Royal Palace in Stockholm: photo, address, description

The Royal Palace in Stockholm (Stockholm, Sweden) is not only an interesting museum. It continues to be the current residence of the royal family. Of course, in the personal apartments of His Majesty Carl XVI Gustav you will not get. But the King of Sweden and his family do not occupy much of the square in the palace. Basically, this is an infinite suite of ceremonial rooms, richly decorated chambers. Here is a treasury containing regalia of royalty. For Russian tourists, visiting the palace will be also interesting because it stores gifts presented to Gustav to his third cousin, Catherine the Great, as well as magnificent malachite vases presented to Carl the Fourteenth to Juhan Nikolay the First. The current residence of the Swedish monarchs attracts the public with a beautiful spectacle - the change of the front guard. How to get to the royal palace, whether it is possible to book an excursion with a Russian-speaking guide, what to see for yourself and how much it costs - read in this article.

Royal Palace in Stockholm (Sweden): address

Without exaggeration, we can say that the capital of Sweden was formed around the wooden feudal dungeon. In the Middle Ages, Birger Jarl built a fortress on this site to control the waterway from Mälaren to the Baltic Sea. The founder of the Swedish state Gustav Vasa significantly strengthened this citadel. And under its protection, people began to settle - craftsmen and merchants. So Stockholm was formed. Much later, a morose, impassable fortress was replaced by a charming "palazzo", created according to all the canons of the Italian Renaissance. And when this structure burned down, it was replaced by a new one, built in the style of Mannerism. Where is the Royal Palace in Stockholm? The address of this beautiful structure is the island of Stadholmen, the Parade Quay (Kungliga Slottet). It is not difficult to find it. Nearby are other attractions of old Stockholm: the Church of St. Nicholas, the central square Stortoret, a museum of the medieval city (located under the bridge).

Practical advice for tourists

You can get to the Royal Palace by metro. The nearest subway station is called Gamla Stan. You can reach the sights by bus. To the island of Stadholmen, routes No. 3, 46, 43, 59, 55 and 76 run. Tourists advise visiting the royal palace in Stockholm during the summer months. Opening hours in this period: from 10 am to 5 pm, and without days off. In other seasons time for visits is reduced. In the spring and autumn the museum is open from ten to four without holidays. And in winter, when very few tourists visit Sweden, the residence is open for visits only from noon to three in the afternoon, with weekends on Mondays. The ticket price for an adult is one hundred kroons. Children under seven are free. The age category from seven to seventeen pay half the price - fifty crowns. Tourists advise to purchase "Stockholm Card". This subscription gives you free access to the royal palace. Tickets are sold at the box office in the outer courtyard. There you can book an excursion with a Russian-speaking guide. Its cost is 150 CZK for adults and 75 for children. Meeting with the guide is at the entrance to Representative Chambers.

History of the Royal Residence

We already mentioned that everything began with a small feudal castle. Already in the twelfth century it is morally obsolete. The wooden fortifications around the dungeon were replaced by stone ones. But the son of Gusav Vasa, Juhan the Third, was bored with living in a militarized citadel. He ordered architects from Italy to build a royal palace in Stockholm that would suit him. Around the ancient dungeon an elegant and as if air "palazzo" grew up, which was called "Three Crowns". At the end of the seventeenth century, there was a need to expand the palace to accommodate the government apparatus of the Kingdom of Sweden. The Renaissance at that time was no longer fashionable. "Three Crowns" were demolished, and in its place the architect Tessin the Younger built a baroque palace in 1690-97. But we do not see it today either.

Fatal fire

One of the main attractions for tourists visiting Stockholm is the royal palace. The photo of this imposing building resembles another residence of monarchs, but only in Spain. The Stockholm and Madrid royal palaces were built on the same project. It was developed by Bernini for the Palazzo Barberini, Pope Urban of the Eighth. The reason for the rebuilding of the baroque building was a grandiose fire that occurred on May 7, 1697. The royal family just managed a housewarming party. Soon Charles the Eleventh died. The body had not yet been put to the ground, as a fire broke out, destroying the palace to the ground. From the flame, it was barely possible to evacuate the royal family, along with the body of the deceased monarch. Paradoxically, the fire began to spread through the palace from the fireman's room, which was responsible for the fire safety of the building. But this official was not guilty. The cause of the fire was a crack in the chimney.

Modern building

The present Royal Palace in Stockholm was built for a long time. When in 1754 the monarch Adolf Frederick and his wife Lovisa Ulrik moved into their residence, it was not yet fully completed. Historians argue that ten dominant kings of Sweden lived in the palace, replacing each other. And now the building is the official and residential residence of Karl Sixteenth Gustav. The beautiful palace reflects the power and grandeur of the Swedish state. It shines in the facades decorated with columns, in the main staircases and halls for official receptions. However, in other rooms the elegant comfort of Rococo reigns, as well as the style of the so-called Gustavian period. In the palace there are two courtyards - the outer, where there is a ceremonial guard, and the inner guard. For tourists are open all the rooms, except for private apartments of the royal family. Even the main halls, where official summit meetings are held, are accessible to the general public.

The Museum of Three Crowns

The Royal Palace is quite extensive, and it's time for it to get lost. Consider the key attractions of this residence. The Museum "Three Crowns" is located in the northern wing, in the basement. His exposition tells how the city of Stockholm was formed and developed. The Royal Palace, photo of which is decorated with guidebooks in the Swedish capital, was built in the eighteenth century. More and more "old versions" are presented in very accurate models in the Museum of the Three Crowns. There are also various medieval artifacts found by archaeologists on excavations. Also in the basement next to Lion's Descent, you can see a fragment of the fortress wall of the 1200s - all that remained of the once impregnable feudal fortress.

Treasury

The Stockholm Royal Palace has many museums in its depths. There are several of them, and if you have the time, you need to devote at least one full day to the residence. In the Treasury you can get from the southern entrance of the palace, which is located at Castle Hill. The exposition of this museum shows not only the crowns of Swedish monarchs, but also other regalia of power. Also there are exhibited at the show of the carriage, in which the rulers went for ceremonies. Observing thrones, crowns, robes and scepters, remember: many of these gizmos are not fully museum exhibits. Some of them are taken and used on the occasion of weddings, funerals and coronations of the rulers of modern Sweden.

Armouries

The Royal Palace in Stockholm contains in its southern wing another museum. In the Armory Chamber is represented the full arsenal of armor of the monarchs of Sweden. Here you can see both the armor of Gustav Vasa, and the ceremonial uniforms of representatives of the dynasty of Bernadotte. In addition to military vestments and all kinds of weapons, Arsenal presents the royal costumes of Gustav Adolf II and Charles Twelfth. Moreover, the museum carefully preserves even those clothes in which the representatives of the monarch's dynasty took a martyr's death. This rich collection puts the Armory Chamber together with the Treasury in a number of the world's most famous museums. It's not just a collection of beautiful things. The exhibition conveys the image of the kings of Sweden, which they still use from ordinary citizens.

Museum of Antiquity

There was a king-patron in the history of the state. His name was Gustav III, and he reigned at the end of the eighteenth century. The monarch was extremely fond of fashionable at that time the gathering of different wonders and antiques. And for this purpose Gustav the Third personally traveled to various countries in search of artifacts. From his journey to Italy, he brought a very rich collection of antique marble statues, which he ordered to be placed in the royal palace in Stockholm (Sweden). This happened in 1792. When the revolution began in France, the king opened the Antique Galleries to visit ordinary citizens. In this regard, the Antiquarian Museum in the Royal Palace of Stockholm is considered the oldest in Europe. Now the collection of Gustav III is collected in the north and east wings of the huge building.

Shrine of the monarchs of Sweden

Opposite the island, on which the royal palace rises in Stockholm, there is one more, called Riddarholmen. There and it is worth to go on leaving the monarch's residence. Indeed, on the island there is the Riddarholmen church - the tomb of all the kings of Sweden, beginning with Gustav Adolf and ending with Gustav Fifth. In addition, here were transported the remains of the great monarch-warrior Magnus the First, as well as Charles the Eighth. The temple of Riddarholmen is also interesting because it is the oldest church in Stockholm, which has survived to the present day. It was built by the Franciscans in the eighties of the thirteenth century with the already functioning monastery. Fragments of frescoes dating from the fifteenth century are preserved in the church. Unfortunately, the temple is open only in the summer.

Stockholm, the royal palace: changing of the guard

This is another attraction of the Swedish capital, which can also be viewed absolutely free of charge. In fact, the guard at the front entrance to the royal palace changes every two hours during the day and four hours at night. But the most beautiful sight occurs exactly at noon. On the field next to the guns, the crowd begins to gather at half past eleven, and each tries to occupy a position that is advantageous for review and photographing. Guardsmen are located in the barracks in the middle of the palace. They say they are fed there in a royal way. In Sweden, there are many military units, and all of them delegate thirty of their soldiers for honorary service. Once every two weeks, a truly enchanting spectacle takes place. The team of guardsmen is changing. Thirty soldiers leave with the flag of their military unit. They are replaced by a new brigade, which marches from the center of Stockholm, carrying its oriflamme.

Reviews of tourists

The capital of Sweden and its surroundings are full of all sights. Especially good to visit it in the summer, when the weather promotes excursions, and the light day is very long. Museums, galleries, ancient churches - the capital of Sweden is all good. Many tourists recommend visiting the royal palace in Stockholm. Changing the guard, the numerous museums inside the residence, and the walk itself in the chambers and halls are impressive. If they are tired and hungry, there is a summer cafe in the courtyard. The reviews claim that the purchased ticket "Stockholm Card" entitles you to a repeated visit to the royal palace. If you did not have time to inspect everything (which is not surprising, taking into account the richest collections of museums), you can come the next day.