Drottningholm Palace

The 'Drottningholm Palace' is the private residence of the Swedish royal family. It is located in Drottningholm (literally meaning Queen's islet) on the island Lovö, and is one of Sweden's Royal Palaces. It was originally built in the late 16th century, burnt down, rebuilt and is a very popular tourist destination today. Coordinates

History

The name Drottningholm came from the original building, a stone castle built by John III of Sweden in 1580 for his wife Katarina Jagellonica then queen of Sweden. In 1661 Hedwig Eleonora bought the castle a year after her role as Queen of Sweden ended, but the castle burnt down to the ground December 30th that same year. Hedvig hired on the famous Swedish architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder to design and rebuild the castle. In 1662 work began to reconstruct a new castle building. With the castle almost complete, Nicodemus dies in 1681. His son Nicodemus Tessin the Younger carried on and completed the elaborate interior designs.

While the castle is being built, Hedvig heads up the court who rules for the still underage King, Charles XI of Sweden. Sweden has grown to a powerful country after the Peace of Westphalia. The position of the queen, essentially the ruler of Sweden, demanded an impressive residence located conveniently close to Stockholm.

The castle was given as a gift to then princess, later queen of Sweden, Louisa Ulrika of Prussia in 1744 when she married Adolf Frederick of Sweden who later became king of Sweden in 1751. During Louisa's ownership of Drottningholm the interior of the castle was transformed in a then more sophisticated French rococo style. Louisa is also responsible for having the Drottningholm Palace Theatre rebuilt into a very grand theatre after the more modest original building burnt down in 1762. In 1777 Louisa sold Drottningholm to the Swedish state. While owned by the Swedish state, Gustav III of Sweden, son of Louisa, lived in the castle.

For much of the 19th century, the castle was ignored and started falling apart. This saw some change during the reign of Oscar I of Sweden. In 1907 a major restoration of the castle was performed.

The current royal family of Sweden have used Drottningholm as their primary residence since 1981, and it remains that way to this day.

The palace

The palace and it's grounds has seen many renovations, changes and additions over the past 400 years. The largest renovation was started in 1907 and completed in 1913, where electricity, heating, sewage, water lines were either put in or updated. The castle roof was also redone. During a 20 year period, started around 1977, several major parts of the palace were restored and rebuilt. The library and national hall received much attention, fire protection was also put in throughout the palace. In 1997 work began to clean and rebuild the exterior walls. This was finished five years later.

The palace church

The church was designed and erected by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder. It was completed by The Younger in May, 1746.

It is used to this day by the Lovö parish, who holds worship ceremonies in the church the last Sunday of every month. Inside the castle church a Cahman organ from 1730 is in use. Another noteworthy item is the traditional church tapestry which was made by Gustaf V of Sweden.

The gardens

The gardens and park areas surrounding the castle and it's buildings is one of the main attractions for all the tourists that visit the place every year.The gardens have been established in stages since the castle was founded, resulting in different styles of parks and gardens.

The baroque garden

The oldest part of the gardens was created in the end of the 17th century under the direction of Hedvig Eleonora. Father and son Tessin lead the project that created a baroque garden right outside the main castle, flanked by thick tree avenues. Many statues scattered throughout this area are created by the artist Adrian de Vries. The baroque garden was neglected with the rest of the area during the 19th century, but was restored in the 1950's and 1960's on Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden's initiative.

The English garden

Gustav III of Sweden took the initiative for what is sometimes called the English garden section of Drottningholm. This lies north of the baroque garden and consists of two ponds with canals, bridges, canals, large open section of grass and trees in clusters or avenues. Walkways are laid out throughout this larger part of the parks. Throughout this area "vistas" can be seen, cleared lines of sight that are intentional, made to focus the eye on a particular end scenario. Most of the antique marble statues throughout the gardens were purchased by Gustav III from Italy. The intention of the statues is to surprise a visitor by it's appearance in a green area, or as a nice ending to a particular cleared line of sight.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

The palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, mainly because of the Drottningholm Palace Theater and the Drottningholm Chinese Pavilion. It was added to the list in 1991. UNESCO comments:

The Royal Domain of Drottningholm stands on an island in Lake Mälar in a suburb of Stockholm. With its castle, perfectly preserved theatre (built in 1766), Chinese pavilion and gardens, it is the finest example of an 18th-century north European royal residence inspired by the Palace of Versailles.

Gallery

Image:Drottningholms Slott.jpg|Drottningholm Palace, rear Image:Drottningholm castle viewed from east 2005-08-14.jpg|East facade Image:Drottningholm castle with fountain 2005-08-14.jpg|Alley in front of the palace Image:Drottningholmsparken1.jpg|The strict lines of a baroque garden

External links

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