Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
important peace treaties with Denmark here in 1343, aimed at preventing further
incursions into Swedish territory. The great bastions were added for protection by the
Danish king Christian IV in the seventeenth century; ironically, they were completed
just in time for him to see the fortress fall permanently to Sweden in 1645. The
entrance is on the fortress's seaward side, either through the great archways towards the
central courtyard or by a side route, the uneven stone steps which lead up to a
delightful terrace
café
.
Tours
in English will take you into the dungeons and among the
impressive cocoa-coloured buildings that make up the inner courtyard, and you can
even stay in a private
youth hostel
in the fortress, which has been carefully preserved to
retain most of its original features (see p.150).
5
The museum
Late June to late Aug daily 10am-6pm; late Aug to late June Mon-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat & Sun noon-4pm • 70kr •
W
lansmuseet.varberg.se
It's the fortress's
museum
that deserves most of your attention. The most unnerving
exhibit is
the Bocksten Man
, a murder victim who was garrotted, drowned, impaled
(three stakes were thrust through his body, in the belief this would stop his spirit
seeking out his murderers) and thrown into a local bog around 1350, where he
remained until 1936 when a farmer dug him up while planting crops. His entire
garb preserved by the acidity of the bog, the Bocksten Man sports the Western
world's most complete medieval costume, including a cloak, a hood, shoes and
stockings. In addition to the skeleton, an unnerving Madame Tussaud-like figure
with thick, ringleted blond hair now forms the centrepiece of the exhibition and
provides a truly arresting idea of what the Bocksten Man really looked like. An
engaging film with English subtitles runs through the carbon-14 dating procedure
used to establish the man's age.
Elsewhere in the museum check out the sensitive work of Richard Bergh, Nils
Kreuger and Karl Nordström, the so-called
Varberg School
. These three artists linked
up in the last years of the nineteenth century and developed a plein-air style that
reflected the moods and atmosphere of Halland and Varberg in particular. Night scenes
of the fortress beneath the stars show the strong influence of Van Gogh; in other
paintings, the misty colours create a melancholy atmosphere. Check out, too, the
collection of ungainly swimming trunks and bikinis sported by bathers in Varberg
down the years. Refreshingly Scandinavian, it was still common to bathe naked until
the late 1910s, a practice depicted by the
Näcken
(see p.302), a nude male water sprite
who features prominently in Swedish folklore.
The prison
Overlooking the sea, and painted custard and cream, the 1850
fortress prison
seems
like a soft option next to the looming fortress in whose shadow it lies. The first Swedish
prison built after the American practice of having cells for individual inmates was
begun, it housed lifers until 1931, when the last one ended his days here.
Kallbadhuset
Cold Bathhouse • Otto Torells gata 7 • Wed 1-8pm, Sat & Sun 9am-5pm • 65kr •
W
kallbadhuset.se
A couple of fine remnants from Varberg's time as a spa resort lie within a minute of
the fortress. On the side of the fortress facing the town is the grand
Societetshuset
,
a wedding-dress-like confection of cream-and-green carved wood, set in its own
small park. This was where upper-class ladies took their repose after bathing in the
splendid 1903-built
Kallbadhuset
nearby, just to the north of the fortress and
overlooking the harbour. Beautifully renovated to its original splendour, this dainty
bathhouse has single-sex nude bathing areas and is topped at each corner by
Moorish cupolas.
