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#22
01-31-2003, 03:45 PM
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History
The Royal Palace of Stockholm is the sovereign's official residence. Their Majesties the King and Queen and the Duchess of Halland have their offices here. The administration of the Royal Court is located here, and this too is the setting for most of the official receptions given by the Head of State. The history of the Royal Palace goes back many centuries. Extensive excavations of the surrounding area (Helgeandsholmen) between 1978 and 1980 revealed traces of very ancient timber structures, dateable to the end of the 10th century. These finds have been variously interpreted. Some take them as proof that a fortress already existed on Helgeandsholmen at the end of the 10th century, while a more circumspect theory is that there were barriers of piling in the shipping lane from Saltsjön ("Salt Sea") into Lake Mälaren. These barriers may have been guarded, but the question is whether they had a full garrison of soldiers or just a single watchman. But of one thing we can be sure: the shipping lane now called Norrström ("North Stream") was of sufficient strategic importance for somebody to put barriers across it a thousand or so years ago. Rimkrönikan, the Swedish medieval rhyming chronicle, states that in the mid-13th century Birger Jarl had a fortress built where the Royal Palace now stands. According to the latest research, this tradition is in all probability correct. The fortress consisted of two parts: the keep had a large, walled bailey. The thick walls were built at first of granite rubble, but as they gained height, brick was used instead. The change of materials suggests that this building carried a great deal of prestige, brick being a much more costly building material than stone. It was probably in the reign of King Magnus Eriksson, in the mid-14th century, that the castle came to be known as Three Crowns. King Magnus at the time held sway over three kingdoms - Sweden, Norway and Skåne - and this is what the Three Crowns device is taken to stand for. Much of the north wing of the Royal Palace as we know it today has survived from the Castle of Three Crowns. The Baroque façade conceals medieval towers with loopholes. In 1521 Gustav Vasa seceded from the 1397 Union of Kalmar between Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. This marked the beginning of the modern nation state of Sweden, and the Castle of Three Crowns became the principal residence of the monarchy. Under the Vasa monarchs, however, the medieval fortress was turned into a magnificent Renaissance Palace, partly under the direction of the Dutch architect Willem Boy. During the "Great Power Period", after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, extensive alterations were planned for the Palace, in keeping with Sweden's new-found status. Work did not actually begin, however, until 1692, under the direction of the Palace Architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger. It was then that the north wing of the Palace, overlooking Norrbro, acquired the stern Roman Baroque exterior we see today. A disastrous fire on May 7, 1697 destroyed practically all of the old Palace, but the newly altered north wing was left more or less unscathed. Three weeks after the fire, Tessin submitted drawings for the new Palace to the Swedish government. The plan was for the new Palace to be built in about five years. In the event, the royal family was not able to move back in until 1754, nearly sixty years after the fire. In spite of the new Palace taking such a long time to build, the 1697 drawings were implicitly complied with. Work on the interiors began in the mid-1730s under the direction of the architect Carl Hårleman. Each of the four façades of the Royal Palace has its own distinctive character. The western one, overlooking the outer courtyard, was the King's façade and is appropriately decorated with masculine and marshal attributes. The Western Archway includes the Western Staircase, which was also the King's. The east side of the Palace was the Queen's - the feminine side. The Eastern Archway includes the Queen's Staircase. The east façade of the Palace is decorated with colossal pilasters, the reason being that in the old days it was visible all the way from Ladugårdsgärde (the area surrounding the present-day Telegraph Tower). The eastern part of the Palace includes Logården ("the Shot Yard"), which is a miniature palace garden. The south façade represents the nation. The centre of it, in the form of a gigantic triumphal arch, is the façade of the monumental Southern Archway, which is flanked by the Hall of State and the Royal Chapel: the Altar and Throne were the two poles of the good polity. The north side of the Palace, overlooking Norrbro and Gustav Adolfs Torg, represents the more gentle aspect of royalty, since the main apartments of the King and Queen face this direction. Now the Palace was built, not only as the principal residence of the Swedish royal family, but also as the nerve centre of Swedish government. Offices were fitted out here for the cabinet and the ministries, the main debating chamber of the Swedish Riksdag (parliament) was here, and the Royal Library - the national library, in other words - was housed under the same roof. The Royal Palace, quite simply, was a Sweden in miniature.  
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#31
02-01-2003, 01:44 AM
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History
Gripsholm Castle is situated in the small town of Mariefred in Södermanland, on the shores of Lake Mälaren. The place gets its name from one of the personalities of medieval Sweden, Bo Jonsson Grip, by whom the first Castle was built in the second half of the 14th century. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, the Castle was donated to a Cartesian Monastery founded in Pacis Mariae - the Latin name for Mariefred. The monastery was sequestrated by the State at the Reformation, and the Castle began to be built in 1537 under the direction of the master-builder Henrik von Köllen. This was Gustav Vasa's project, as part of a new system of national defences. The Castle was also intended as a fitting residence for a Renaissance ruler - Gustav Vasa. The large Hall of State with its painted roof and its full-length portraits of Gustav Vasa and contemporary crowned heads of Europe conveys, although many times restored, a good picture of the original Gripsholm scene. The most famous of the 16th century apartments is Duke Karl's Chamber, which is one of the best-preserved interiors of the period anywhere in Sweden. During the 17th century (known in Sweden as the "Great Power Period"), Gripsholm was used as a dower (widow's property for life) by Queens Maria Eleonora (widow of Gustav II Adolf) and Hedvig Eleonora (widow of Karl X). Hedvig Eleonora made considerable changes and additions, among them the Queen's Wing. The reign of Gustav III in the late 18th century marked a new period of brilliance in the Castle's history. It was at this time that the exquisite theatre was fitted out in one of the round Renaissance towers of the Castle. This is one of the best-preserved 18th century theatres in Europe. The same period also produced Gustav III's Round Drawing Room, a counterpart to Gustav Vasa's Hall of State. In the Round Drawing Room the visitor can see portraits of Gustav III and his royal contemporaries. During the 19th century, Gripsholm evoked strong national sentiments and the Castle came to be regarded as a national monument. Furniture and art objects of great historic importance were transferred from the various royal residences to Gripsholm to reinforce its national character. A much-debated restoration of the Castle took place at the end of the 19th century. Critics described it as an attempt to make the Castle even older than it was. Gripsholm today is a sampler of Swedish interior design from the 16th to the late 19th century, a unique collection of furniture and decorative arts from 400 years. The Castle is internationally known for its outstanding collection of portraits - the Swedish national collection - featuring prominent Swedes from the days of Gustav Vasa down to the present. Each year, the Gripsholm Association commissions "portraits of honour" of eminent Swedes for the Gripsholm collection. 
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#33
05-08-2003, 05:47 PM
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#34
05-08-2003, 05:48 PM
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#35
06-23-2003, 05:08 AM
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#36
06-23-2003, 05:09 AM
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#37
06-23-2003, 05:11 AM
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#38
06-23-2003, 05:12 AM
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#39
06-23-2003, 05:13 AM
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#40
06-23-2003, 05:16 AM
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