House of Nobility
The assembly house of the nobility in Stockholm is one of Sweden’s most beautiful 17th-century buildings. The reddish-brown façade with sandstone pilasters on a Dutch model carries a curved säteri roof. The building became a template for Swedish building in the age of greatness.
The House of Nobility Ordinance of 1626 gave the nobility an organisation of its own, and it needed a building for its meetings during the sessions of the Riksdag. The French architect Simon de la Vallée began designing the building in 1641, but he was killed in a quarrel the following year. The German Heinrich Wilhelm continued, and in 1653 the Dutchman Justus Vingboons was engaged and gave the main façade its appearance. Jean de la Vallée, Simon’s son, designed the curved roof. The building was completed in 1674. It was built of brick with sandstone details.
The two-storey façade is divided by Corinthian pilasters running through both storeys, with capitals and window surrounds in sandstone. The centre is marked by a pediment and the inscription Arte et Marte, by art and by war. The roof is a so-called säteri roof, a broken roof with a low upper storey, and Jean de la Vallée’s curved version became a national motif. Inside is the Hall of the Nobility, where the noble families have their coats of arms on the walls, about 2,300 of them. The ceiling of the hall was painted by David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl with an allegory of Svea.
The House of Nobility was the place where the noble estate deliberated until the abolition of the Riksdag of the Estates in 1866. The building is still owned by the nobility and is used for meetings and concerts. It became a model for Swedish manor houses and town palaces, and the säteri roof spread across the country. The House of Nobility shows how Dutch classicism came to Sweden and became part of the imagery of the Swedish great power.