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Stora Gråmunkegränd (Swedish: Great Greyfriar's Alley) is an alley in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. Stretching west from Västerlånggatan down to Munkbron and Munkbroleden, it is crossed by Stora Nygatan, and forms a parallel street to Storkyrkobrinken and Helga Lekamens Gränd.
Contents
- Map of Stora GrC3A5munkegrC3A4nd 111 27 Stockholm Sweden
- Stora gr munkegr nd gamla stan
- History
- References
Map of Stora Gr%C3%A5munkegr%C3%A4nd, 111 27 Stockholm, Sweden
Stora gr munkegr nd gamla stan
History
The alley is named after the defensive tower Gråmunketornet ("Greyfriar's Tower") located in the city wall which used to pass along the eastern side of today's Västerlånggatan, in its turned named after the Greyfriars abbey on Riddarholmen, at the time called Gråmunkeholmen ("Greyfriar's Islet"). It appears in historical records as grabroder strate ("grey brother's street") in 1420 and gramunka grendenne ("[the] grey monk's alley") in 1456.
The first element, however, doesn't appear until 1728 when the alley south of it (Helga Lekamens Gränd) was being referred as Lilla Gråmnukegränd ("Smaller Greyfriars Alley"), and the part of the alley west of Lilla Nygatan was named Schaleri Gränd after the doctor Peter Schallerus Gripenflycht who owned the property in the western end. The name have been used for the entire extent of the alley since 1885.
On number 5, is a flat with preserved wall paintings and a coffered ceiling from 1580. While sparsely used by the Stockholm Beauty Council since the city took it over in 1973, as of 2006 the flat will hopefully be made available to the general public.