Name Lovisa Plat | ||
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Lovisa von Plat (died 1785), also known under the names Platskan (The Plat woman) and Moster von Platen (Aunt von Platen) was a Swedish brothel owner and procurer, active in Stockholm from the 1740s until her death. She belonged to the most successful of her trade and became a known figure of her time, mentioned in memoirs, diaries and literature.
Life
Lovisa von Plat was the professional name used by Helena Fahlberg. She married a grenadier sergeant Cretsmer in 1757. Lovisa von Plat was apparently well established as a procurer already in the 1740s. In 1747, she was pointed out as a procurer by the prostitute Helena Bohman, who had been arrested for prostitution and had at one point been employed in her brothel. von Plat, however, went free despite evidence being presented that she owned a brothel.
During the reign of Gustav III of Sweden, she owned and operated the perhaps most successful and famous brothel in Sweden, with clients among the authorities: the most noted rival being the Ahlströms jungfrubur (The Ahlström Maiden cage) owned by former sea captain Magnus Ahlström. Her brothel was referred to as Platskans jungfrubur (The Plat Woman's Maiden Cage).
The poet Johan Henrik Kellgren claimed in a libelous poem from 1778 that Carl Michael Bellman had learned to make love in the Plat Woman's Maiden Cage. She is portrayed several times in the songs of Bellman, as were many other members of the contemporary criminal world of Stockholm. After her death, Bellman wrote a poem over her death; "Platskans överfart på Styx i Oktober 1785" (The passing of The River Styx by the Plat Woman in October 1785).