Stortorget, Sankt Petri Kyrka, Kungsparken, and Slottsparken

This morning, my first full day in Malmö, I took in a few sights recommended by my guidebooks and/or walking tour app: a public square, Stortorget; a church, Sankt. Petri Kyrka; and a couple of parks, Kungsparken and Slottsparken.

If you go back to my introductory Malmö post from yesterday, you might recognize the first two, or elements thereof, in the architecture and streetscape collages I posted three. The difference is that I now have names for them.

Stortorget

In yesterday’s entry in this journal, I mentioned that I walked through two, almost kitty-corner public squares. The largest of them is Stortorget, which creatively translates to Main Square in English.

On one side of Stortorget sits its most prominent building, Rådhuset. Conveniently, Rådhuset translates to City Hall. I said “conveniently” because if they instead named it, for example, Tävlingsbana, which Google Translate tells me means Race Track, people would have been confused. Rådhuset is indeed the old city hall.

The first floor of Rådhuset is constructed of largish light-grey bricks. Above that, the construction is red brick. There are statues and other ornamentation near the top, and decorative elements over the windows. My walking tour app tells me it was built between 1544 and 1547, but it’s had major renovations since then, getting a major makeover of its facade around 1860.

According to the app, the only remaining historical element is its vaulted cellars, which now house a restaurant. One of my guidebooks tells me that at one time, the cellars served as both a jail and an inn. If I understood it correctly, those were concurrent uses. If I were an inn guest back then, I’d be nervous that they might check me into the wrong section of the cellar. Then again, if I were a prisoner, I’d be hoping they would.

I mentioned yesterday that there’s a large equestrian statue in Stortorget (although I didn’t then know that it was Stortorget). The horse rider with a jaunty hat is King Karl X Gustav.

That is to say, of course, it is a statue of King Karl X Gustav, not the King himself on a horse statue. He’s been dead lo these many years. King Gustav conquered former Danish provinces, which included Malmö, and brought them into the Swedish Empire in 1658.

I also mentioned yesterday that Stortorget has a funky fountain. My walking tour app tells me that it sits in the same spot where there was a drinking water fountain for the city from the 16th to the 19th century. I’m sure it didn’t look as wild as the one that’s there now.

Sankt Petri Kyrka

Sankt Petri Kyrka is a couple of blocks closer to my hotel than Stortorget, but the interior didn’t open for about fifteen minutes when I walked by it, so I came back after visiting Stortorget. As you can probably guess, because of the similarity of the words, “Sankt Petri Kyrka” means “St. Peter’s Church.”

The church was built between 1319 and 1380 on the site of a former church.

Sankt Petri Kyrka is constructed of red brick and has a tower at its front. The tower collapsed in 1420 and again after that. I guess God didn’t like the first couple of towers. Or maybe the congregants didn’t pray hard enough. The current tower was built in the late 19th century.

Inside, the church has a high, vaulted ceiling. I’m not suggesting that it’s some sort of TARDIS, that’s taller on the inside than the outside. The outside is tall too, but there it’s called a roof rather than a ceiling. Try to keep up, people.

The interior walls and the ceiling are whitewashed, but some beautiful 3D, plaque-like decorations hang on some of the pillars.

The altarpiece is also tall. And it’s boldly decorated with bible scenes. My words can’t do it justice. (I struggle to describe a slice of whitebread; if it’s toasted, I’m at a total loss for descriptive words.) I’ll include a picture instead of trying to describe it.

The pulpit sits on one side of the nave, above the pews. Stairs behind it provide access for the preacher. I’ve seen this arrangement in other churches. I’ve often wondered about it. The pews all face the altar at the front of the church. So when the priest is preaching from the pulpit, how do the people in the pews in front of the pulpit, i.e., closer to the altar, see the priest while he’s pontificating? Do they get cricks in their neck or back?

I found an answer in Sankt Petri Kyrka. In the rows in front of the pulpit, there’s a fold-down bench that, when folded down, covers the kneeling board, or whatever those long pieces of wood for kneeling on in churches are called. (Do I look like someone who would know these things?) So, I imagine that while the priest is droning on, the congregants in those rows can put the bench down and sit facing the pulpit so they rest their eyes facing the preacher. If it were me, I’d rather the priest not see me nodding off. Then again, I’m never likely to be in a church while a priest is preaching, so it isn’t likely to ever be a problem for me.

At the base of the pulpit, there’s a statue of an old religious man with a staff. He’s slightly hunched over and he looks like he’s holding the pulpit up on his head. Poor guy.

At the back of Sankt Petri Kyrka, there’s a chapel. Its ceiling and three of its walls are covered with well-preserved Medieval frescoes. It’s very pretty.

Kungsparken and Slottsparken

Kungsparken and Slottsparken are, effectively, sister parks. Then again, they may be brother parks, mixed-sibling parks, or possibly cousin parks. I’ve never known how to identify the sex or gender of parks, let alone the familial relationships between them.

The point is that Kungsparken and Slottsparken are very similar parks separated by a canal. A pedestrian bridge spans the canal.

The parks are close to the Malmö Castle that I visited yesterday. I believe that at one time, a long time ago, the parks were part of the castle grounds.

I found Kungsparken to be a perfectly peaceful park, not huge, but far from tiny either. It has lots of trees, some flowers, a grass field, small glades, and plenty of benches for old people to sit and rest their legs. Other people are allowed to use them too, but that’s not as important, is it?

There’s also a lovely cast-iron fountain in Kungsparken. At least, I read it was a fountain. The base, which I imagine would normally be a small pool, was dry. A worker was in it, power-washing the floor. I did have evidence that it was indeed a fountain, though. It had bladder control problems. There was a continuous, slow trickle of water down one side of it when I was there.

As I said, Slottsparken is on the other side of a canal and over a pedestrian bridge from Kungsparken, and the two parks are similar. But Slottsparken has a pond surrounded by verdant vegetation. That is to say, it’s verdant this time of year, mid-June. But I can’t speak for, say, midwinter.

There’s also a, what I’d call, small lake. You might call it a large pond. I don’t have the foggiest idea what other people would call it.

There are more than eight billion people in the world. They can’t possibly all call it something different because there aren’t enough relevant words in existence. Most people would have to make up their own word. And, let’s face it, many of them are not all that creative.

One thing I can tell you is that I’m almost certain that the majority of them wouldn’t call it either a pond or a lake because English isn’t their mother tongue. But that’s neither here nor there. Or rather, it’s not here because only an infinitesimal fraction of the world’s population can fit here.

All of that nonsense aside, the combined Kungsparken and Slottsparken are a joy to walk through, sit in, people watch and take in the scenery.

Close to Kungsparken and Slottsparken, and even closer to the castle, is Slottsträdgården or, in English, The Palace Garden. It’s beautiful.

(At least, that’s how Google Translate translates it. However, if you ask it for a translation of just “slott,” it tells you that’s “castle.” Castle. Palace. Poe-tay-toe. Poe-tah-toe. Whatever.

You’re probably thinking that I’m going to tell you about a visit to the Slottsträdgården. I would have, but right beside Slottsträdgården is a lovely cafe. And it was lunchtime.

You know the old saying. “Lunch before beauty.”

What? You’ve never heard the old saying, “Lunch before beauty?” You don’t think it really is an old saying? Are you calling me a liar?!!

I’m old. I said it. So it’s an old saying. Now, shut up and let me enjoy my lunch. I’ll come back with a post about my afternoon later.