In front of you rises Riddarhuset, the House of Nobility. From the 1670s until the parliamentary reform of 1866, the noble estate of the Swedish Diet met here. It was the great showcase of aristocratic power in the century when Sweden was a major European power.

1Four architects and a new kind of roof

Construction lasted from 1641 to 1674 and passed through several hands: the Frenchman Simon de la Vallée, the German Heinrich Wilhelm, the Dutchman Justus Vingboons and finally Jean de la Vallée, son of the first. Jean designed the double-pitched roof with its curved profile, the so-called säteritak, later copied by hundreds of manor houses all over Sweden. Inside hang more than two thousand coats of arms of noble families.

2The king on the pedestal

The bronze figure is Gustav Vasa, by Pierre Hubert L'Archevêque, unveiled in 1774. Gustav Eriksson Vasa lost his father in the Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520, led the rebellion against Christian II of Denmark, was elected king in 1523 and entered Stockholm that same summer. With him the Kalmar Union came to an end and modern Sweden began.

On this very square, on 20 June 1810, a mob beat to death the Marshal of the Realm, Axel von Fersen, whom it accused without evidence of poisoning the crown prince.

3What to look for

  • The statues on the roof, representing the house motto, Arte et Marte: 'by art and by arms'.
  • The curved copper roof, the model for Sweden's manor-house style.
  • The reliefs on the pedestal of Gustav Vasa.

Documented

Riddarhuset was built between 1641 and 1674 and was the seat of the noble estate until 1866; L'Archevêque's statue of Gustav Vasa was unveiled in 1774, and Axel von Fersen was lynched on the square in 1810.

Sources and credits

Riddarhuset (official website of the House of Nobility); Nils-Gustaf Stahre and Per Anders Fogelström, «Stockholms gatunamn» (1986); Swedish Wikipedia, «Riddarhuspalatset» and «Riddarhustorget».

Photos:

  • Baroque façade of Riddarhuset with a curved green copper roof and the statue of Gustav Vasa in front: Frankie Fouganthin, CC BY 4.0.

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