Humlegården is Östermalm's central park, a large green space whose name — "the hop garden" — recalls its origins as a royal plantation for brewing in the 17th century. Today it is a relaxed neighbourhood park of broad lawns, mature trees, a playground, and gravel avenues, busy with locals, picnickers, and dog-walkers when the weather allows.
Its grandest tenant is the National Library of Sweden (Kungliga biblioteket), which holds a copy of everything published in the country and sits handsomely among the trees. A statue of the botanist Carl Linnaeus presides over the park. It is an easy place to rest between bouts of shopping and eating in the surrounding streets, and a pleasant green counterpoint to Östermalm's stone grandeur.