Kåkbrinken

Kåkbrinken is a street in Gamla stan, the old town of , Sweden. Stretching from the western waterfront Munkbroleden to the central square Stortorget, it forms a parallel street to Yxsmedsgränd, Solgränd, and Bedoirsgränd, while being crossed by Munkbrogatan, Lilla Nygatan, Stora Nygatan, Västerlånggatan, and Prästgatan.

First mentioned in 1477, and in more detail in 1496, the street is called Kakbringkin, kak being old Swedish for modern Swedish kåk, today meaning "ramshackle house" or "prison", but at the time referring to a pillory placed on Stortorget. The pillory is first mentioned in connection to the so-called "Käpplinge murders" (Käpplingemorden) in the first half of the 15th century - the story of a group of German burghers who trapped a large number of prominent citizens in a hovel on Blasieholmen (at the time called Käpplinge) and burned them in. The Germans are said to have been led from the to the pillory. A copper statue of a man holding a birch in his right hand, placed on top of the pillory in 1602, was replaced in 1647 by a new one in bronze still preserved in the . The pillory was moved to Norrmalmstorg in 1776, and from there to Eriksbergsplan in 1810.

On a map dated 1733, the upper part of the street, between Stortorget and Västerlånggatan, is called Kåkbrinken, while the lower part is given several names:Kocks gränd (referring to the burgher Ragvald Kock); Jokum bagares, Bagare gränd, Schultens gränd, and Nedre Schult gränd (referring to the baker Joachim Schult); Söte Gudmunds gränd Söte gummans gränd ("Alley of the Sweet Old Woman", Gudmund is also a proper name), Lasse Månssons gränd, Björn Perssons gränd, Mäster Eriks gränd (referring to men with those names), and Påfvel murmästares gränd ("Alley of Masonry master Paul"). Before the names of the streets of Gamla stan were fixed in 1885, the name 'Kåkbrinken' was used for various parts of its present extension.

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