Monteliusvägen, Passage through Södermalm, Stockholm, Sweden
Monteliusvägen is a narrow walkway stretching about 416 meters (1,365 feet) along the steep cliffs on the northern side of Södermalm island. The paved path winds along the cliff edge and offers clear views of Stockholm's downtown with its tall buildings, church towers, city hall, and the water stretching into the distance.
Monteliusvägen was laid out on parkland set aside in a detailed plan that took legal force on 19 December 1977, when Stockholm decided to protect Mariaberget's historic buildings. Construction began about twenty years later to a revised design by landscape architect S-O Hagman, with Frank Lange as project leader and NCC as contractor; the path opened in August 1998 at a cost of 14 million kronor, twice the original budget. Nearby residents, notably journalist Ingemar Unge, had protested the long black-painted wooden railings and the loss of privacy.
The path is named after Oscar Montelius, an archaeologist and historian who became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1917 and was born and died in the Montelius House at S:t Paulsgatan 11. Some of the small terraces along the route are remnants of plots where tobacco was once grown.
The path begins in the west at Kattgränd, where stairs connect to Torkel Knutssonsgatan and Bastugatan, and runs east to Bastugatan 16 by the Cederborgska villan. Entrances lead into Ivar Los park and Olle Adolphsons park, with a stair connection to Timmermansgatan. The railings were renovated in 2017–2018.
The path crosses the site of a former windmill, probably Stora Pryssan; parts of its millstones are set into the nearby retaining walls. Some of the small terraces along the route are remnants of plots where tobacco was once grown.
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