The Castle

Skokloster is considered one of the great Baroque castles of Europe. Built between 1654 and 1676 for Count Carl Gustaf Wrangel it is a monument to the Swedish Age of Greatness, the period in the middle of the seventeenth Century when Sweden expanded to become one of the major powers in Europe.

After the death of Count Wrangel in 1676 the castle was never fully completed. The banqueting hall still stands unfinished and many of the tools used in building the house remain. The rest of the castle has also remained amazingly untouched for more than 300 years. Wrangel and the subsequent owners collected weapons, books, silver and textiles among many things. The present day collection is a rare insight into the 17th and 18th Centuries.

Margareta Juliana, Wrangel's eldest daughter, married Count Nils Brahe, a member of Sweden’s most exalted non-royal family. On her initiative Skokloster was made an Entailed Estate in 1701. It is a form of ownership that prohibit the owner from selling or giving away any part of the estate; the estate and its collections have thus been allowed to grow through the years.