The Stockholm Palace, or Stockholms slott, is the royal palace and official residence of the Swedish monarch, in Stockholm. The personal offices of the king and the other members of the Royal Family, as well as the administrative offices of the Royal Court of Sweden is located there. The palace is also used for representative purposes by the king in performing his duties as the head of state. The private residence of the royal family is located at Drottningholm Palace.The palace is located on Stadsholmen, literally Island of the City, in the Stockholm old town right next to the Riksdag building on Helgeandsholmen.

The Palace and Stockholm Old Town

History

The first building on this site was a fortress with a core tower built in the 13th century by Birger Jarl to defend Lake Mälaren. The fortress grew to a palace. The palace was named Tre Kronor (Three Crowns) after the core towers spire. In the late 16th century under John III much work was done to transform the old fortress into a renaissance palace. In 1690 it was decided to rebuild the palace in baroque style. In 1692 work began on the northern row. The work was complete 1697, and the row survived the fire but was damaged.

The new palace was built to replace the old palace which burned to the ground following a fire on May 7, 1697 after a design by Palace Architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger. The halfround wings around the outer cortyard was finished in 1734. The palace church was finished in the 1740s. The exterior of the palace wasn´t finished until 1754. Finally the royal family could move to the palace. At that point in time the southwest, southeast and northeast wings was finished. The northwest wing was finished in 1760.

In the north the drive Lejonbacken (The Lion´s Slope) was built 1824-1830. It´s name comes from the Lion sculptures that stands there.

Exterior

The palace is built of brickstone, the midsections of the west, south and east facades is covered by sandstone. The roof slopes slightly inwards. The roof is covered with copper and is surrounded by a stone balustrade which stretched around the hole main building.

The palace has 609 rooms. The palace consists of 4 rows, the western, southern, eastern and northern row. From west to east the palace facade is 115 meters (without wings). From north south the palace facade is 120 meters. The four rows surround the inner courtyard. From the main buildings corners four wings strech out to the northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast. Three of these is 48 meters long and 16 meters wide. But the southwest wing is only 11 meters long.

This irregularity is hidden by two free-standing half-round wings which surround the outer courtyard. Logården (The Lynx Yard), a small garden lies between the southeast and northeast wing.

The southern facade represents the nation the west facade is the kings facade, the east facade is the queens facade and the northern facade represents the common royal.

Interior

The western row

Two stairs up lie the guest apartments. In this row also lie the Order Rooms.

The eastern row

One stair down lies Livrustkammaren which contains old weapons and uniforms.

The northern row

In the northern row lies the king and queens suites (which contains bedchambers, wardrobes and anterooms). In the northern row also lies the Feast apartment which contains the ball room Vita Havet (the White Sea). In the same row also lies Karl XI:s galleri (Charles XI:s gallery). On the bottom floor lies the exhibition part of the palace. One stair down lies Museum Tre Kronor. Museum Tre Kronor consits of the old palace´s cellar. One stair up lies Konseljrummet (the Council Room).

The southern row

One stair up lies Rikssalen and the Palace Church. Rikssalen is at the west and the Palace Church is at the east. One star down lies Skattkammaren (the Treasure Chamber) which contains the Swedish crown jewels.

The northeast wing

In the northeast wing lies Gustav IIIs antikmuseum. It contains ancient sculptures found in Italy.

Högvakten (The High Guard)

The Palace is guarded 24 hours a day by the Högvakten, which consists of conscripted members of the armed forces. The guard dates back to the early 16th century.

See also: Royal Palaces in Sweden

External links

• The Royal Palace - Official site