Gustav Vasa builds castles

Gustav Vasa has Gripsholm Castle built and then Vadstena, and rebuilds Kalmar and Uppsala. At first they are fortresses for defence; his sons turn them into Renaissance palaces with symmetry and rich gables.

The Renaissance came to Sweden through German and Netherlandish master builders and became the style of the monarchy.

Gustav Vasa was elected king in 1523 in a country that was poor, divided and threatened by Denmark. In the years that followed the Crown confiscated the Church’s estates through the Reformation, and with the money he built up a strong central government. The castles were important instruments. They were to protect the realm against Danish attacks, but also against rebellion from within, such as the Dacke War in Småland in the 1540s. Gripsholm was built from 1537 on the site where Bo Jonsson Grip had had a castle in the 14th century, and brick and stone were taken partly from the Carthusian monastery in Mariefred, which had just been closed. The castle had a strategic position on Lake Mälaren and also became a centre for the king’s administration of the surrounding estates.

Gripsholm was built of brick with round cannon towers, and the German Henrik von Cöllen is named as master builder. Vadstena Castle was begun in 1545 on Lake Vättern, also as a fortified complex with moats and roundels. In Kalmar and Uppsala older castles were rebuilt and strengthened. It was Gustav Vasa’s sons, above all John III, who transformed the castles. John was deeply interested in architecture and employed master builders and stonemasons from Germany and the Netherlands, among them the Pahr family and Willem Boy. In Kalmar and Vadstena the castles were given symmetrical facades, ornate gables, portals and richly furnished royal apartments. Building continued well into the 17th century, and the gables of Vadstena were only completed then.

The Vasa castles became symbols of the new hereditary monarchy and of Sweden’s entry among the princely states of Europe. Several of them were later given new functions. Gripsholm was rebuilt and extended over several centuries, Gustav III had a theatre fitted out in one of the towers, and since the 1820s the castle has housed the Swedish National Portrait Gallery. In the 1890s the architect Fredrik Lilljekvist restored Gripsholm and removed later additions in order to recreate a Renaissance castle, which was criticised as being more a new work than preserved history. Kalmar Castle is today regarded as one of the best-preserved Renaissance castles in the Nordic countries. Uppsala Castle burned in 1702 and acquired its present appearance only in the 18th century.