The King’s Hall, Skokloster Castle

The King’s Hall is located on the eastern side of the second floor and in the middle of the Wrangel Floor, between the Count’s and Countess’s room suites. At Wrangel’s time, the room was called “the daily dining room”. In the 18th century the walls were adorned with portraits of royal regents, and the room was then called the King’s Hall. Here are monomental paintings showing Karl X Gustav, Karl XI and Karl XII. For the work, the most famous artists of the day answered Jacob von Sandrart, David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl and David von Krafft.

The King’s Hall is the castle’s most lavish room. Here are patterned limestone floors, golden leather on the walls and a decorated ceiling showing polychrome reliefs in stucco with different themes. In the center of the roof, the ancient hero Jason is pouring poison into the dragon’s eye to access the Golden skin. In the dragon’s gap, one of the oldest chandeliers hangs in Europe. It is made in Stockholm by Melchior Jung and has been in Skokloster since 1672. Around the center of the roof are the four continents Asia, America, Africa and Europe. It took almost a year to complete the roof, and Hans Zauch from Bavaria was responsible for the work.

The King’s hall is the most lavish of all the rooms at Skokloster Castle. It is situated in the middle of the Wrangel apartments, between the rooms of the count and those of the countess.

During the Wrangel era the room was called “The Everyday Diningroom”. In the 18th Century, when portraits of kings and queens started filling up the walls, it became known as “The King’s Hall”.

Skokloster Castle
Skokloster Castle is a Swedish Baroque castle built between 1654 and 1676 by Carl Gustaf Wrangel, located on a peninsula of Lake Mälaren between Stockholm and Uppsala. It became a state museum in the 1970s and displays collections of paintings, furniture, textiles and tableware as well as books and weapons.

The finished parts of the castle display the full, sumptuous splendour of the Baroque. Its detailed chambers are home to collections of paintings, furniture, textiles and silver and glass tableware. One of the most famous paintings is the 16th century Vertumnus by Italian master Giuseppe Arcimboldo, depicting the face of Holy Roman emperor Rudolf II as the Roman god of the seasons using fruits and vegetables. The painting was taken as war booty in Prague in the 17th century.

The castle armoury and library are noteworthy, both founded on Wrangel’s collections of weapons and books and enriched and enlarged by other 17th- and 18th-century aristocratic bequests, such as those by Carl Gustaf Bielke.

The armoury contains the largest collection of personal 17th century military weapons in the world. Mostly muskets and pistols, but also swords – including Japanese samurai swords – small cannons, pikes and crossbows. The weapons collection also includes various exotic items such as a 16th-century Eskimo canoe and snake skins. The original scale model of the castle, which the architect Caspar Vogel had made to demonstrate his plan to Count Wrangel, is also there.

Skokloster Castle is located at the countryside 60 km northwest of Stockholm, the Swedish capital. Together with the Hallwyl Museum and the Royal Armoury the castle constitutes a national authority, headed by a Director General, and accountable to the Ministry of Culture. The three museums base their work on a national cultural policy resolution enacted by Swedish Parliament. Skokloster Castle is one of the mayor monuments from the period when Sweden was one of the most powerful countries in Europe. It’s built in the baroque style between 1654 and 1676. At Skokloster the Field Marshal and Count Carl Gustaf Wrangel (1613-1676) created a stately home of European caliber during the second half of the 17th century. Just like continental princes, he tried to understand the world by collecting the most remarkable things that Man and nature were capable of making. The castle has remained amazingly untouched for more than 300 years, giving this building a unique authenticity. Wrangel and the following owners collected fine arts like armory, books, silver, glass, textiles and furniture. The collection consists of about 50 000 items in the 77 rooms in the Castle. Skokloster is considered one of the great castles of Baroque Europe.