- Drottningholm Palace
- Gripsholm Castle
- Gustav III's Pavilion
- Haga Palace
- The Royal Mews
- The Chinese Pavilion
- The Royal Palace
- The Riddarholmen Church
- Rosendal Palace
- Rosersberg Palace
- The Royal Chapel
- Strömsholm Palace
- Tullgarn Palace
- Ulriksdal Palace
- The Royal Djurgården
- Haga Park
- The Fjäderholm Islands
- Start
- / Royal Court
- / Royal Palaces
- / Drottningholm Palace
- / The Palace Park
Drottningholm Palace Park
At that time it was primarily a utility garden and was situated approximately where the parking area, east of the theatre, is located today.
The park and gardens at Drottningholm have been developed in three stages, inspired by three main styles.
Queen Hedvig Eleonora
The oldest garden was planted at the end of the 1600s upon the initiative of Queen Hedvig Eleonora.
The work was headed by the palace architects Tessin – father and son. This part of the garden is known as the baroque garden and is situated directly adjacent to the palace, enclosed by four lime-tree lined avenues.
The architects were inspired by newly planted palace gardens in France at the time, where the ideal was strict, ordered and symmetrical.
The baroque garden lay in disrepair during the 1800s but was restored in the 1950–60s by Gustaf VI Adolf.
The parterre de broderi
Closest to the palace lies the parterre de broderi, which originally had an intricate embroidery pattern of box-wood hedges and coloured gravel.
Today, these have been replaced by a large lawn with box-wood hedges on the outer edges as well as a band of crushed brick and black hyperite.
Adriaen de Vries
At the centre stands the Hercules fountain – bronze figures created by the sculptor Adriaen de Vries.
All the bronze sculptures located in the park are created by de Vries and came to Sweden as booty after wars in Prague 1648 and Fredriksborg 1659.
After a walled terrace comes the parterre d´eau with ten jets of water and lawns enclosed by box-wood hedges.
Seven cascades
A cascade construction made of seven cascades on each side of the centre avenue make up the background of the parterres – a liberal free interpretation of the original Tessin cascades, which were torn down a the beginning of the 1800s .
Beyond the cascades lie four hedge groves and the crown fountain. Today the groves remain as they were formed during the 1700s.
The southwest grove contains a theatre of leaves, with hedges forming the walls and stage.
Muncken's hill
Between the groves and Muncken's hill at the bottom of the baroque garden lie the high-grown remains of the star hedge formation, made up of pruned hedges.
The parterres situated at the palace´s water front are a reconstruction of those from 1723.
A more "natural" park
In the middle of the 1700s a garden was built around the Chinese Pavilion. At this time, the strict, symmetrical garden ideal began to be abandoned for a more natural park.
Queen Lovisa Ulrika was inspired by this new line of thought and commissioned the Chinese Pavilion's architect, Carl Fredrik Adelkrantz, to plant chestnut tree-lined avenues around the Chinese Pavilion so visitors could view the landscape.
The groves to the east of the Chinese Pavilion were planted as bowers for carefree open air rendezvous.
Exotic birds
Large aviaries were built for exotic birds. One remains – however it has undergone significant alterations and differs greatly from its original form.
A menagerie was built beyond the groves, however all that is left today is a pond.
Behind the pavilion itself lies a tree grove containing a mix of Swedish trees, giving a “wild" impression and providing a frame of nature romanticism to the Chinese Pavilion.
King Gustav III
When Gustav III took over Drottningholm in 1777, he wished to make room for the new park ideal from England – the natural landscape park or English garden.
Fredrik Magnus Piper, who studied these gardens first hand in England, was commissioned in 1780 to create such a garden to the north of the baroque garden.
This garden is made up of two ponds with canals, islets and beautiful bridges, expansive lawns as well as tree-lined avenues and tree groves. Walkways wind themselves all around the park.
The English garden
Viewing paths stretch through the English garden and partly through the baroque garden providing beautiful viewpoints and landscape vistas.
Only a few of all the romantic buildings that were planned for the English garden were completed – for instance the neo-Gothic style tower.
The intention was to provide beautiful surprises amongst the foliage or a visual endpoint from a distance.
Kungsängen
South of the baroque garden towards Lake Mälaren lies Kungsängen and a small canal system, developed in the 1800s. Oscar II and his family planted their oak tree here on October 30, 1881.
The tradition was continued by Gustaf VI Adolf in 1973 and by Carl XVI Gustaf in 1996.
