Spektens Gränd

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Spektens Gränd in March 2007. View facing east with the Stockholm Stock Exchange Building in the background.

Cast iron decorations in the easternmost of the two courtyards in the alley.

Spektens Gränd (Swedish: "Alley of Spekten") is an alley in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. With its location just west of church Storkyrkan, it connects the streets Trångsund and Prästgatan. It is a parallel street to Storkyrkobrinken, Ankargränd, Solgränd and Kåkbrinken.

The alley was created when the block between Ankargränd and Kåkbrinken was split in two in 1675. One of the houses built at the occasion was sold to the merchant Gert Specht in 1685, from whom the alley got its unintelligible name.^[1] A Gert Specht said to be a resident on Norrmalm is also mentioned in the reccords in 1594, probably the father or grandfather of the former.^[2]

In the alley are two indeed small courtyards. One featuring cast iron decorations, including a lion head, a fence decorated with the star of David, and a small gate flanked by two lampposts The other has a portal carrying the inscription ISSH MDP 1667.^[3]

[edit] References

^ (1992) "Innerstaden: Gamla stan", Stockholms gatunamn, 2nd ed., Stockholm: Kommittén för Stockholmsforskning, 71. ISBN 91-7031-042-4.
^ Wrangel, Fredrik Ulrik (1912). Stockholmiana I-IV. Projekt Runeberg. Retrieved on 2007-01-17.
^ Béatrice Glase, Gösta Glase (1988). "Inre Stadsholmen", Gamla stan med Slottet och Riddarholmen, 3rd ed. (in Swedish), Stockholm: Bokförlaget Trevi, 56. ISBN 91 7160 823 0.