How quickly fortunes change. Right here in Sabbatsberg, the legacy of a successful tavern owner turned into a refuge for the city’s less fortunate. Sabbatsberg, named after Valentin Sabbath, a man of hospitality in the early 1700s. Sabbath, who also owned the well-known Rostock tavern in Gamla Stan, found himself drawn to this plot of land, once part of Rörstrand Palace. He envisioned a place for weary travelers and locals to find comfort and good cheer. Sadly, after Sabbath’s death in 1720, the property changed hands several times. A series of transactions that would forever alter the fate of Sabbatsberg.
In 1751, Sabbatsberg was purchased at an auction by Stockholm’s poorhouse delegates. Sabbath’s tavern, a symbol of merriment and good living, was transformed into a church in 1761, its very walls bearing witness to the changing times. This was the start of Sabbatsberg’s new identity. It became a refuge for the city’s poor and a place where healing waters flowed. For you see, in 1734, a health spring was discovered on the grounds, drawing people seeking cures for their ailments. To accommodate these visitors, a new guesthouse called Katarinahuset was constructed in 1767, right after the old tavern had been converted into a church. Even today, echoes of this era linger in neighborhood names like “Gråtlunken” (The Weeping Alley), “Hälsbrunnen” (The Health Spring), and “Brunnsläkaren” (The Spa Doctor).
Sabbatsberg, once a place of lively gatherings and warm hospitality, had become a place for those in need, a testament to the ever-turning wheel of fortune. It reminds us that every corner of the city carries layers of stories, each whispering of the past and shaping the present.