Kungliga Slottet (Royal Palace), Stockholm

Favorite thing:
The history of Stockholm
~~~~~~
1754 The present Royal Palace


The present palace was built 1690-1708 and 1727-1754 . The pause in early 18th century was due to expensive wars of king Karl XII. Part of the "new" castle started to be built before the accidental burning down of the former castle "Tre Kronor" (see above). The walls of the "new" north wing survived the fire of 1697.

The new palace, also constructed with plans made by architect Nicodemus Tessin, has 1 more room than Buckingham Palace, lol, an "important" fact that is told when you are going on the guided tour through the palace ;-) The palace is still in use by the Royal family (but more like an office than living quarters; the Royal "home" is at Drottningholm). Large parts of the palace is open to the public like the "Bernadotte suite", the "Treasury", the "Castle Church", the "Gustav III antique-museum" etc. My best memories are of the room "Festvåningen", it is really beautiful! It is the largest room in the palace and I liked it so much because of its exquisite furniture and wall decorations.

Don't forget to visit the museum "Tre Kronor" situated under the present castle, (entrance from Lejonbacken) which as the name implies shows reminisces of the former castle "Tre Kronor"

Favorite thing: The Museum Tre Kroner is part of the complex of museums located at the Royal Palace in Gamla Stan.
What you'll find inside is:
1. foundations of the 13th century defensive walls
2. exhibits which were rescued when the original castle was destroyed in 1697 (by fire)
3. coins
4. animal bones
5. a model of the original castle
...and other stuff like this...it's not the most exciting museum actually...

The entrance fee is 70 Swedish Krone, but it's a better deal if you buy the "combination ticket" for 110 Swedish Krone. This gets you into the Tre Kroner Museum, Royal Apartments, the Treasury, and Gustav III's Museum of Antiquities.

Favorite thing: What visit to Europe would be complete without a visit to the Royal Palace. It is located on Gamla Stan, which is the "old town" where Stockholm originated. You can take the T-bana to the Gamla Stan stop. It was too late for us to go in, but it was very grand looking from the outside.

Favorite thing: KUNGLINGA SLOTTET (Royal Palace)

Situated in the heart of Stockholm

on the central island of Riddarholmen, this baroque edifice is the official residence of the monarchs of Sweden, and the chief venue for official state events.

Favorite thing: Royal Palace

Fondest memory:
The palace, with 608 rooms, is the largest royal palace in the world still in use.

The State Apartments are the most interesting section of the palace, with two floors of royal pomp and portraits.

Crowns are displayed at the Royal Treasury, near the Royal Chapel.

Favorite thing: Take a good look at the Royal Palace...unique among the royal
palaces, is known for its accessibility as great parts are open to the public.
As the old palace 'Three Crowns' was destroyed at the big fire in 1697, this
new palace was built in Italian baroque and its decoration was mostly made by
French artists.

Favorite thing: Go to the Tre Kronor Museum, you can see guards marching in and out. And there is also museum and beautiful things in there. Nowadays, Tre Kronor is no longer a palace where the king stays.

Fondest memory: I was with two of my bestfriends then, having a wonderful time together.

Favorite thing: See the Changing of the Guards at the Royal Palace. The palace is the biggest I've ever seen and the changing of the guards was really impressive. There were many horses, loads of guards and even music. It took more than an hour!!!

Here's what Bill Bryson said about the guards in his book 'Neither here nor there':

I made a circuit of the colossal royal palace (and I mean colossal - it has 600 rooms), which may be one of the most boring buildings ever constructed. I don't mean that it's unpleasant. It is just boring, featureless, like the buildings children make by cutting window-holes in cardboard boxes.
Still, I enjoyed the sentries, who much be the most engagingly wimpish-looking in the world. Sweden has been at peace for 150 years and remains determinedly unmilitaristic, so I suppose they don't want their soldiers to look too macho and ferocious; as a result they make them weat a white helmet that looks disarmingly like a bathing cap, and white spats straight out of Donald Duck. It's very hard not to go up to one of them and say, sotto voce out of the side of the mouth, 'You know, Lars, you look quite ridiculous.'

And - as often - he is so right ;)

Favorite thing: You must surely visit the Royal Palace. When you'll buy the tickets you'll must choose if buy a ticket for one place only (60 SEK) or for all the four places (100 SEK). The visitable places are the follows: The State Apartaments, The Treasury, The Tre Kronor Museum, Museum of Antiquities.

The State Apartaments: I cannot say you nothing because when I visit Stockholm there was closed.

The Tresuary:It's a very kindy museum with a lot of krowns, jawels, and etc., but is not possible to take picture.

The Tre Kronor Museum: It's the museum of the rest of ancient Royal Palace before it were destroyed by fire. It's good and interesting.

Museum of Antiquites: It's a museum with a lot of statues, busts and paintings. I don't like it very much because is little (only two rooms).

Favorite thing: Check out the changing of the guard at the palace which is as much of a spectacle in Stockholm as it is in London.