Svaneholm Castle

Skåne · Sweden · Castle

This Renaissance castle in Skåne even has its own ghost exhibition — a dancing Danish king and a White Lady are among those said to walk here.

Svaneholm Castle in Skurup, Skåne, is a moated Renaissance castle with so many ghost legends that it has built an exhibition about them. Among the figures said to haunt its halls are the Danish king Frederick II dancing in the music room, a White Lady and a Grey Monk. Many visitors have described experiences they read as supernatural. The castle holds a museum and restaurant and is open to visitors.

Svaneholm Castle stands in Skurup parish in Skåne. The main building is built around a courtyard in four brick wings. The oldest is the wing with the gatehouse; its plan corresponds in essence to the fortified stone houses of the late Middle Ages, such as Glimmingehus. The other wings were built somewhat later, and all four originally had three storeys. Crenellations and two blind storeys on one wing were added between 1694 and 1705.

Svaneholm received little of the Renaissance ornament of its age: the only decoration is the stepped gables and the narrow white frieze that runs around the outside. The cellar is a single long room where the castle garrison was quartered. The first floor holds the knights' hall and the second the great chamber, the "fruestugan", where the women of the house kept. In the attic is a shooting loft with loopholes and machicolations.

Under the nobleman Axel Gyllenstierna the south-eastern wing was raised with two blind storeys above the existing three. Gyllenstierna took his inspiration from journeys abroad, among them Italy, where the Baroque was then in fashion. Building began around 1694, and the blind storey is topped by a heavy cornice with a balustrade of chimney-like masonry blocks. The work was meant to continue along the remaining three wings, but stopped abruptly when Gyllenstierna died in 1705. In 1698 Anton Fredrik von Cöllen was brought from Germany for decorative work inside.

The castle is owned by the Svaneholm Castle cooperative. Concerts, outdoor weddings and other events are held in the park in summer. The local heritage society runs part of the castle as a museum, and another part houses a restaurant.

Building facts: Wikipedia and Wikidata (CC BY-SA).

FAQ

Where is Svaneholm Castle located?

Svaneholm Castle is in Skåne, Sweden.

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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Jorchr · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons