page_title: Österlånggatan
section_title: Köpmanbrinken
hierarchical_section_title: Österlånggatan / A walk north to south / Köpmanbrinken
caption_attribution_description: w:Köpmanbrinken, Gamla stan, Stockholm.
context_page_description: Österlånggatan is a street in Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Stretching southward from Slottsbacken to Järntorget, it forms a parallel street to Baggensgatan and Skeppsbron. Major sights include the statue of Saint George and the Dragon on Köpmanbrinken and the restaurant Den Gyldene Freden on number 51, established in 1722 and mentioned in Guinness Book of Records as one of the oldest with an unaltered interior.
context_section_description: Köpmanbrinken ("Merchant's Slope") is leading up to Köpmantorget, its railing featuring the statue of Saint George and the Dragon, a copy from 1912 of the original located in the Stockholm Cathedral.  Where the statue is today there used to be an entire block triangular in shape.  One of the three buildings it contained was used as a synagogue for a few years in the late 18th century, but as this collapsed on May 1, 1821, the entire block was demolished.  Buildings collapsed somewhat frequently in the area as the underlying soil, composed entirely of land filling, slid eastward and pulled the layers of gravel under the buildings in the process.  Also in 1821, a wall in 8 Köpmanbrinken, reported as "looking rather trustworthy", was however transformed into a ruin in a snap, flying debris smashing windows on the opposite side of the street.
  On the opposite side, on either side of Number 17, are two relatively new alleys: Nygränd ("New Alley"), which notwithstanding the name is from the 16th century, and Brunnsgränd ("Well's Alley"), which notwithstanding the name contains no well.  The explanation for this is former location of the biggest market square in Stockholm between these two alleys, called Fisketorget ("Fisher's Square").  It stretched down from the city gate located where Köpmantorget is today, to the waterfront between 1413 and around 1520.  During the 14th century it was even named Fiskestrand ("Fishery Shore") and stretched north to Skeppar Karls Gränd.  The well beneath the statue of Saint George (both created in 1912) is often erroneously associated with Brunnsgränd, but the well which gave the alley its name is found inside the block north of it.
  The present building on Number 17 is the design of the architect Carl Malmström.  Built in 1902 and inspired by the building on 10 Skeppsbron (possibly by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger), it featured shops on street level, flanked by pilasters topped by volutes, offices on the second floor behind the low rounded arches and the bar windows, with dwellings above and storage below.  Originally, the entrance was flanked by two minor doors facing the street (the door still is still there), and was slightly more elaborated.  The green colour of the building would have pleased neither of the two architects, but obviously was to the taste of today's catering business, judging from the restaurant residing there - Pontus in the Green House.
caption: Northern slope of Köpmanbrinken
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