Swedish Palaces and Their Architecture

Sweden's royal palaces represent five periods. Vadstena Castle from the Vasa era is a fortress that became a Renaissance palace. Drottningholm Palace, begun in 1662, and the Royal Palace in Stockholm, which replaced Tre Kronor after the fire of 1697, are the Baroque of the Age of Greatness, by Tessin the Elder and Tessin the Younger. The Chinese Pavilion from the 1760s is the playful pleasure pavilion of the Rococo, Gustav III's Pavilion at Haga has the finest rooms of the Gustavian style, and Rosendal Palace on Djurgården represents Karl Johan's Empire style. Here they are in the order in which they were built, with what to look for.

Facts

The Vasa era: the fortress becomes a palace

Gustav Vasa built fortresses to defend the kingdom and keep the country in his grip. Vadstena Castle on Lake Vättern was begun in 1545 as a stronghold with round corner towers and ramparts. His sons transformed it into a Renaissance palace, with a long, symmetrical main range facing the water and gables with volutes and obelisks on a Dutch model. Master builders from the Netherlands and Germany brought the forms with them; the Renaissance thus came to Sweden from the north, not directly from Italy.

Vadstena Castle is counted together with Kalmar and Gripsholm as the most important of the Vasa castles, and it has best retained the exterior of a Renaissance castle. After the 17th century it was used as a storehouse, which meant that it was never rebuilt in later styles. The Regional State Archives have been housed here since 1899. The period is described in the history under the Vasa era.

The Age of Greatness: Drottningholm and the Royal Palace

When Sweden became a great power, its palaces were to show it. The Dowager Queen Hedvig Eleonora bought Lovön in 1661, the same year the old palace burned down, and had Nicodemus Tessin the Elder build a new one. Drottningholm Palace was begun in 1662 on French and Italian models, and when Tessin died in 1681 his son took over. Look for the staircase hall with its stucco, painted ceilings and statues, Hedvig Eleonora's state bedchamber with paintings by David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl, and the Baroque garden on an axis from the palace, where bronze sculptures by Adriaen de Vries stand, spoils of war from Prague and Denmark. The royal family has lived here since 1981.

On 7 May 1697 the medieval castle of Tre Kronor in Stockholm burned down. Nicodemus Tessin the Younger had already begun rebuilding it, and Charles XII commissioned him to build an entirely new one. The model for the Royal Palace in Stockholm was the Roman city palaces: a closed square around an inner courtyard, with four different façades. Construction stopped after the defeat at Poltava in 1709 and was resumed only in 1727, and the royal family was able to move in in 1754.

The south façade is designed as a triumphal arch, with the Hall of State and the Palace Church on either side; in the Hall of State stands Queen Christina's silver throne. Charles XI's Gallery is inspired by the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The palace is still the head of state's place of work and the most important Baroque building in Sweden. The period is described under the Age of Greatness. From the same period dates the nobility's assembly house, Riddarhuset, with the curved mansard roof that the guide to roof shapes explains.

The Rococo: the Chinese Pavilion and the Court Theatre

On Queen Louisa Ulrika's birthday in 1753, King Adolf Frederick surprised her with a Chinese pleasure pavilion in the park at Drottningholm, built in sections and assembled in secret. It was made of wood and could not withstand the climate, and in 1763–1769 it was replaced by today's Chinese Pavilion, designed by Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz. Curved roofs, façades in red, yellow and green, and an interior that mixes genuine Chinese lacquer panels, porcelain and wallpaper with French Rococo make it a European dream of China. The East India Company, founded in 1731, had made Chinese goods a luxury. The interior is also shown in the design section under The Chinese Pavilion.

Adelcrantz also designed the Court Theatre, built in 1764–1766 after the older theatre had burned down. The exterior is a plain, rendered box, but inside is an auditorium in gold and white and stage machinery that still changes the scenery by hand. The palace, the theatre, the Chinese Pavilion and the park became a World Heritage Site in 1991.

The Gustavian era and Karl Johan

Gustav III planned a large palace in Haga Park, but while the foundations were being laid a smaller pavilion was built to designs by Olof Tempelman. Gustav III's Pavilion, c. 1787–1792, is light and simple on the outside, with a low columned portico facing Brunnsviken. Inside, Louis Masreliez painted the walls with Pompeian ornament, and the mirrored salon facing the lake catches the light. The king was assassinated in 1792, and the large palace never became more than a ruin of foundation walls. The pavilion is the principal work of the Gustavian style, and its rooms appear in the design section under Gustav III's Pavilion; the style is described in the design guide to Gustavian style.

Charles XIV John, the former French marshal Bernadotte, had Rosendal Palace built on Djurgården in 1823–1827 as a summer retreat. Fredrik Blom, architect to the navy, designed a low and elegant house, and the interior is an almost fully preserved example of the Karl Johan style, the Swedish Empire, with mahogany furniture, draped textiles and painted ceilings. In the park stands the Rosendal Vase of porphyry from Älvdalen. The interior appears in the design section under Rosendal Palace.

How to tell the period of a palace

Round towers, moats and thick walls beneath a symmetrical façade point to the Vasa era: the fortress converted into a palace. A long, symmetrical façade with a central projection, an imposing staircase hall and a garden on an axis are the Baroque of the Age of Greatness. Curved forms, playful motifs and light colours belong to the Rococo; light, straight and calm façades with a columned portico to the Gustavian era; and a low house with austere classical details and dark mahogany inside to Karl Johan.

All the palaces are on the map below. Swedish history describes the periods, and how a house can be dated in general is explained in the guide to which style a house is.

What to look for

Exercise

Why was the Royal Palace in Stockholm built?