Kindstugatan

Kindstugatan ( _sv. The Box on the Ear Street [historical, corrupted] ) is a street in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. Stretching west from Brända Tomten to become Tyska Brinken in its western end, it is crossed by Svartmangatan and Skomakargatan.

Origin of the name

The oldest version of the name — "kindhæstagatan" (1449), "Kindhästegatan" (1544) — contains the old Swedish word "kindhäst" (literally "cheek horse", meaning "box on the ear") but was gradually corrupted to the present name — "Kinnestugatun" (1667), "Kinstugugatan" (1709), "Kimstagatan" (1740), "Kimstugatan" (1814), "Kindstugatan" (1847). While the origin of this name is not known, it most likely refers to either a single renown fight or notorious fights giving the area a reputation.cite book
title = Stockholms gatunamn
edition = 2nd ed. | year = 1992
publisher = Kommittén för Stockholmsforskning
location = Stockholm | id = ISBN 91-7031-042-4
pages = 56 | chapter = Innerstaden: Gamla stan] As Medieval records knows to tell, curious and striking nick names was far from unusual, and it possible the street was named after a mansion owned by a man with this name.cite web
author = Fredrik Ulrik Wrangel | title = Stockholmiana I-IV
pages = 71 | publisher = Project Runeberg
date = 1912 | accessdate = 2007-02-03 | location = Stockholm
url = http://runeberg.org/wrangsto/0085.html]

During medieval times, the street was known as "tverru gatu" ("Cross Street") as it passed between the eastern city gate (where today is Köpmantorget) and one of the western gates once located where the street changes name to Tyska Brinken.cite book | language = Swedish
title = Gamla stan med Slottet och Riddarholmen | pages = 59-61
author = Béatrice Glase, Gösta Glase | chapter = Inre Stadsholmen
edition = 3rd ed. | year = 1988 | id = ISBN 91 7160 823 0
publisher = Bokförlaget Trevi | location = Stockholm]

A walk east to west

The grey building on Number 4, "Törnska huset" (The Törne House) has two portals; the lintel of the left is from the 17th century while the lower parts are from the 19th century, while the right one, today transformed into a window, used to be the entrance to the backyard. The cartouche on the building is carrying the message "Then Gudh wil hielpa kan ingen stielpa, Anno 1674, Olof Hansson Törne, Margareta Andersen." ("The one God wants to help nothing can overturn", e.g. "God helps those who let him"). The proprietor Törne made a fortune from scratch, became a city mayor, and was finally raised to peerage as "Törnflycht". His thirteen children further extended his success story; his sons relieved him as a mayor, became county governors, and even governor general, while his daughter Christina (1673-1752) became the wife of Carl Piper (1647-1716).cite web
url = http://runeberg.org/wrangsto/0330.html | pages = 278-280
title = Stockholmiana I-IV | author = Fredrik Ulrik Wrangel
publisher = Project Runeberg | location = Linköping
date = 1912 | accessdate = 2007-03-26]

The wall anchors on Number 8 reveals the building is from the 1657 which makes it slightly older than the doctor Johan von Hoorn (1662–1724) who lived here. He introduced obstetrics in Sweden, was a member of the "collegium medicum" (the physicians organization), and the physician in ordinary to Ulrika Eleonora the Elder (1656-1693). He published the book "The Well-Trained Swedish Midwife" ("Den Swenska wäl-öfwade JordGumman") in 1697 where he argued against the use of wet nurses (because they caused infections) and propagated for educating midwifes (something he did free of charge and which to his suggestion was regulated in 1711). He begun the development which by the early 20th century had made maternal mortality in Sweden a third that in the US.cite web
url = http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1448444#N0x949f6c0.0x9277b50
author = Ulf Högberg | title = The Decline in Maternal Mortality in Sweden
publisher = American Journal of Public Health 2004
date = 2004 | accessdate = 2007-03-26]

In the rose-colour building at Number 14 was the tavern "Fimmelstången" (The Thill, e.g. the wagon shaft) were the poet Lasse Lucidor (1638-1674) was stabbed to death. While Lucidor also wrote hymns and spiritual songs and renewed the genre, he is mostly remembered for his realistic portrayals of inebriety and his famous poem "Skulle Jag sörja då vore jag tokot" ("I would be a fool to grieve"); the six verses of which one is presented below together with a rough translation:At about 2 am following a boozing evening a night in August, a quarrel between the poet and a Lieutenant Arvid Christian Storm degenerated into a sword duel which ended in the death of the poet.cite web
url = http://kb.se/ENG/F1700/lucidor.htm
title = Johansson, Lars (kallad LUCIDOR, 1638-1674)
publisher = National Library of Sweden | author = Lillemor Lundström
date = | accessdate = 2007-03-26]

When the building on Number 13, on the corner to Köpmangatan, was built in 1768, a small space in front of it was deliberately left blank to allow space for horses carriages to turn. The building's rounded corner, the detailing in the façade and portico, and parts of the interior, are the best preserved example of the Rococo estates of the Bourgeoisie during that era.cite book
last = O:son Nordberg | first = Tord
title = Gamla stan i Stockholm - Kulturhistorisk beskrivning hus för hus (Vol. 1)
publisher = Stockholms Kommunalförvaltning
date = 1975 | location = Stockholm
pages = 115
language = Swedish]

The 19th century façade (at least in style) of Number 18, "Brasan" ("The Fire") conceals a medieval basement, present under most of the buildings in the neighbourhood, and the fact the building reached its present extent in the end of the 15th century. By the middle of the 16th century, it was occupied by the barber and surgeon Henrik Quant, who had a sandstone relief put on the wall facing Svartmangatan, except carrying his initials and the year 1558, also depicting a monk and a knight blowing on a fire (by many passers-by interpreted as a man and a woman tied to each other by the hell of marriage). The two figures have been interpreted as the Catholic saints Cosmas and Damian, patron saints of physicians and pharmacists and the scene is believed to retell the moment when they were tied to a stake because of their faith. However, the relief gave name to the property before being relocated to its present spot behind the street door of Number 18.cite web
url = http://www.sahlinska.se/pdf-filer/balthasar_salinus_soh.pdf
title = Hovkirurgen Balthasar Salinus och hans släktkrets | pages = 14-16
author = Olle Salin | publisher = Sahlinska släktföreningen
date = 2005(?) | accessdate = 2007-03-26]

References

See also

* List of streets and squares in Gamla stan

External links

* [http://www.hitta.se/SearchCombi.aspx?SearchType=4&UCSB%3aWflWhite=1a1b&UCSB%3aWflPink=4a&UCSB%3aTextBoxWho=&UCSB%3aTextBoxWhere=Kindstugatan hitta.se - Location map and virtual walk]