Vittskövle Castle ( sv, Vittskövle slott also ''Widtskövle slott'') is an estate in

Kristianstad Municipality Kristianstad Municipality (''Kristianstads kommun'') is a municipality in Scania County in southernmost Sweden. Its seat is located in the city Kristianstad. The present municipality was created in three steps during the last nationwide local go ...

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne ...

, Sweden. It has one of the best-preserved

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

castles in the Nordic countries.

History

During the last years of the Middle Ages, the estate belonged to the

Archbishop of Lund List of (arch)bishops of Lund. Until the Danish Reformation the centre of a great Latin (arch)bishopric, Lund has been in Sweden since the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658. The Diocese of Lund is now one of thirteen in the Church of Sweden. Catho ...

. The main house was erected by Jens Brahe (ca 1500–1560) in the 16th century as a defence structure. It was completed in 1577. In the 18th century, the northwest tower burned and the spire was built in a romantic medieval style. The park and gardens were mainly built by Adolf Fredrik Barnekow (1744–87). At the beginning of the 19th century, the castle was newly decorated with murals and ceiling paintings by Swedish painter Christian Laurentius Gernandt (1765-1825).Vittskövle has belonged to members of the Stjernswärd family since 1837.

References

Buildings and structures in Skåne County 16th-century establishments in Skåne County Water castles {{Sweden-castle-stub