Örbyhus Castle (Swedish: ''Örbyhus slott'') is a castle in

Tierp Municipality Tierp Municipality (''Tierps kommun'') is a municipality in Uppsala County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Tierp. Localities Localities in Tierp Municipality include: * Karlholmsbruk * Killskär * Månkarbo * Mehed ...

, Sweden. It lies some 12 kilometres east of

European route E4 European route E4 passes from north to south through Sweden from the border with Finland, with a total length of . The Finnish part lies entirely within Tornio in northern Finland, and is only long. The Swedish part traverses most of Sweden ex ...

, approximately halfway between

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

and

Gävle Gävle () is a city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 77,586 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the 13th most populated city in Sweden. It is the oldest city in the historical Norrland (Swede ...

. Known since the 14th century, the estate was turned into a castle during the 15th century by Johan Kristensson Vasa, grandfather of Swedish king

Gustav Vasa Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm ('' Riksföre ...

. The castle has been used as a prison, and its most well-known prisoner was king

Eric XIV of Sweden Eric XIV ( sv, Erik XIV; 13 December 153326 February 1577) was King of Sweden from 1560 until he was deposed in 1569. Eric XIV was the eldest son of Gustav I (1496–1560) and Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg (1513–1535). He was also ruler of Es ...

, who died here in 1577.

History

The estate is known since the 14th century. During the 15th century, a stone

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

was erected for defensive purposes by Johan Kristensson Vasa, grandfather of future king of Sweden

. The stone tower still forms the core of the castle complex. This central tower was built at the middle of the 15th century. It subsequently stayed in the Vasa family, and during the reign of Gustav Vasa was expanded into a fortress with a surrounding wall, still partially preserved. From this time, the castle also began to be used as a state prison, where for example the

field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

, Privy Council member and governor of

Narva Narva, russian: Нарва is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in Ida-Viru County, Ida-Viru county, at the Extreme points of Estonia, eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva (river), Narva river which ...

and

Ivangorod Ivangorod ( rus, Иванго́род, p=ɪvɐnˈɡorət; et, Jaanilinn; vot, Jaanilidna) is a town in Kingiseppsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the east bank of the Narva river which flows along the Estonia–Russia inte ...

Carl Henriksson Horn af Kanckas Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of te ...

sat imprisoned after being condemned for treason. The most famous prisoner of the castle is king Eric XIV of Sweden, who was imprisoned by his brother,

John III of Sweden John III ( sv , Johan III, fi, Juhana III; 20 December 1537 – 17 November 1592) was King of Sweden from 1569 until his death. He was the son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife Margaret Leijonhufvud. He was also, quite autonomous ...

. Eric XIV was imprisoned in 1574 and died in captivity there in 1577. He was quite possibly murdered at the instigation of his brother. The castle stayed within the royal family until 1641, when it through an exchange became the property of the Banér family, who remained owners until 1729. During the ownership of

Gustaf Carlsson Banér Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: * Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short car ...

, the castle was in the 1660s transformed into a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

palace. The architect, possibly

Erik Dahlbergh '' Count Erik Jönsson Dahlbergh (10 October 162516 January 1703) was a Swedish military engineer, Governor-general and Field marshal. He rose to the level of nobility through his military competence. As an architect and draftsman, he was reno ...

, incorporated the medieval keep in the palace. Another large-scale reconstruction took place in 1825–32, under the guidance of architect

Carl Christoffer Gjörwell Carl Christoffer Gjörwell (the younger; 19 January 1766 – 14 November 1837) was a Swedish architect. He was a city architect in Stockholm, Sweden, between 1804 and 1837. Biography Gjörwell was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He was the son o ...

. It was renovated in 1901–08.

Architecture

The medieval keep today forms one part of the castle complex. It is a square tower with a

roof lantern A roof lantern is a daylighting architectural element. Architectural lanterns are part of a larger roof and provide natural light into the space or room below. In contemporary use it is an architectural skylight structure. A lantern roof wil ...

, surrounded by a partially preserved stone wall with openings for

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

. It was in this tower that the prison was located. Its present furnishings, however, date from the 1640s. The tower was incorporated into the Baroque edifice when this was built in the 1660s. The Baroque part of the castle is a three-storey building built of brick. From the main building with the entrance, two wings project to form between them a courtyard. The wings were originally one storey lower but enlarged in 1825–32. Inside, the castle displays rich interiors from several centuries. Apart from the main building, the castle is surrounded by a large park and several annexes. Most notable among these is the

orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very large ...

, designed by Gjörwell and erected in the 1820s.

References

External links

*
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orbyhus Castle Castles in Uppsala County

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links