RIDDARHOLMEN CHURCH
Stockholm, Sweden
One of the most distinctive buildings
of
Stockholm, the
Riddarholmskyrkan (merely the Church on Riddarholmen Island) is the
burial
church for the majority of the monarchs of Sweden whose Royal Palace is
nearby
in Gamla Stan.
The oldest
parts of the structure date
to the late 13th
Century when the church was built as a Franciscan monastery. After the
Protestant Reformation, which in Sweden happened in the 1520s under
King Gustav
Vasa, the monastery was closed and turned into a Protestant church. A
spire was
added in the 1560s which survived until it was destroyed by lightning
in 1835
when it was replaced with the distinctive cast iron spire that is the
church’s
best known feature.
The majority
of Sweden’s monarchs
from Gustavus Adolphus (d.
1632) to Gustaf V (d. 1950) are buried here, with one or two
exceptions. Since
1950 all Royal burials have been at the Royal Cemetery. The
congregational side
of the church stopped in 1807 and it continues only as a site for
important
burials and ceremonial purposes.
Photo
- Andrew J. Müller
Back
to Cathedrals, Churches,
Abbeys etc... page
©
Text copyright - Raving Loony Productions and Andrew J.
Müller
© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. and Jacqui Müller
© Web Design and Layout - Andrew J. Müller
2018
