Impressions of Stockholm: Architecture

One of the first things I noticed about Stockholm was that none of the buildings were more than 6 or 7 stories, at least in the downtown core.

A Google search turned up this, but it is located several miles from downtown.

In the area of the city we were in — Gamla Stan (literally "Old Town") Sodermalm, Ostermalm, Norrmalm, Djurgarden — the tallest buildings, by and large, were the churches.

Tyska Kyrkan (German Church)

Stora Kyrkan (Stockholm Cathedral)

Not much in the way of modern architecture. In the course of visiting several museums, it was mentioned several times that Stockholm's history goes back about 1000 years. Gamla Stan, the oldest part of the city, had a particularly medieval quality to its narrow streets and alleys.

As seen in the above photo, many of Gamla Stan's streets and paths are paved in brick, often in an appealing, fan-like pattern.

There was also this star in the middle of the central courtyard at the Royal Palace.

Sweden is known for its runestones, several of which we saw at the Historiska Museet (History Museum). I spotted this one at a corner in Gamla Stan.