Norrmalmstorg Plaza

Address: Norrmalmstorg, 111 46 Stockholm, Sweden

Hours: Public square - open 24/7

Admission: Free

Norrmalmstorg is a public square in the Norrmalm district of central Stockholm. It is most widely known as the site of the 1973 bank robbery and hostage crisis that led to the phrase “Stockholm syndrome.”

The square is a compact urban plaza framed by commercial and office buildings and functions as a local meeting point with cafes and shops on surrounding streets. It is primarily an urban space rather than a park and is often included on walking routes through central Stockholm.

In August 1973 a bank robbery at a Kreditbanken branch on the square escalated into a several-day hostage situation that drew national and international attention. Psychologists and journalists who studied the incident coined the phrase “Stockholm syndrome” to describe the hostages’ sympathetic responses to their captors.

Norrmalmstorg sits in central Stockholm’s Norrmalm district, within easy walking distance of other central landmarks and commercial streets in the city core.

• Hostage crisis: Site of the 1973 Kreditbanken robbery and hostage crisis that gave rise to the term “Stockholm syndrome.”

Norrmalmstorg is in central Stockholm (Norrmalm). Take the Stockholm metro (Tunnelbana) to Östermalmstorg station on the red line and walk a few minutes to the square, or arrive at T‑Centralen (Stockholm Central) and walk about 5-10 minutes. Numerous city buses and trams also serve stops on the nearby streets; the square is in the city centre so walking from central Stockholm locations is straightforward.

• Visit Norrmalmstorg early in the morning or late evening to see the square and surrounding façades with far fewer people and better photographic light.
• Use the Norrmalmstorg metro exit to come up directly onto the square and then explore the adjacent shopping streets and waterfront on foot to avoid the busier main roads.
• Step into the side streets and courtyards around the square-many visitors stay on the main plaza and miss the quieter cafés and lesser‑noticed architecture nearby.