The Galgbacken in Hammarbyhöjden was a gallows hill and Stockholm's largest and last public execution site. The actual gallows were located in the northern part of Hammarbyhöjden on a small hill just south of Kalmgatan. Below the hill, at today's Solandergatan, was the execution site where stones mark the location: "It was here that Stockholm's last public execution took place."
Drawing from 1856, Source: Ulrika Sax "Den vita staden"
The gallows in Hammarbyhöjden are depicted on Gillis Schröder's map dated 1689, and on Georg Biurman's map from the 1750s, it is labeled 'Hammarbÿ' and 'Galgen.' Previously, the execution site had been located since the 1500s at Stigberget on Södermalm (read our story here
https://reveal.world/story/the-gallows-hill-with-the-time-ball), but in the 1600s, it was moved outside the city limits. The condemned were then taken to Galgbacken along Götha Road (now Götgatan), and they were said to have been given a last drink at Källaren Hamburg, which was located at the corner of Götgatan and Folkungagatan.
On January 16, 1771, the thief Jacob Guntlack, born in 1744, was executed by hanging on the gallows hill. Galgbacken was not only used for hangings. Another historically known individual who ended his life at Hammarby's Gallows Hill in 1792 was Jacob Johan Anckarström, the assassin of Gustav III (read more here
https://reveal.world/story/the-murder-castle ), who was executed by beheading. Others who lost their lives here were Baron von Görtz and the priest Peter Brenner on June 4, 1720. The actual executions were carried out by the city's executioner.
The last hanging took place in 1818, and the last public execution in Stockholm occurred in 1862 when the guardsman Pehr Viktor Göthe was beheaded as punishment for the rape and murder of shopkeeper Anna Sofia Forssberg. The execution itself was performed by Stockholm's official executioner, Johan Fredrik Hjort, and was witnessed by over 4,000 people.
It is said that construction workers found skeletal remains at Galgbacken when the residential area of Hammarbyhöjden was built in the 1930s, which they were forced to keep quiet about so as not to scare away the new tenants.
Until the mid-1980s, there was also a small cross street to Kalmgatan called 'Galgbacken' that led to the hill where Galgbacken once stood. From there, one has a panoramic view of the city.
Sources: Wikipedia
