Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
yellowy-brown construction, with two arms that stretch down towards the water.
Stockholm's old Tre Kronor (Three Crowns) castle burnt down at the beginning of
King Karl XII's reign (1697-1718), leaving his architect, Tessin the Younger (see
p.369), a free hand to design a simple and beautiful Baroque structure in its stead.
Finished in 1754, the palace is a striking achievement: uniform and sombre outside,
but with a magnificent Rococo interior that's a swirl of staterooms and museums. Its
sheer size is quite overwhelming and it's worth focusing your explorations on one or
two sections of the palace.
1
Palace Apartments and Treasury
Mid-May to Sept daily 10am-5pm; Oct to mid-May Tues-Sun noon-4pm • 100kr, Treasury 90kr
The rooms of state used for royal receptions are known as the
Palace Apartments
. hey
hold a relentlessly linear collection of furniture and tapestries, all too sumptuous to
take in and inspirational only in terms of their colossal size. The
Treasury
, on the other
hand, is certainly worth a visit for its ranks of jewel-studded crowns. The oldest one
was made in 1650 for Karl X, while the two smaller ones belonged to princesses Sofia
(1771) and Eugëne (1860).
Armoury
Slottsbacken 3 • June-Aug daily 10am-6pm; Sept-May Tues-Sun 11am-5pm, Thurs until 8pm • 80kr •
W
livrustkammaren.se
he
Armoury
is not so much about weapons as ceremony - with suits of armour,
costumes and horse-drawn carriages from the sixteenth century onwards. Also on
display is the stuffed horse of King Gustav II Adolf, who died in the Battle of Lützen in
1632, and the king's blood- and mud-spattered garments, retrieved after the enemy had
stripped him on the battlefield.
Museum Tre Kronor
Slottskajen • Mid-May to mid-Sept daily 10am-5pm; mid-Sept to mid-May Tues-Sun noon-4pm • 100kr • Gamla Stan T-bana
If you're a real palace junkie, check out the
Museum Tre Kronor
at Slottskajen in front of
the Kungliga Slottet where you'll find part of the original Tre Kronor castle, its ruins
underneath the present building.
Myntkabinett
Royal Coin Cabinet • Slottsbacken 6 • Daily 10am-4pm • 70kr, free on Mon •
W
myntkabinettet.se • Gamla Stan T-bana
A veritable stash of coins, banknotes and medals from across the centuries, as well as a
number of silver hoards from Viking days, the
Myntkabinett
boasts over 600,000 items
in its collection and is worth a quick look if money is your thing. The most engaging
exhibition is the section devoted to Sweden's own coins, from the very first ones
minted under King Olof Skötkonung to those of today.
Storkyrkan
Trångsund 1 • July-Aug Mon-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 9am-4pm; Sept-May daily 9am-4pm • 40kr • Gamla Stan T-bana
South of Kungliga Slottet, the streets suddenly narrow and darken and you're into
Gamla Stan proper. The highest point of the old part of Stockholm is crowned by
Storkyrkan
, built in 1279, and almost the first building you'll stumble upon.
Pedantically speaking, Stockholm has no cathedral, but this rectangular brick church
is now accepted as such, and the monarchs of Sweden married and were crowned
here. Storkyrkan gained its present shape at the end of the fifteenth century following
a series of earlier alterations and additions, but was given a Baroque remodelling in
the 1730s to better fit in with the new palace taking shape next door. The interior is
marvellous: twentieth-century restoration has removed the white plaster from its
