Riddarholmen

Coordinates: 59°19′30″N 18°03′47″E / 59.32500°N 18.06306°E / 59.32500; 18.06306
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Riddarholmen
View of Riddarholmen
View of Riddarholmen
The Wrangel Palace
The Wrangel Palace


Top: View from Södermalm.
Above: Panoramic view from the City Hall
Left: The Wrangel and Stenbock Palaces.
Below: The Hessenstein Palace.
Bottom: Tower of Birger Jarl and the Riddarholm Church.

Stenbock Palace
Stenbock Palace
Hessenstein Palace
Hessenstein Palace
Tower of Briger Jarl
Tower of Briger Jarl
The Riddarholm Church
The Riddarholm Church

Riddarholmen (Swedish:

Swedish monarchs
also lie buried.

The western end of the island gives a magnificent panoramic and photogenic view of the bay

Riddarholm Church
.

Other notable buildings include the Old Parliament Building in the south-eastern corner, the

Norstedts
, the tower roof of which is a well-known silhouette on the city's skyline.

Palaces

While the Riddarholm Church dates back to the Middle Ages, and is one of Stockholm's oldest buildings, most of the present structures on Riddarholmen were built during the 17th century when the island was an aristocratic setting that gave the islet its present name. Three of the palaces are gathered around the central public square,

Birger Jarls Torg centred on the 19th-century statue of Birger Jarl: The Wrangel Palace on the west side, the most impressive, incorporates a medieval defensive tower and a portal designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder; the Stenbock and Hessenstein Palaces on the east side are less elaborate. North of the square, the two 19th-century wings of the Palace of Schering Rosenhane reach the rustic main building, which dates from the 17th century.[1]

Swedish Government Agencies, like the Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency and the Chancellor of Justice
, are also located on the island.

According to a Swedish guide book, these anonymous institutions, together with the motorway Centralbron that isolates the island from the rest of the city, make the island as a whole a lifeless and dull environment, despite ambitious restorations during the 1990s.[1]

Origin of the name

The island is first mentioned as Kidaskär, literally "Kid Skerry", indicating the islet was used to graze goats, in the

Greyfriars monastery
built on the island about 1270, asking in his will that he be buried in it in 1285. During the Middle Ages, the original name disappeared from historical records, replaced by Gråbrödraholm ("Grey Brothers islet"), Munckholmen ("Monk Islet"), and Gråmunkeholm ("Grey Monks Islet"), the latter most commonly used until the 17th century.

The monastery, however, closed following the

Protestant Reformation and was subsequently converted into a church. Probably as consequence, the name changed in the 1630s, the island being referred to as Riddarholmen, för detta Gråmunkeholm kallad ("Knight's Islet, formerly called Grey Monk's Islet") in 1638. The old name did persist however, so while Charles XI (1655–1697) preferred the new name, his youngest daughter Ulrika Eleonora (1688–1741) remained faithful to the old.[2]

Yacht/hotel

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 91-86050-41-9
    .
  2. ISBN 91-7031-042-4
    .
  3. The Milwaukee Journal. pp. 33, 35. Retrieved 13 December 2014.[permanent dead link
    ]
  4. ^ Snow, Brook Hill (15 March 1987). "Off The Beaten Path The Lady Hutton, One Of The World's Largest Luxury Yachts, Is Now An Elegant Hotel In Downtown Stockholm". Sun Sentinel. Stockholm, Sweden. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  5. ^ Vanadis to Lady Hutton, Kajsa Karlsson (1987).

External links

Media related to Riddarholmen at Wikimedia Commons

59°19′30″N 18°03′47″E / 59.32500°N 18.06306°E / 59.32500; 18.06306

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