Brända Tomten is a small, triangular public square

Public Square

Public Square is the central plaza in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It takes up four city blocks; Superior Avenue and Ontario Street cross through it. Cleveland's three tallest buildings, Key Tower, 200 Public Square and the Terminal Tower, face the square...

 in Gamla stan

Gamla stan

Gamla stan , until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna , is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. The surrounding islets Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen, and Strömsborg are officially part of, but not colloquially included in, Gamla stan...

, the old town in central Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

.

A few benches under a chestnut tree, the ivy

Ivy

Ivy, plural ivies is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and across central-southern Asia east to Japan and Taiwan.-Description:On level ground they...

 hanging from the surrounding façades makes the space a lush, relaxed spot. During summers, a network of storytellers gather around the benches to tell their stories both to enthusiasts and passers-by.

A building located on in the corner between the streets Kindstugatan and Själagårdsgatan destroyed by fire in 1728, was apparently not rebuilt for a few decades, which gave first the lot and then the open space their names. The turning radius of horse-drawn vehicle

Horse-drawn vehicle

A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load...

s made open spaces necessary, and the city architect Johan Eberhard Carlberg (1683–1773) in 1734 mentions having proposed a turning space on the location two years earlier, on a plan naming the space Eckmarcks afbrände tomt ("Ekmarck's burnt-out lot"). Though the space is not named on maps dated 1733 and 1770, the population register of 1760 names it Brända tomten.

Behind the yellow façade directly facing the square, are several merged properties hiding medieval remainders and records of tenants and proprietors back to the 16th century. Over the portal of 3, Själagårdsgatan is a cartouche

Cartouche (design)

A cartouche is an oval or oblong design with a slightly convex surface, typically edged with ornamental scrollwork. It is used to hold a painted or low relief design....

 carrying the inscription IAC BSD, the initials of an unknown couple who occupied the building in 1643. While the façade is from the 19th century, the basement is from the medieval era and the decorated ceiling is from the 17th century.

The famous Swedish author August Strindberg

August Strindberg

Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...

 wrote a chamber play

Chamber play

A chamber play is play of usually three acts which can be performed with a small cast and practically no sets or costumes in a small space. The form became popular in the early 20th century, with leading exponents being Max Reinhardt and August Strindberg., first it was adapted to cinema in 1920s,...

named 'Brända tomten', possibly inspired by the site, which was shot as a TV play in 1974.

External links

• hitta.se - Location map and virtual walk
• gamla-stan-stockholm.se - Brända tomten Images from the location.