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 Västerlånggatan.
The street's present name stems from the vicinity to the cathedral Storkyrkan.

History

Since the Middle Ages, the street and various sections of it appears under different names referring to various activities and prominent buildings.
In medieval times, Storkyrkobrinken was the main slope leading up to the village church on the top of Stadsholmen. The crossing street Västerlånggatan was the street passing outside the city wall on the city's western side, and there was a city gate which permitted Storkyrkobrinken to enter the city. In 1422 Storkyrkobrinken is referred to as sancte nicolauese port while the section outside the city wall appears as S:t Laurentii gränd in 1436 and a name it retained throughout the second half of that century. St Nicholas of Myra, patron saint of merchants and seamen, had a statue in the street to which people would offer before shipping expeditions, and a chaplain in the 1670s explains both the church, the street, and city were named after the saint until the 1570s, notwithstanding the statue was destroyed earlier that century.
A century later it was named after the school built in the street in 1431. In 1520 it is thus called Scolestue backen and in 1571 the section west of Västerlånggatan is named skolstuffue grenden. During the 16th century it appears as Kyrkobrinken in 1596 and as S. Niclaes Brinck in 1597.
During the so-called era of the Swedish Empire, attempts were made to rename various structures in the present old town to give them names more to the taste of the ambitions of the era. Storkyrkobrinken thus appears as Slottsgatan in 1637, while other names, such as Riddargatan and Riddarhusgatan, were used during the 17th century to associate the street with the prestigious Riddarhuset.
In 1650, however, it appears as Store kyrke brincken and the following year even as Svenska Kyrkobrinken in order to distinguish it from Tyska Brinken which still leads up to the German Church.
Lastly it appears as Scholstugu gr in 1733, before being named Storkyrko Brinken in 1771.