Svartmangatan (Swedish : (literally)) "Black Man Street") is a street in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Stretching south-east from the central square Stortorget to Södra Benickebrinken and Norra Benickebrinken leading to the eastern main street Österlånggatan, it is intercepted by Kindstugatan, Tyska Skolgränd, Tyska Brunnsplan, Själagårdsgatan, Tyska Stallplan, and Baggensgatan, while forming a parallel street to Skomakargatan and Prästgatan. The name refers to the Blackfriar monastery once located at the southern end of the street.
Swedish is a North Germanic language spoken natively by 9.6 million people, predominantly in Sweden, and in parts of Finland, where it has equal legal standing with Finnish. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and to some extent with Danish, although the degree of mutual intelligibility is largely dependent on the dialect and accent of the speaker. Both Norwegian and Danish are generally easier for Swedish speakers to read than to listen to because of difference in accent and tone when speaking. Swedish is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. It has the most speakers of the North Germanic languages.
A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable surface such as concrete, cobblestone or brick. Portions may also be smoothed with asphalt, embedded with rails, or otherwise prepared to accommodate non-pedestrian traffic.
Gamla stan, until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna, is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. Officially, but not colloquially, Gamla stan includes the surrounding islets Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen, and Strömsborg.
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Mentioned as early as 1437 and thus one of the oldest streets of Stockholm, Svartmangatan was once also one of its main streets, leading from the central square to the abbey of the Blackfriars. Until the 17th century it was called Svartmunka - or Svartbrödra - ("black monks/brothers"), and, because there are no records of the Dominican monks being referred to as "black men", the only reasonable explanation for the present name of the street is an attempt to create an analogy to Köpmangatan ("The Merchant's Street", or literally "buyer-man-street"), a street also leading from Stortorget. [1]
Köpmangatan is a street in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. A parallel street to Trädgårdsgatan, it stretches from the central square Stortorget to Köpmantorget, intercepted by Trädgårdstvärgränd, Skeppar Olofs Gränd, Peder Fredags Gränd, Själagårdsgatan, Staffan Sasses Gränd, Baggensgatan, and Bollhusgränd.
