Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Gamla Stan
For a feel of Kalmar's quaint
Gamla Stan
, it's best to head into the small warren of
cobbled lanes west of
Slottshotellet
, which overlooks Stadsparken and is only a minute's
walk along Slottsvägen from the Konstmuseum. The old wooden cottages, painted
egg-yolk yellow and wisteria blue, are at their prettiest on Gamla Kungsgatan and
Västerlångatan. These little streets surround the attractive
Gamla kyrkogården
(old
churchyard), whose seventeenth- and eighteenth-century gravestones have been restored.
6
Domkyrkan
Norra Långgatan 33 • Daily: June-Aug 9am-8pm; Sept-May 9am-4pm
The elegantly gridded Renaissance New Town is laid out around the grand
Domkyrkan
in Stortorget. Designed in 1660 by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder (as was the nearby
Rådhus) after a visit to Rome, this vast and airy church in Italian Renaissance style is
today a complete misnomer: Kalmar has no bishop and the church no dome. Inside,
the altar, designed by Tessin the Younger, shimmers with gold, as do the
Faith
and
Mercy
sculptures around it. The huge
Deposition
painting above the altar depicts in
unusually graphic detail Jesus being taken down from the Cross by men on ladders,
his lifeless form hoisted down with ropes. The pulpit is also worth a look; its roof is
a three-tiered confection crowned with a statue of Christ surrounded by gnome-like
sleeping soldiers, below which angels brandish instruments of torture, while on the
“most inferior” level, a quartet of women symbolize such qualities as maternal love
and erudition.
The Kronan Exhibition
July-Aug daily 10am-5pm; Sept-June Mon-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat & Sun 11am-4pm • 80kr July-Aug, 60kr Sept-June •
W
regalskeppetkronan.se
From Stortorget, it's a few minutes' walk south down Östra Sjögatan and then left
into Ölandsgatan to the
Kalmar läns muséet
, Kalmar's regional museum. The
centrepiece of the museum is the awe-inspiring
Kronan exhibition
, housed in a
refurbished steam mill. Built by the seventeenth-century British designer Francis
Sheldon, the royal ship
Kronan
was once one of the world's three largest vessels; it had
three complete decks and was twice the size of the
Vasa
, which sank of Stockholm in
1628 (see p.60).
Brief history
he
Kronan
itself went down, fully manned, in 1676, resulting in the loss of 800 of its
842 crew. Its captain, Admiral Creutz, had received a royal order to attack and
recapture the Baltic island of Gotland. Pursued by the Danish, Creutz, who had
remarkably little naval experience - just one week at sea - was eager to impress his king
and engage in combat. To this end, he ignored pleas from his crew and ordered the
Kronan
to turn and face the enemy. A gale caused the ship to heave, and water gushed
into her open gun ports, knocking over a lantern, which ignited the entire gunpowder
magazine. Within seconds, an explosion ripped the mammoth vessel apart.
Salvage and reconstruction
It wasn't until 1980 that the whereabouts of the ship's remains were detected, 26m
down of the coast of Öland, using super-sensitive scanning equipment. A salvage
operation began, led by the great-great-great-great-grandson of the ship's captain, and
25,000 artefacts have so far been recovered. On the ground floor you come face to face
with a dozen of the ship's mighty bronze cannons, richly decorated with coats of arms.
However, up on the first floor, things really take off with a full and imaginative
walk-through reconstruction
of the gun decks and admiral's cabin, while the moments
