Borgholm Castle ( sv, Borgholms slott) in
Borgholm
Borgholm () is a city and the seat of Borgholm Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 4,401 inhabitants in 2020. It is located on the island of Öland in the Baltic Sea, at the Kalmar Strait-side of Öland, north of Färjestaden.
Borgholm is on ...
,
Sweden, is today only a ruin of the
fortress that was first built in the second half of the 13th century and rebuilt many times in later centuries. It is linked to
Halltorp estate, to the south. The castle was destroyed in a fire on 14 October 1806.
History
The construction of the original fortress was probably ordered by King
Canute I, although this is not totally certain. He reigned 1167–1195 and had fortresses built on the Swedish east coast as defence against enemies from the other side of the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
. During the 13th to 15th centuries, additions and changes were made. For example, new towers were built, and a new and thicker wall was constructed. The fortress was damaged on a number of occasions during these centuries, including in 1361, when King
Valdemar IV (Atterdag) of Denmark attacked Borgholm.
During the
Kalmar Union, many castles and fortresses in Sweden were damaged as a result of the ongoing conflicts between Danes and Swedes. When
Gustav Eriksson became Swedish king and the union was dissolved, he, together with the sons that followed him on the throne, invested huge sums of money in repairing these buildings. It was Gustav's son
John III (r. 1568–1592) who ordered the reconstruction of Borgholm into a renaissance castle. During his reign, the Pahr brothers (four engineers and architects from
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
) led a significant rebuilding that took place from 1572. The castle acquired a
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
character and became exemplary of the Italianate bastion style.
Some decades later, Sweden and Denmark fought each other in the
Kalmar War
The Kalmar War (1611–1613) was a war between Denmark–Norway and Sweden. Though Denmark-Norway soon gained the upper hand, it was unable to defeat Sweden entirely. The Kalmar War was the last time Denmark-Norway successfully defended its ''dom ...
. Borgholm Castle first, in 1611, surrendered to the Danish side, but was reconquered by the Swedish side later the same year. The following year, after a siege of two weeks, the commander of the Swedish defence, Peter Michelsen Hammarskiöld, had to surrender. In accordance with the treaty that followed the war, the
Treaty of Knäred
The Treaty of Knäred ( da, Freden i Knærød, sv, Freden i Knäred) was signed on 21 January 1613 and ended the Kalmar War (1611–1613) between Denmark-Norway and Sweden. The peace negotiations came about under an English initiative. The peace ...
, Borgholm was handed back to the Swedish.
The castle was in a bad shape after the war and it took until 1654 before a restoration and reconstruction would begin. This time, the castle was to be turned into a baroque palace.
Charles X Gustav
Charles X Gustav, also Carl Gustav ( sv, Karl X Gustav; 8 November 1622 – 13 February 1660), was King of Sweden from 1654 until his death. He was the son of John Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg and Catherine of Sweden. Afte ...
was the king who ordered this, and
Nicodemus Tessin the Elder
Nicodemus Tessin the Elder () (7 December 1615 in Stralsund – 24 May 1681 in Stockholm) was an important Swedish architect.
Biography
Nicodemus Tessin was born in Stralsund in Pomerania and came to Sweden as a young man. There he met and wor ...
was the architect engaged to fulfill the king's wishes. When Charles Gustaf died in 1660, the construction stopped, only to be restarted at a slow pace during the reigns of King
Charles XI and King
Charles XII
Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII ( sv, Karl XII) or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of ...
. In 1709, the construction was finally completed.
For a hundred years, the palace was left to fall into decay. On 14 October 1806, the castle was turned into a ruin by a fire that started in the roof of the north wing.
[Lundh & Rudolfsson, 2000, p. 34.]
Today
The castle of today is the ruins of the 17th century baroque palace Charles X Gustav had constructed. It is State-owned and managed by the
National Property Board of Sweden
The National Property Board of Sweden ( sv, Statens fastighetsverk, SFV) is a Swedish State administrative authority, organised under the Ministry of Finance.
SFV is responsible for managing a portion of the real property assets owned by the St ...
( sv, Statens Fastighetsverk).
It is open for visitors and houses a museum.
The inner courtyard hosts concerts, theater performances, and other events. In the summer of 1989, Swedish pop group
Roxette shot material for six music videos during a concert. One of them is "
Listen to Your Heart" which became the group's second number one hit on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 later that year.
[Billboard ]allmusic.com
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
(Retrieved August 23, 2008)
Image:Borgholm slott.JPG, The interior of Borgholm Castle
File:Borgholms slottsruin från luften.jpg, Aerial view of Borgholm Castle
File:Борхгольский замок ночью.jpg, Borgholm Castle at night
Notes
References
*
External links
{{Commons, Borgholms slott, Borgholm Castle
Official website
Buildings and structures completed in the 12th century
Buildings and structures completed in 1709
Ruined castles in Sweden
Museums in Kalmar County
Historic house museums in Sweden
Military installations established in 1709