The Royal Court

History, Rosersberg Palace

Rosersberg Palace. Copperplate, Erik Dahlberg's "Suecia antiqua et hodierna". Original: The National Library of Sweden, The Royal Library.
Rosersberg gets its name from the mother of its founder, the Lord High Treasurer Gabriel Bengtsson Oxenstierna.

His mother came of the well-known Tre Rosor ("Three Roses") family. The Palace began to be built in 1634 and was completed four years later.

It was typical of its period, with a very lofty main building and magnificent, richly decorated gables in Dutch-German Renaissance style. In front of the main building was a courtyard enclosed by three lowrise enfilades.

The Renaissance Palace felt out of date


By the second half of the 17th century, the Renaissance Palace was felt to be out of date, and the Lord High Treasurer's son, Chancery President Bengt Oxenstierna, had it radically modernised in the current Baroque style.

For this he engaged the country's leading architect, Nicodemus Tessin the Younger. New wings were added and fitted out with garden grottoes, which have survived down to the present day.

The tall Renaissance gables of the main building were demolished and the building was given a hipped roof.

18th century modernizations


A splendid colonnaded gallery survives from that time. In 1747, Rosersberg was acquired by Baron Erland Broman, and was again greatly modernised.

These alterations were directed by one of the country's most prominent 18th century architects, Jean Eric Rehn.

On Broman's death in 1757, the property was acquired by the State and placed at the disposal of the young Duke Karl (later King Karl XIII) of Södermanland. This is how Rosersberg became a royal residence.

"Karl XIIIth Empire"


Duke Karl continued the process of modernisation, still under Rehn's direction. On the death of his brother, Gustav III, in 1792, Karl became Regent for the young King Gustav IV Adolf.

After 1792 the Palace acquired a number of important new interiors, typified by the Orange and Red Drawing Rooms and the Hogland Room.

Stylistically, this work comes midway between the neo-classical   epoch  and  the  subsequent empire period, and the  Palace interiors are often referred to as "Karl XIII th Empire".