Norrmalmstorg (Stockholm) | square, bus stop, public toilet, bicycle/bike rental/sharing

 square, bus stop, public toilet, bicycle/bike rental/sharing

Up until the mid 19th century, Norrmalmstorg square was known as “Packhustorget” (“The Packing House Square”), a rough and smelly place next to a swamp, named Katthavet (“The Cat Sea”), where fishermen came to sell their daily catch and where criminals and other unfortunates were punished in public. Around the middle of the century, the Katthavet swamp was filled in and the adjacent Berzelii Park created. In the new city plan of 1866, designed by Albert Lindhagen, “The Haussmann of Stockholm”, the square was renamed Norrmalmstorg and turned into Stockholm’s most elegant and representative focal point, forming a grandiose axis together with the shopping boulevard Hamngatan, which branches off Norrmalmstorg, nearby Nybroplan, in front of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, and the splendid Strandvägen seafront esplanade, Stockholm’s most prestigious address.
Grouped around Norrmalmstorg are Stockholm’s most famous and historic shops, restaurants, theaters, auction houses, museums, galleries, business headquarters and cultural attractions. In the classic Swedish version of the Monopoly game, Norrmalmstorg is the most expensive spot (and you know what happens when you build a hotel on that spot…).