Stegeholms slottsruin
1370
Medieval
castle
What stands on Slottsholmen in Västervik is not the medieval castle but the remains of the palace that was shot to pieces in 1677. Stegeholm first appears in writing in 1370, already built and serving as a fief castle over the narrow…
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Timeline
- 1521
Sweden retook the island and rebuilt the castle after the Danish burning of 1517. The work restored the damaged fortress on Slottsholmen, returning the castle to Swedish hands and to use four years after the fire.
- 1651-1677
The Königsmarck family had a palace raised in place of the decayed castle, giving up the outdated fortress rather than repairing it. The new residence took over the site, so what had been a defensive work on the island became a seat built…
- 1677
A Danish and Dutch fleet destroyed the palace and the town on 1 September. The complex was never rebuilt afterwards, so the standing masonry on the island is what the attack left behind, and the building history of the site ends here.
- 1884-1887
The town improvement society bought the island and laid out a park around the ruin, complete within three years. The work made the standing walls the centrepiece of public grounds and gave the ruin the planted setting it has kept since.
- 1920-1929
The ruin was in poor condition and its masonry was conserved rather than rebuilt. The courtyard and the building parts adjoining it were investigated systematically at the same time, with the excavated soil sifted, so the campaign combined…
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