Terry's Travel: Dark History of Royal Palace Sweden

#DarkHistory_RoyalPalaceSweden

As i walk to Gamla Stan (Old Town) of Stockholm, its easy to spot this massive Baroque structure that has over 1,430 rooms (with my investigative interest in the cellar location) and is one of the largest active palaces in Europe
Unlike many other global royal sites, a large portion here is open to the public year around

KeyTip
Depending on how long you are in the city or what you wish to visit, but the Go City Stockholm Pass
is your best value
Its a digital sightseeing ticket to over 50+ major attractions, museums and boat tours
across the area

Tre Kronor
You cannot help but see the Three Crowns every where inside as i walk the halls, it has become the national emblem of Sweden and is featured on its passports, government buildings plus
national sports jerseys

The Mystery Beginnings
The symbol has been used since the 1300s and the popular theory ranges from the Three Wise Men of the Bible, or to representing the three ancient Pagen Gods of Uppsala

Fire of 1697
The sign was on the central tower of the Citadel in Stockholm which then the name of Three Crowns Castle was born, which unfortunately burnt down
This Palace was built on those grounds, which inside a museum was constructed that traces the history of the fortress using surviving artifacts, scale models and archaeological remnants

Independence
The Three Crowns were used yet again during the Kalmar Union in which Sweden, Denmark and Norway were all ruled under a single monarch
When Sweden officially broke away from the alliance in the 16th century, it kept the emblem to show itself as a proud member of a national sovereignty

Nordic Versailles
The architect Nicodemus Tessin was aiming to recreate the grandeur of Versailles, but unlike its famous "sister palace" it never experienced the massive looting that the French endured, so the building has retained a completely unmatched archive of its original 1600s to 1700s furniture, carpets and decor

Birthplace of Swedish Art
During the sixty year construction window, a drawing school was established inside the building during the 1730s, this workshop eventually evolved into todays Royal Academy of Fine Arts

Listed Official Residence
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia actually live at Drottningholm Palace, so instead the building are used for other forms of government business or hosting state run galas of foreign dignitaries

Museum of Antiquities
It houses over two hundred antique Roman sculptures, busts and vases

Neoclassicism
King Gustav III purchased a massive collection during his visit of Italy in 1783, he wanted to showcase Sweden as an enlightened and culturally sophisticated European power

Bronze Putti Statues
It was done to contrast the long staircases of the palace (or any huge open space you visit in your future travels) to emit a soft glow or to "shrink" the area

Public Events
The Palace is also open for business to host private gatherings to help raise funds

Expensive Maintenance Costs
General daily running and administrative support is around $20 million USD per year
Old buildings means ongoing structural work and preservation which is pegged at $52 million USD, (over a 22 year span) with just the masonry is at 2.1 million USD per year
So revenue is raised from daily ticket sales from tourists and the mentioned
community gatherings

The Dark History Era
In 1520 King Christian II of Denmark went on a three day mass execution (80-100 people) of Swedish nobility, clergy and prominent citizens
After this horrific event, it started the road to Independence from the Kalmar Union and into the country of Sweden (1523) with King Gustav I as the Head of State

Black Friars Monastery
It was founded in 1336 by King Magnus Eriksson and they got their nickname because of the black cloaks worn over their white garments
King Gustav shut down the monastery and seized all its belongings to payoff their war debts, famously one item was a 11 kilogram ( 388 ounces) silver plaque that was melted down

Repurposed
In 1527 a law was introduced called the Reformation to Sweden, this led to the confiscation and closure of all Catholic Monasteries
Much of the building materials from this particular site was carted away and reused
for the Royal Palace

Haunted Rooms
After the church was demolished (but amazingly) the medieval vaulted cellars survived, which at times are open for guided tours

Actual Events
A) Black Death (1350); the Friars have a deep historical and spiritual tradition of caring for the sick, so many died at a high rate with their exposure and also those who they were trying to help passed away.
Thus the monastery vaults were overwhelmed with the deceased as
Stockholm lost 30% of its population during this pandemic
Needless to say it was a
devastating period of history for the city

B) Fire of 1407; the blaze killed many monks inside the monastery

C) Political Prison (1500s); in the late Middle Ages the Abbey functioned as a jail for high profile captives, most famously Queen Christina of Saxony (wife of King John of Denmark)
There are no official records of inmates dying as it was considered "temporary captivity" but needless to say the conditions were terrible.
So yes between diseases of these times and the "sordid living quarters" there would of been some who ended up succumbing to the elements

Connected by Folklore
A) Silver Plaque; after it was melted and because it was believed to cure diseases but also raise the dead, this awoke the spirits

B) Atlas Vampire; the monastery evil connection to the unsolved murder in 1932 was by the 1.6km (1 mile) distance between the two areas and nothing to do with the ancient site
The killer had systematically drained all the blood from her body in the district of Atlas and so
the story began to circulate

Bones Room
In Swedish its called Bunkallaren (the bone cellar) and i asked the staff a few times where it was in the Palace. The reply was eerily silent, then as you can see with the top picture i found the
blocked entrance (or so i assume)

I researched that the area in question was part of the surviving sections of the Three Crowns Castle, which was discovered during an archaeological excavation under the palace in the 1920s
The mystery remains whether the human and animal remains found here were of ancient burials, if they were moved from elsewhere during early city construction, or maybe something more sinister