page_title: Historical fires of Stockholm
section_title: Fires in the 1600s
hierarchical_section_title: Historical fires of Stockholm / Fires in the 1600s
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: "Der Große Brand deß Koniglichen Schloßes in Stockholm"
context_page_description: Stockholm has largely escaped looting and natural disasters, but the city's major scourges have been fires, which in the worst cases have wiped out entire neighborhoods. The population of Stockholm has historically lived in constant fear of the outbreak of fire, because the risk of fires in the 16th- and 17th-century Swedish cities was great. The question was not whether it would burn, but when.
  Each citizen remained on night watch well into the 19th century. The worst fire in the history of Stockholm was the fire of Clara in 1751, which evolved into a firestorm spreading from Riddarfjärden to Södermalm.
  Only through fire retardant buildings, organized fire services, better fire fighting equipment, and running water from fire hydrants, could fires be reduced and maintained. However, aside from the misery and damage that large fires caused in Stockholm, there were also benefits, such as the planning of new districts, neighborhoods, and streets.
context_section_description: Among the first fires that broke out on a large scale prior to the city plan changes was the Great Fire in 1625 that devastated the southwestern parts of Stadsholmen. The fire began in the evening of September 1, 1625, in a house along the bottom at Kåkbrinken and extended all the way up to the West Long Street stone house, and for some time the German church was under threat. The fire lasted three days and destroyed a fifth of the infrastructure of Stockholm at the time.
  The fire resulted in the building of a new city over the burnt areas.  Here was built the city's first main street, called Great King Street (now Stora Nygatan). The transformation is considered to be Stockholm's first settlement. Another consequence of the fire disaster was a tightening of the fire prevention measures, in which the fire chief and master of rotation would inspect chimneys and brädtak, and ensure that the houses had the mandatory fire fighting equipment.
  After a fire in 1642 that devastated the eastern part of Brunkebergsåsen and destroyed 247 houses, the city planned part of Government Street to become the main street. It was the beginning of street regulation during Clas Larsson Fleming in the neighborhood that is now called Östermalm. To help prevent the spread of fire, stringent rules were created to put pressure on landowners to build stone houses, rather than the more flammable wooden ones.
  Another major fire during the 1600s was the Tre Kronor fire on May 7, 1697, during which the castle was completely destroyed, except for the newly constructed north wing. Most of Sweden's former national archives and the royal library were destroyed. Afterwards, the palace architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger designed a brand new Royal Palace.
caption: Palace fire in 1697
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