Walls of Stockholm

13th-century walls , as depicted in a painting by Elias Brenner. Stockholm's oldest city wall was originally a fortification line built during the second half of the 13th century around Stadsholmen. This line of fortifications is thus intimately connected with the origin of Stockholm, founded by Birger Jarl around the year 1250. The old city wall's exact design and location is disputed and unknown. According to one common belief, they are remnants of the oldest city wall preserved in buildings where the wall once was. At the excavations and building surveys, however, such residues have never been found. Stockholm's oldest city walls may also have been a wooden construction, a type of palisade, which could well explain why it has not to date been found. while reinforcements of Mälarmuren was carried out during the first part of Gustav Vasa's reign (c. 1530-1540), when attacks from domestic insurgents via Mälaren was feared to come. Gustav Vasa had a fortress built of bricks, including those from St. Johanneskyrkan. In Vädersolstavlan from 1535 two south towers (Södertorn), which appear to have been semi-circular in shape, were reported. The inner (north) tower was re-erected in 1524 after it had collapsed the previous year. The outer (southern) tower originally had a roof hood. In 1637 the inner and outer Söderport were described, the latter to make way for the first lock, known as the Drottning Kristinas sluss (Queen Kristina's gate), which opened in 1642. painting. Around 1530 Gustav Vasa built two towers in Gråmunkeholmen's northwest side. The northern tower, named after Birger Jarl's Tower was built with an unusual brick format during the 1700s, the same kind of brick that was used in Santa Clara Monastery, which was described in 1527. The south tower is now part of Wrangel Palace. It has also been found that the bricks for the tower had been used before, and that the mortar residue is not derived from the tower construction. Birger Jarl's Tower should therefore have been built of bricks from the Clara convent, during a two-year period that began in the autumn of 1527. The Birger Jarl's Tower was built in the 1200s, but the myth began to spread in the 1700s. It was Stockholm's oldest building then. ==Pile drivers==

. Stockholm younger walls surrounded the city in full. It was above all the city's port areas which were open, in the west at Kornhamn and in the east at Kogghamn and Fisketorget. These were weak points in the city's defence. In the Middle Ages, therefore, pile drivers were added in Mälaren, Saltsjön and around the Stadsholmens respectively, southern and northern parts. The early pile drivers consisted of bars made of joined logs. In the Middle Ages this defense mechanism was simply called the "bommen". It was later expanded for it is mentioned in the Stockholm first surviving official book from 1419. There has been talk about the nyckelförvarare to the bars at Fisketorget, Korntorget, at Lejontornet and Draktornet. Pile drivers, as they appear in 16th-century illustrations, consisted of dual deep foundations connected with longitudinal and transverse logs. Outside Kornhamn better wood was required because of the sheer depth of water. During the 1500s, the estate purchased several hundred piles which were 24 metres long or more. Later, it was difficult to deal with so very long timbers, so they began to experiment with nails and forged joint rings. For the recovery of the piles in the bottom of the lake a special pile driver mounted on the city's barge was used. In winter it could crack down piles of ice. The pile drivers were entry openings were closed with bars at night. They functioned both as a tariff ceiling and border for the inner harbor area. In order to further make it more difficult for the enemy to reach Stadsholmens, ships were sunk inside the perimeter of the pile drivers during the Danes' siege in 1520. This defense works can be seen on many older designs, such as Hogenbergs 1500-century Civitates orbis terrarum engravings of Stockholm, the Blodbadsplanschen from 1524 and on the Vädersolstavlan from 1535. ==Demolition==

Stockholm city walls served their purpose for many centuries. No foreign or domestic forces succeeded in pushing Stockholm's defensive walls. The Danes, under Christian II of Denmark, were able to invade Stockholm on 7 September 1520 due to the city capitulation after the a series of blockades and intense pressure. During Gustav Vasa a national defense task was organized and the enemy would meet far outside the capital. He led in 1540 the construction of Vaxholm as a barrier against hostile fleets, while he turned the Gripsholm Castle and Uppsala Castle into real fortifications. During Gustav II Adolf's reign the transformation of the town from medieval to a modern European metropolis began. The city engaged in trade and shipping, and there was no invasion threat anymore. The city wall had had its day and it prevented even the city's expansion. The Mälarmuren was first described in 1630. In 1625 there was a fire disaster, called "stora vådelden" or the big wildfire, which wiped out the southwestern part of Stadsholmen and it was the start of the demolition of the city wall and its towers for Stockholm's first major street marketing. Saltsjömuren disappeared during the 1600s. The material was used both as building material for new houses and edifications, especially along the east side where the newly acquired land of Stockholm to the east was built: Skeppsbron. The demolition of the Stockholm young city wall was carried out so thoroughly that today it cannot be seen anywhere above ground level in Gamla stan. ==See also==