Humlegården is a major park in Östermalm in 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...

. It is the location of the Royal Library

Swedish Royal Library

The National Library of Sweden is the national library of Sweden. As such it collects and preserves all domestic printed and audio-visual materials in Swedish, as well as content with Swedish association published abroad. Being a research library, it also has major collections of literature in...

 and in the centre of the park is a large statue of Carl von Linné, better known as Linnaeus

Carolus Linnaeus

Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...

.

History

Humlegården was originally the Royal Fruit Garden, established by King Johan III

John III of Sweden

-Family:John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland , house of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica. She was the sister of king Sigismund II Augustus of Poland...

 in the 16th century. The name humle, meaning hop

Hop (plant)

Humulus, Hop, is a small genus of flowering plants native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The female flowers of H. lupulus are known as hops, and are used as a culinary flavoring and stabilizer, especially in the brewing of beer...

, indicates that hops were one of the major plants grown in the garden. Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark had a pavilion, Rotundan, built in the 1680s for her and her children. Already in the 17th century, parts of the park were opened to the public. In 1764, the park was opened for public recreation; the Stenborg Troupe

Stenborg Troupe

The Stenborg troupe was a Swedish Theatre Comedy troupe, active in Sweden and Finland in the 18th century. It was also called Stenborgska skådebanorna , Svenska komeditruppen and Svenska Comedien or Svenska Teatern...

 often performed here, and from 1773 in the theatre Humlegårdesteatern, which was opened in the former pavilion of the queen. There were, however, restrictions on who was allowed to be admitted. The park was completely opened to the public in 1869. Today the park is a popular recreational area for locals, hosting a small soccer ground, skateboard ramp, children's playground and lawns.