A Swedish castle with a secret

PLACES & SPACES | ROOMS & GARDENS | WORLD OF CABANA

There is a particular art to the preservation of historic buildings, where rooms are kept not only for their allure but for the stories they contain. At Gripsholm Castle, centuries of monarchy are inscribed in painted ceilings, unexpected architecture and corridors dense with portraits. But the Swedish castle hides greater surprises: a theatre concealed in a turret, a chamber of abdication, and apartments that served as both sanctuary and prison. Emma Becque steps inside.

BY EMMA BECQUE | ROOMS & GARDENS | 14 NOVEMBER 2025

Gripsholm Castle hides some of Sweden's best Renaissance interiors © Isabel Bronts.

Gripsholm Castle rises above Lake Mälaren, some 60km west of Stockholm, its red-brick towers announcing their fortress pedigree. However, beyond the drawbridge, the interiors reveal a more complex story. Built for Prince Gustav Vasa in 1537 on the ruins of a Carthusian monastery and entrusted to builder Henrik von Köllen, Gripsholm has served as a court, prison, gallery, and archive. Its rooms are artefacts with afterlives, showing sovereignty declared, families confined and a dynasty forced into abdication. 

Inside, the Hall of States remains spectacular, built for Prince Gustav Vasa to assert Sweden among European courts. Pictorial Renaissance coffering lifts the ceiling, portraits of rulers in gilt frames cover the walls, and monumental Swedish etchings depicting societal figures are intricate examples of the castle's storybook magnetism. 

The Hall of States at Gripsholm Castle, Sweden. All images © Isabel Bronts.

The tone shifts quickly in the Duke's chamber decorated in the 1500s. The story goes that when King Erik XIV imprisoned his brother, Johan and his wife, Katarina along with their two children, born during imprisonment, Johan later seized power, confining his brother in return. Known as Duke Karl’s Chamber, the room, 

Most striking within the chamber is the everlasting blue pigment, ground from lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone that conveyed rank as well as refinement. It survives in the painted fields and plaster friezes above the oak panelling, still luminous against the dark timber. 

The circular exterior of Gripsholm Castle in Sweden is a royal fortress full of surprises and plot twists at every turn © Isabel Bronts.

The oak, richly grained and carved with strapwork and foliage, has mellowed to a gentle sheen. Light filters through narrow windows sunk deep in the wall. A vaulted ceiling, ribbed and patterned, completes the impression of control and order, where hand-painted branches, beautiful, seek escapism. 

The 17th century marked a new era for Gripsholm during Sweden’s Great Power Period, which saw the castle serve as a dower residence for two queens: Maria Eleonora, widow of Gustav II Adolf, and Hedvig Eleonora, widow of Karl X Gustav. Hedvig Eleonora sought to reshape the castle, commissioning the Queen’s Wing in the 1690s.

Ceilings were lowered, tiled stoves glazed in green and Delft blue supplied both warmth and ornament, and walls were softened with rich textiles. Chairs with curved legs and upholstered seats countered the austerity of oak and stone elsewhere.

Yet behind the tapestry-laden walls lay unease. Maria Eleonora, kept under guard within these rooms, fled in 1640 disguised as a townsman. As Hedvig Eleonora’s alterations marked a departure in interior style, so too did that escape mark a departure in the castle’s story, one defined by concealment.

The Gustav Theatre at Gripsholm Castle. All images © Isabel Bronts.

A rather surprising asset hidden within the turrets is Gustav III’s private theatre, begun in 1772 and completed in 1781 to designs by Erik Palmstedt. The playhouse space is one of the best-preserved 18th-century theatres in Europe. The auditorium is a comprehensive example of a neoclassical interior showcasing handcrafted columns, intricate gilding and crystal chandeliers.

Within the trinket space, a miniature royal box presides, complete with discreet vantage points for envoys and servants, which were cut high into the walls. Behind the mise-en-scène, the backstage conceals its original machinery, and painted flats survive from the last recorded performance, Drottning Christina, played before the court in 1785. Plaster figures of Comedy and Tragedy by Johan Tobias Sergel flank the proscenium, a reminder that Gustav, the “actor king”, cast himself as much a player as a patron. 

Princess Sofia Albertina’s bedroom. The bedchamber encapsulates the Gustavian interior style with painted wall panels, gilt mirrors and a canopy bed © Isabel Bronts.