Siberia – a cold name for a hot neighborhood
Join us to Siberia in Stockholm! We explore a neighborhood full of life, history and the struggle for better housing.
Hardly any other place in Stockholm bears as frosty a nickname as Siberia. But despite associations with ice, cold and wilderness, here beats a neighborhood full of life, stories – and the struggle for better housing.
From well drinkers to housing fighters
The Siberia area, located in the borderland between Norrmalm and Vasastan, was known in the 17th century for its health spring – Surbrunnen. The iron-containing spring was said to help against both stomach ailments and "women's diseases", and attracted both locals and nobility to come and drink themselves healthy. Neighborhood names such as Surbrunnsgatan still remind us of the old well today.
But when the well dried up and industrialization took off, Siberia became something completely different: a place for workers, maids and overcrowding.
Varför just "Sibirien"?
The name came about in the latter part of the 19th century, when the area north of Odengatan was sparsely populated and lacked modern standards. In the vernacular, it began to be called "Siberia" – not only because of the cold in winter, but because it was far from the city center, like a kind of urban exile area.
New neighborhoods were quickly built here – often without proper infrastructure. It was noisy, poor and lively. But also the beginning of something new.
Class struggle, collectives and cultural pubs
På 1900-talet blev Sibirien centrum för både bostadskamp och kultur. Flera av husen här är resultatet av kooperativt byggande och föreningsliv. Det var här som Stockholms Arbetarebostadsförening gjorde verklighet av drömmen om sunda och billiga hem för arbetarfamiljer.
Idag är kvarter som Tulegatan, Claes på Hörnet och Roslagsgatan fyllda av kaféer, butiker, gallerier och restauranger med smal musik eller breda vinlistor. Historien viskar från väggarna, men pulsen är modern.
Ett kvarter i ständig förändring
Siberia is still not like other inner-city neighborhoods. It's a bit rougher, a bit greener, a bit freer. Cultural workers, officials and students live here side by side. Both Bellman, punks and housing activists have left their mark here.
And that's perhaps exactly why so many love it.
Tips from the Green Guide 🌿
🔍 Vill du upptäcka kvarteret med nya ögon? Följ med på min stadsvandring genom Sibirien – från brunnsvatten till bostadskamp. Vi besöker platser där historien lever vidare och där varje gathörn bär på en berättelse.
💡 Missa inte Claes på Hörnet – en gång i tiden värdshus, militärsjukhus och kolerasjukhus – idag en restaurang där du kan känna historiens vingslag till middagen.
📍Startpunkt: Surbrunnsgatan 6–8 / Monika Zetterlund-parken
⏳ Tid: Ca 90 minuter
🍂 Boka din plats direkt på www.dengronaguiden.se
