Borgholm, Øland Island

  Borgholm, Öland, Sweden
Tuesday, June 29, 2004

We headed to the east coast and drove across the bridge to Øland Island. Øland is the large long thin island off the southeast coast of Sweden.

We drove around the island which has many interesting sights. We saw old churches, many windmills, farms, and even an old castle.

We headed out to Borgholms Slott (Borgholm Castle). As we were walking up to the castle, we saw a Glass stand.

1-Ice cream at Bornholm Castle

Turns out that is Swedish for ice cream. So we sat down to have an ice cream cone before heading up to the castle.

Ice cream at Bornholm Castle

There are a number of reenactors there playing the roles of medieval people including knights and damsels all in period dress.

7-Bornholm Castle

6-Bornholm Castle

As we came into the castle

Bornholm Castle

, we ran into a knight who asked if I would like to be knighted. I thought that was a good idea so I did it and I am now known as Sir Philip!

Being knighted at Bornholm Castle

The castle is massive in both area and height.

1-Bornholm Castle

2-Bornholm Castle

3-Bornholm Castle

4-Bornholm Castle

5-Bornholm Castle

The first thing to be built was a round, fortified main tower within a strong curtain wall. That was in the 12th century. In the Middle Ages the castle was enlarged by several stages. From 1572 to 1592 King Johan III had the castle totally converted, under the management of the architect brothers Johan Baptista and Domenicus Pahr, into a magnificent Renaissance palace. During the Kalmar War (1611-1613) the building was very severely damaged, and when King Charles X Gustaf was to start the repair work, he appointed Nicodemus Tessin the Elder to rebuild the castle into a Baroque palace. It was begun in 1652 but towards the end of the 17th century the work gradually came to a standstill and was finally closed down during the campaign Charles XII fought in Russia in 1709. At that time there were no roofs on both the eastern and the southern wing and many other parts were far from finished. Thereafter the castle was left to decay until 1806 when it was definitely devastated by a widespread fire. In the 1880s, work was begun to preserve and partially restore the Castle of Borgholm.