Brantingtorget
Encyclopedia
Courtyard
A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. These areas in inns and public buildings were often the primary meeting places for some purposes, leading to the other meanings of court....
of the so called Kanslihusannexet ("Annex of the Chancellery"), acting as one of the public square
Public Square
Public Square is the central plaza in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It takes up four city blocks; Superior Avenue and Ontario Street cross through it. Cleveland's three tallest buildings, Key Tower, 200 Public Square and the Terminal Tower, face the square...
s in Gamla stan
Gamla stan
Gamla stan , until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna , is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. The surrounding islets Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen, and Strömsborg are officially part of, but not colloquially included in, Gamla stan...
, the old town in central Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
.
The square is named after the country's first democratically elected Prime Minister Hjalmar Branting
Hjalmar Branting
was a Swedish politician. He was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party , and Prime Minister during three separate periods . When Branting came to power in 1920, he was the first Social Democratic Prime Minister of Sweden...
(1860–1925), while it was designed together with the surrounding building by the architect Artur von Schmalensee (1900–1972) and built in 1945-1950. It is connected to surrounding streets by several passages, of which some are the remains of alleys once criss-crossing the block - Klockgjutargränd
Klockgjutargränd
Klockgjutargränd is a small alley in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. Passing under a low vault, it connects the street Västerlånggatan to the public square and courtyard Brantingtorget, forming a parallel street to Salviigränd and Kolmätargränd.Mentioned as Klåchgiuatre...
, Kolmätargränd
Kolmätargränd
Kolmätargränd is a small alley in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. Passing under a low vault it connects the street Västerlånggatan to the square and courtyard Brantingtorget forming a parallel street to Klockgjutargränd and Stenbastugränd.Mentioned as Kholmetare Grenden in...
, and Stenbastugränd
Stenbastugränd
Stenbastugränd is a small alley in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. Connecting Västerlånggatan to the square Brantingtorget, it forms a parallel street to Kolmätargränd and Storkyrkobrinken....
. The dramatic contrast between the narrow alleys and the relatively large round open space they hide, is astonishingly harmonic, the result of a compromise between the will of antiquaries wanting to preserve the medieval architecture and that of the department wanting to displace what it regarded as slum in disrepair. The post-WW2 classicism
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
of the place excited a mode of indignation among other contemporary architects, claiming modern democracy had dressed itself up in a disguise. Centred on the square is the bronze sculpture Morgon ("Morning"), a nude by Ivar Johnsson from 1962.