Baggensgatan 27, Historical residential building in Gamla stan, Stockholm, Sweden.
Baggensgatan 27 is probably Stockholm's oldest surviving dwelling house, with entrances from both Baggensgatan and Österlånggatan. Its lower storey has high brick vaults resting on granite walls, likely from the 1590s, and the masonry is probably from the same period. The iron anchors on the facade are of the oldest type, cast in one piece, and above the Baggensgatan portal is a carved stone coat of arms with the inscription "Avxilivm nostrum a Domino".
The house is probably the one King Magnus Eriksson had built in 1336 for the Knights Hospitaller as a hostel for pilgrims. Gertrud Hansdotter bequeathed it to Vadstena Abbey in 1467; in 1578 it passed to the Scottish nobleman Anders Keith. King Sigismund bought it in 1594 and had Catholic services held there, giving rise to the name Papistekyrkan.
The facade displays the coat of arms of Scotch Anders Keith, who resided in the building while serving King John III of Sweden.
The house stands on Baggensgatan, with a second front toward Österlånggatan that once served as a water gate, since the town wall may have run right behind the building. Look above the Baggensgatan portal for the carved coat of arms with the inscription "Avxilivm nostrum a Domino" and the year 1598, moved here from the Österlånggatan gate.
Above the Baggensgatan portal hangs a carved stone coat of arms of Anders Keith and Elisabeth Birgersdotter Grip, inscribed "Avxilivm nostrum a Domino" (Our help is from God). The stone, dated 1598, was moved here from the Österlånggatan gate and may have been cut after Keith's death, when the house served as a Catholic chapel.
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