Skokloster Castle

Sweden, Sweden

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Skokloster Castle, located on Lake Mälaren between Stockholm and Uppsala, Sweden, originated from a 13th-century Cistercian monastery estate confiscated during the Reformation and gifted to Herman Wrangel in 1611.

Count Carl Gustaf Wrangel commissioned its Baroque construction from 1654 to 1676, designed primarily by Caspar Vogel with contributions from Jean de la Vallée, Mathias Spihler, and Nicodemus Tessin the Elder, featuring a square layout with corner towers, symmetrical Palladian proportions, and an unfinished banqueting hall where tools remain from Wrangel's death. 

Passed to the Brahe and von Essen families before state acquisition in 1967, the preserved monument to Sweden's Great Power era now operates as a museum showcasing 17th-century opulence, armory, library, and gardens.