The Kåkbrinken runestone

Bend down a little. On this corner is something almost everyone walks past: a Viking Age runestone, catalogued as U 53. It was carved around 1070-1100, a century and a half before Stockholm appears in any document.

1What the runes say

The inscription is damaged, but much of it can be read: 'Torsten and Frögunn had this stone raised in memory of… their son'. The son's name is lost. The decoration, a serpent coiled around itself, is in the so-called Urnes style, the last style of Viking art. The red of the runes is modern: like many Swedish stones, they are painted so they are easier to read.

2How did it get here?

Nobody knows. Runestones were usually raised beside roads and bridges, not in towns. Most likely it was brought here as building material and set into the wall. The antiquarian Johannes Bureus already described it in the 17th century. In 1937 it was removed, cleaned and put back in the same wall, more visible and better protected.

3A street with a bad reputation

Kåkbrinken takes its name from the kåk, the pillory that stood on Stortorget, where convicts were displayed and flogged. From 1602 it was topped by a copper statue holding a rod, known as 'Kopparmatte'. And according to the chronicles, the great fire of 1625, which devastated the south-west of the island, started in a brewhouse on this very slope.

4What to look for

• The serpent that forms the body of the inscription.
• The cannon serving as a corner guard.
• The slope of the street, which ran down to the old town wall.