Page 32 - Hotel Tunnel's 100 Years of History

26, 1658, by which Denmark ceded to Sweden Scania, Halland, Blekinge and Bornholm, as well as Bohuslän and Trondhjem's land, and it was determined that Ulfeldt would regain all his property in Denmark and Norway, receive compensation for the damage suffered, etc."
King Karl Gustav had made a promise to him and he had become the ow- ner of the property occupied by him and his family since March, located on Adel-, Kansli- and Kyrkogatorna, which was to his liking in terms of size and space, and which he had purchased from radmansankan Mette Hans Svensens. At the same time, this move testified to his early decision to settle permanently under the Swedish rule, and it was combined with the large Skåne properties, which gave Ulfeldt a significant wealth to dis- pose of. The amount Ulfeldt paid for the property is not mentioned in the Malmo bytings dombok on 17 May 1658, when the property was offered for sale by auction by Mette Fechtells's son-in-law, merchant Hans Pe- dersen Ibsen, on behalf of his mother-in-law, to excellency count Ulfeldt, count of Solvesborg, Baron of "Gravelidt and Hersmanis" and lord of Herrevadskloster, Torup and Salto, as he was titled. The records show that Ulfeldt had already taken possession of the property before the auction and had become the owner of it not long after his arrival in Malmo. At the same time, Ulfeldt also bought the small stone house east of the pro- perty, which used to be the workshop of Christiern Pedersen (printer).
When Ulfeldt purchased the former Fechtell property (now Mayfair Hotel Tunneln), the old cellar had not been used as a wine and oil storage for some time and was only used as a storage cellar and mostly empty. It had been a long time since the city's citizens and craftsmen had sought
to stimulate their minds, worn out by the day's work and worries, and catch joy in laughter and fun in that place. By now, people had gathered there for decades to conduct business, sing and drink; and on some days, especially during the fairs, it had buzzed and bustled with people in the evenings under the dimly lit vaults lit by tallow candles, just like in a beehive. And there were city dwellers and farmers, soldiers and appren- tices, German merchants and Dutch weavers, English cloth merchants and French wine makers, Dutch ship captains and Norwegian fish traders and weather-beaten fishermen and sailors and God knows what kind of people who had met and refreshed themselves there year after year.
However, after the cellar was closed one day and the large barrels, ta- bles, and benches, and the drink-server were moved to another cellar, it had become empty, quiet, dark, and eerie down there. Only the rats had stayed and built their nests in the old debris and scraps left behind, and they were able to live undisturbed in the silent cellars. But upstairs in the
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