories of Stockholm

Using the lock down to clean out old files. Here are some post cards of my haunts from my youth in Stockholm, Sweden in the early 1970s. These are photos from postcards when my wife and I visited in the late-1980s.

The Royal Palace, 1984 by Leo Dobrowsky

Click to enlarge.


Stortorget, Gamla Stan, also by Leo Dobrowsky

Market Square, Old Town. The Non-denominational church we attended, run by Lutheran ministers from America, was in the northwest corner of the Square and this view is to the east. The old story I recall, without vouching for its accuracy, was that there was a hidden message in the tawny red building in the center. Apparently the royal family had had a period of dispute, there was a riot, citizens fired upon and killed. Followed by a period of repression when nothing was allowed to be said about the massacre. At some point in the following years, this red building was constructed on Stortorget and if you look closely, you can see each window is accented by some white blocks. Supposedly, if you count all the accent white blocks, it totals the number of citizens killed in the massacre which in turn was represented by the red paint. To be discounted by the fact that I heard the story when I was a 10-12 year old unfamiliar with the language.

Click to enlarge

Stortorget, Gamla Stan by David Bracken.

This is in winter and pretty much the view of the square from the entrance of our church. Around Christmas, the square was filled, not just with snow by with the traditional jul marknad - stalls selling traditional crafts, art, Christmas decorations, grill korvs (hot sausages), and the like. Loved the jul marknad.

Click to enlarge.

Storkyrkan and Borshuset (The Great Church and the Borse) Painting by David Bracken

Click to enlarge.

Österlånggatan by David Braken

Loved the road at the top of the triangle. It led towards Stortorget and was lined with art galleries, antique stores, antique book stores and the like. A visual feast for window shopping, nothing being open on Sundays.


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