Barbara Ekenberg
Elsa Barbro "Barbara" Ekenberg (1717–25 May 1799), was the owner and manager of a coffeehouse in Stockholm in 1772–99. She was a figure in the work of Carl Michael Bellman, who dedicated to her one of his Fredman's Epistles, No. 9 Käraste Bröder Systrar och Vänner, with the dedication Till Gumman på Thermopolium Boreale och hennes jungfrur ('To the Old woman of the Thermopolium Boreale and her maidens').[1]
Barbara Ekenberg managed a coffeehouse after the death of her spouse, Carl Ekenberg, and made it a popular and well-frequented establishment in Gustavian era Stockholm. Her house was known for the innovation of banning smoking, which was a problem in the rest of the coffeehouses, where the smoke was often so thick as to cause breathing problems.[2] Bellman describes her as squinting and fat but her "maidens" as beautiful, and her house widely known for its music and merry atmosphere.
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Burman, Carina (2019). Bellman. Biografin [Bellman: The Biography] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag. pp. 165–167, 321. ISBN 978-9100141790.
- ^ Du Rietz, Anita, Kvinnors entreprenörskap: under 400 år, 1. uppl., Dialogos, Stockholm, 2013
- 1717 births
- 1799 deaths
- 18th-century Swedish businesspeople
- Gustavian era people
- Swedish women in business
- 18th-century businesswomen