Djurgården is a large, lightly developed island just to the
side of downtown Stockholm. (For a sense
of scale, Djurgården is 689 acres while Norrmalm/downtown Stockholm is only 385
acres.) The island has been inhabited at
least since the late iron age as there are grave fields and evidence of farming
activity on the island dating from 550 to 1100AD. In 1286 King Magnus Ladulås acquired part of the island, and King Karl Knutsson acquired the rest of the island from the Klara Cloister
in the 1400’s. The island is still in
the possession of the crown today.
During the 14- and 1500’s, the crown
mainly used the island to graze stock, but in 1579 King Johan II founded a
hunting ground on the island. The
hunting ground was stocked with moose, reindeer, and elk. In the early 1600’s, Queen Kristina visited
the island to watch ballet performances, to visit her lion (booty from when
Sweden plundered Prague in 1648), and to gaze at fireworks. King Gustav III opened the island in the late
1700’s for public amusement. Since that time, the island has developed
into a national city park with green, leafy forest paths and meadows with herds of grazing royal sheep. The island
also houses some of Stockholm’s foremost museums including the Vasa Museum and
Skansen as well as some of the city’s less noble diversions such as an
amusement park and a casino.
While most of the island has always
been a leafy retreat from the city, the northwest shore has been the site of
hard, heavy labor since 1633 when a pitch operation was founded on Beckholmen,
or Pitch Island, just off the coast of Djurgården. Soon after, in 1720, Galärvarvet or the Galley
Shipyard was founded on Djurgården’s shore a bit
north of Beckholmen. Another shipyard,
Djurgårdsvarvet, was founded in 1735 on the shore close to Beckholmen. Most interesting for me, however, is that a
neighborhood housing shipyard workers and their families as well as all the
necessary derivative businesses (a bakery, an inn, etc.) organically grew near
the shipyard. That neighborhood still
exists today.
Before I delve into the neighborhood, I’d like to explain a
little about the industrial activity that supported it.
Beckholmen (Pitch
Island): (map 1)
At the time that the pitch operation
was founded on Beckholmen, pitch (boiled from tar) was Stockholm’s foremost
export good and Sweden had the monopoly on pitch within the Hansa League (the
trading organization that ruled the Baltic Sea during the middle ages). In 1690, a two-story log cabin was built for
the overseer. While a log cabin sounds
rustic, it was actually the norm as just about any building in non-downtown
Stockholm was a log cabin at this time.
Today, most of the surviving log cabins have been covered in a
protective layer of wooden siding to prevent the structural timbers from
decaying; the overseer’s house is no exception.
 |
| the protrusions at the corners show where the log timbers jut beyond where they interlock |
1809 proved to be a death-blow to
Sweden’s pitch industry when Sweden lost Finland to Russia because one of pitch’s
required raw ingredients could only be sourced in Finland. The pitch operation on Beckholmen was forced
to close. However, the mid-1800’s saw
the number of steamships rise in the Stockholm Archipelago. There was a need for a shipyard to repair the
boats, so Beckholmen was reallocated for this purpose and two dry docks were
dug into the island. Steam pumps pumped
out the water once the lock-like doors closed behind the ships.
 |
| the owners of several historic boats are simultaneously using the dry dock |
By the 1870’s, the log cabin was no
longer posh enough to house the dock master and architect Axel Kumlien was
commissioned to design a new dock master’s house. This new house is much more formal in style
and it sits on the highest point of the island, commanding a view over the
dockyard and out to the water.
A new and longer dry dock was added in
1923 in order to service the navy’s cruisers and armored ships. The new dry dock was 197 meters long—more
than two football fields! Business for
the shipyard slowly declined over the 20th century, and it went
bankrupt in 1991. It more or less sat
idle until recently when the dry docks began to be hired out to private
individuals who need to do work on their privately owned, historic boats. These days, the boats are much shorter, so
several boats float into the dry dock to be worked on at the same time. The shipyard now assists the repair and
restoration of over 100 boats per year.
The island was historically private
with little or no public access. This
changed recently, however, when the city removed, remediated, and replaced
100,000 metric tons of earth on the island to remove all the poisenous traces
of pitch boiling from the island. The
island is now part of the Djurgården park and a public path leads
visitors around the island.
Galärvarvet
(Galley Shipyard): (map 2)
Closer to Stockholm’s mainland, the
Galley Shipyard began in 1720 as a place to pull galley ships on shore for
winter storage in special sheds. The
shoreline was filled in so that 30 ships could be docked and stored at the same
time. In the 1800’s, the shipyard
transitioned to being a worksite for repairing and maintaining Swedish navy
ships. The navy continued to use the
site into the 20th century and 1200 employees were stationed at the
shipyard during the Second World War.
However, needs changed and the shipyard closed in 1969.
Most of the site is now a public park,
although large, historical boats still line the quayside. The Vasa Museum lies over one of the shipyard’s
dry docks—the boat was floated in, the water was pumped out, and the building
was completed around the beautifully restored ship.
 |
| the Vasa Museum |
Other than the docked boats, there is
little trace of the area’s previous use.
However, a small nearby cemetery contains graves dating back to the 1700’s. Those resting in the cemetery include boatswains,
carpenters, journeymen, gun smiths, horn players, skippers, privates, officers,
admirals, generals, government ministers, governors and priests. In 1963, ten bodies that came up out of the
water inside the Vasa ship were also buried here.
Djurgårdvarvet (Djurgård’s
Shipyard): (map 3)
Further along the island’s coast and just across from
Beckholmen, Djurgård’s Shipyard was founded in 1735. Hundreds of boats were built here including Amphion, King Gustav III’s headquarters
boat in the war over Finland against Russia.
In addition to war boats, cargo transport brigs, schooners, sloops, and
galleys were built here, including boats for the Swedish East Indies Company.
 |
| The Gothenborg III was not built at Djurgård’s Shipyard but it is an example of the type of East Indies cargo ship that the shipyard constructed. |
However, ships outgrew the shipyard’s capacity and it was
closed in 1862. The area was bought by
the city and was used for storage and as a wintering ground for the city’s
harbor ferries and archipelago steamships.
Part of the land became the amusement park Gröna Lund,
but the rest of
the area became more and more dilapidated and abandoned until the 1980’s when
there were plans to tear down the area and build 9-story apartments at the
water’s edge. The financial crisis
blocked the apartment plans and after sitting idle for 10 or 15 years, the area
is now being renovated. It, with the
Beckholm dry docks, is a center for the restoration of historical wooden
boats.
 |
| renovation not quite complete... |
Djurgårdsstaden (Djurgård’s
City): (map 4)
 |
| The buildings along Breda Gatan (Wide Street) were mostly built in the early 1800's. During the summer, the street has a more "country" feel with the roses blooming along the foundations. |
The neighborhood was originally called Båtsmansstaden, or
Boat Man’s City, when Queen Kristina built a small hospital with 14 small
recovery cottages for sick and injured boatmen.
I don’t believe that any of these buildings survive, but the area
continued to be occupied by boatmen as it later developed into housing for
those working at the Djurgård’s Shipyard in the 1700’s. This shipyard housing is what one can wander
through today.
Here are some of the neighborhood’s many historical
buildings and street scenes:
 |
|
This little cabin was built in 1749 and has a gambrel roof toward one side and a gable roof toward the other side. There is a small peep-hole in the window shutter allowing a resident to see what's happening in the square.
|
 |
| Built in 1755 to house shipyard workers. |
 |
| These cabins were built in the mid 1700's by/ for shipyard carpenters. |
 |
| This more grandiose building was built in the 1750's to house shipyard offices as well as office workers. While most of the buildings in the neighborhood were built by the workers for themselves and are therefore quite modest, this building was built by the shipyard company and is therefore much more stately. |
 |
| This cabin was built in 1770 by/for the local gravedigger. |
 |
|
This large building started out as two simple one-story log cabins. The cabins were given an attic level and connected together in the beginning of 1800’s to serve as the inn.
|
 |
| I don't know the history of this building but it's my favorite in the neighborhood. I suspect that it is from the mid-1700's. I like how the roof changes from front to back--the front hip shape gives the cabin a more up-to-date look at the front door while the back facade remains as simple as possible. |
 |
| I found it interesting that the buildings along Breda Gatan (Wide Street) have ground floors that are only a couple of inches above street level. The neighborhood is perched upon a cliff and therefore has no danger of flooding from the sea. However, buildings on a plinth are usually experienced as being more impressive than lower buildings. Perhaps the nearly-level transition between street and indoors was meant to facilitate commerce. |
There are 200 residents in the area today; in the mid-1700’s
the number was probably more like 600.
The historical buildings are now mostly owned by the city and rented
out. I can only imagine that it takes 20
or more years in the housing queue to get one of these charming apartments! A few of the buildings are privately owned,
but they are expensive: a 1076 sq ft apartment is currently for sale for 9.9 million
Swedish kronor or $1.5 million!
Sources:
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A4rvarvet
Amphion photos: http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Amphion
Gothenborg III photo:
http://www.landskronadirekt.com/arkivet/nyheter/0836.htm
Amphion photos: http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Amphion
Gothenborg III photo:
http://www.landskronadirekt.com/arkivet/nyheter/0836.htm
