Övedskloster Manor () is a manor in

Sjöbo Municipality Sjöbo Municipality () is a Municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Skåne County in southern Sweden. Its seat is located in the town Sjöbo. The present municipality was created in 1974 when the former market town (''köping'') ''Sjöbo'' was ...

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

, in southern

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

History

Early history

Övedskloster derives its name () from a

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular in the Catholic Chur ...

abbey, founded in the 12th century by the

archbishop of Lund List of (arch)bishops of Lund. Until the Reformation in Denmark, 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 Ch ...

Eskil of Lund Eskil was a 12th-century Archbishop of Lund, in Skåne, Denmark (now in Sweden). He was one of the most capable and prominent princes of the Church in Scandinavia. A man of profound piety, he was always zealous for the welfare of the church, and ...

, on the site of the present manor. Little is known about the abbey, and there are no visible remains. It was confiscated by the Danish Crown (as the province of Scania was a part of Denmark until the

Treaty of Roskilde The Treaty of Roskilde was negotiated at Høje Taastrup Church and was concluded on 26 February ( OS) or 8 March 1658 ( NS) during the Second Northern War between Frederick III of Denmark–Norway and Karl X Gustav of Sweden in the Danish ci ...

in 1658) during the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

and subsequently turned into a profitable estate, which changed owners several times during the 16th century. A fire sometime after 1594 probably ruined most of the monastic buildings, while others during this time were converted into barns and other outbuildings. Several of the first landowners also did not live at Övedskloster, which was merely used as a profitable source of income. Furthermore, the frequent wars between Sweden and Denmark during the 17th century discouraged any building activity. The monastery therefore relatively quickly fell into disrepair. Still, from a drawing made in the 1680s it is clear that the walls of the former church were still standing at a considerable height, and some of the monastic buildings were intact. During the early 18th century, the estate probably stayed more or less the same way.

Reconstruction

In 1753, the estate was sold to Hans Ramel (1724–1799), landowner and member of the

Swedish nobility The Swedish nobility (, or , ) has historically been a legally or socially privileged Social class, class in Sweden, and part of the so-called ''frälse'' (a derivation from Old Swedish meaning ''free neck''). The archaic term for nobility, ''fr ...

. His wife Amalia Beata Lewenhaupt was born at Övedskloster estate. Hans Ramel was responsible for the complete reconstruction of the manor ensemble, creating the palatial manor house seen today. Plans had already been made to reconstruct the manor before Hans Ramel assumed ownership. Sometime before 1753 architect

Carl Hårleman Baron Carl Hårleman (27 August 1700 – 9 February 1753) was a Sweden, Swedish architect. Biography Hårleman was born in Stockholm, son of the garden architect and head of the royal parks and gardens Johan Hårleman, who had been Ennoblemen ...

had produced blueprints for a new manor, as well as a general plan for the park, a new parish church and outbuildings. These plans were largely followed in the ensuing reconstruction, which didn't start until 1759. The first part of the rebuilding scheme was the replacing of the neglected parish church near the manor with a

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

church, built in 1759–1761. Partly in accordance with the general plan for remaking the grounds of the estate, and partly out of necessity for transport to the building site, new roads were constructed at about the same time. Several new, straight roads leading up to the manor, planted with linden trees and in several places raised on stone causeways (some of these more than long and high) were constructed. The manpower needed to construct these new roads almost equaled what was needed to create the manor house itself, and they still dominate the surrounding

cultural landscape Cultural landscape is a term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment. As defined by the World Heritage Committee, it is the "cultural properties hatrepresent the c ...

. A garden, dating from the time of the monastery and later expanded, already existed on the site. The plan by Hårleman intended to expand the garden and the park in a style made fashionable through the French landscape architect

André Le Nôtre André Le Nôtre (; 12 March 1613 – 15 September 1700), originally rendered as André Le Nostre, was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. He was the landscape architect who designed Gardens ...

. These plans were only partially carried out; as fashions changed, room was made also for an

English landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

. The manor house itself and its wings were not erected until 1769 – 1776. Externally, Hårleman's plans were respected, but as the Rococo ideals had started to give way to the Neoclassical ideals of the

Gustavian era The history of Sweden from 1772 to 1809 is better known as the Gustavian era of kings Gustav III and Gustav IV Adolf, as well as the reign of King Charles XIII. Gustav III Adolf Frederick of Sweden died on 12 February 1771. The electio ...

, the layout of the interior was reworked by

Jean Eric Rehn Jean Eric Rehn (18 May 1717, Stockholm - 19 May 1793, Stockholm) was a Swedish architect, engraver and designer. Biography His father, Eric, was a government ombudsman for the Sámi people. While still a boy, he became part of the , a forerunn ...

. The combined artistic skill of Carl Hårleman and Jean Eric Rehn created what is arguably one of the most accomplished 18th-century architectural ensembles in Sweden. When King Gustav III at one point visited the manor, he is rumoured to have exclaimed, ''Trop royal pour un particulier!'', French for ''Too royal for an ordinary citizen!'' The manor house and its surroundings have remained practically unchanged since its construction. It is still the private property of the Ramel family; the current owner is the tenth in line, and also named Hans Ramel.

Architecture

The north façade of the main building faces an long courtyard flanked by two long wings and ending in a low gate. On this side the façade is two storeys high, marked by

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s in local red

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

and a

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...

. The wings, designed to house various outhouses used in the practical running of the estate (such as stables), are designed as rusticated, whitewashed pavilions. Towards the garden side, which lies lower than the courtyard, the manor has three storeys, the lower of which opens up towards the garden with large French windows. Inside, Jean Eric Rehn created sumptuously decorated rooms, complete with furniture which according to Hans Ramel's last will from 1792 must never be sold. It includes furniture made by master cabinet maker Georg Haupt, sculptures by

Johan Tobias Sergel Johan Tobias Sergel (; 7 September 1740 in Stockholm – 26 February 1814 in Stockholm) was a Swedish neoclassical sculptor. Sergels torg, the largest square in the centre of Stockholm and near where his workshop stood, is named after him. Life ...

and

Johan Niclas Byström Johan Niclas Byström (December 18, 1783 – 1848) was a Swedish sculptor. Byström was born at Filipstad and went to Stockholm at the age of twenty, studying there for three years under Johan Tobias Sergel. In 1809 he gained the prize of th ...

, and paintings by Niclas Lafrensen,

Carl Gustaf Pilo Carl Gustaf Pilo (5 March 1711 – 2 March 1793) was a Swedish painter. Pilo worked extensively in Denmark as a painter to the Danish Royal Court and as professor and director at the Royal Danish Academy of Art (), as well as in his native S ...

, Per Krafft the Elder and

Alexander Roslin Alexander Roslin (; spelled Alexandre in French, ; 15 July 17185 July 1793) was a Swedish painter who worked in Scania, Bayreuth, Paris, Italy, Warsaw and St. Petersburg, primarily for members of aristocratic families. He combined insightful psyc ...

, among others. In addition, most of the rooms have artistically executed

cocklestove A masonry heater (also called a masonry stove) is a device for warming an interior space through radiant heating, by capturing the heat from periodic burning of fuel (usually wood), and then radiating the heat at a fairly constant temperature fo ...

s, wooden floors and rich decoration. The manor also houses a large and varied collection of

objets d'art In art history, the French term objet d'art (; ) describes an ornamental work of art, and the term objets d’art describes a range of works of art, usually small and three-dimensional, made of high-quality materials, and a finely-rendered finish ...

Gallery

File:Øveds Kloster gården.JPG, View of the courtyard towards the south File:Övedsklosters slott 1.jpg, View of the courtyard towards the north File:Øveds Kloster have.JPG, View from the garden File:Övedskloster alle.jpg, One of the causeways leading up to the manor File:View of Övedskloster, 1680s.jpg, View of the estate ca. 1680

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ovedskloster Castle Castles in Skåne County Gardens in Sweden Manor houses in Sweden Rococo architecture Monasteries dissolved under the Danish Reformation 18th-century establishments in Malmöhus County Sjöbo Municipality