Medieval treasures
Numerous Viking sites dot Sweden. The site of Anundshög, in Västmanland, shelters the largest tumulus of the country. This artificial hill sheltering burials is 14 m high! Its top is decorated with amazing stone alignments evoking the silhouette of a boat. The Vikings are also famous for their mastery of wood, which can be seen in their longhouses with curved walls giving the whole thing the appearance of an overturned ship. The open-air museum in Löddeköpinge, in Skåne, has some fine examples. At the same time, the Vikings built many fortified areas, such as the motte castrale on which the fortress of Trelleborg was later built. The sites of Birka and Hovgården testify to the organization of the merchant cities of the time, whose ramparts protected the ports. At the same time, the Christian world extended its influence. The cathedral of Lund is one of its most beautiful Romanesque sanctuaries. Its formal sobriety is underlined by a decorative refinement that shows through zigzag and spiral motifs or through the famous Lombard bands (vertical bands of low projection linked together by small blind arcatures). The sandstone of the cathedral is matched by the wood of the stavkirke, or medieval churches. The one in Hedared has often been described as an ingenious wooden translation of a Romanesque basilica, tinged with Norman and... Viking influences! Small in size, it impresses by the solidity of its pillars, beams and rafters. The Middle Ages are also urban. The superb half-timbered houses of Ystad, with their polychromy of brick and wood, date from this period; as does Gamla Stan, the historic heart of Stockholm, where the influence of the powerful Hanseatic League is already apparent... which finds its apogee in the beautiful city of Visby. Its ramparts, 3.4 km long, protect a city where vast stone warehouses are laid out in parallel rows near the port, half-timbered houses and superb guild houses bearing the mark of a Hanseatic Gothic style made of stepped gabled facades and decorated with coats of arms. Brick, always produced locally, is the key element of this Gothic style, which is also found in the flamboyant cathedral of Uppsala. With its 119 m length, it is one of the largest in the country! At the same time, Sweden has also seen the development of surprising church towns. The site of Gammelstad is the most beautiful example. There, 424 wooden houses surround the stone church. These houses were only used on days of worship or festivals, when a long journey and a harsh climate prevented the faithful from returning home. The castle of Borgholm translates, him, the evolutions of the defensive architecture, passing from a simple limestone tower (20 m high all the same!) in XIIe century to a true fortress protected by a surrounding wall with three towers in XIIIe.
16th-18th centuries
Under the Vasa dynasty, castles displayed a surprising duality. On the one hand, they kept a massive and defensive aspect, with the addition of elements allowing them to resist the evolution of modern artillery; on the other hand, they were adorned with delicate Renaissance motifs, transforming themselves into pleasure palaces. This is very visible in the castles of Borgholm and Vadstena, both of which had corner towers with circular cannons, moats and defensive ditches added, before seeing their features softened under more classical lines. The following century was marked by baroque effervescence. The power is staged in an astonishing decorative theatricality. The castle of Hässelby, with its towers decorated with domes and its garden conceived as a theater of nature, is a beautiful example. Nicodemus Tessin the Elder reinvents the great baroque residences as shown by the Wrangel Palace, the largest private palace in Stockholm, with its inner courtyard with arcades and its rich facade. But his most beautiful realization is undoubtedly thecastle of Drottningholm, which follows a plan said "between court and garden". Its very long façade (160 m!) is full of stucco, moldings and sculptures. It is to his son, Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, that we owe a large part of the current silhouette of the Royal Palace of Stockholm. See its facades where statues, elaborate balusters, pilasters and volutes are mixed. And don't miss its garden designed on the model of Italian villas. This architectural effervescence was accompanied by new urbanistic reflections. New cities were created following a regular grid whose arteries were organized around a central square. The geometrical plan of Gothenburg has an originality of Dutch influence: canals. A way to adapt the city to the constraints of the land! Founded in 1680, Karlskrona is a very good example of a planned city. The city was designed according to a checkerboard pattern, dividing spaces according to their use, and protected by solid fortifications. The eighteenth century, on the other hand, began a turn towards classicism, as shown by the evolution of Drottningholm Castle, which was equipped with new spaces (theater, galleries...) and a French garden, inspired by the classical lines of the Palace of Versailles, while preserving an exuberant and exotic decoration, such as its Chinese Pavilion!
From eclecticism to functionalism
In the 19th century, museums, palaces and villas became eclectic. The Hallwyl museum alternates between Venetian Gothic and Spanish Renaissance, while the Nationalmuseum recalls the purity of ancient lines; as for the Villa Mittag-Leffler (Stockholm), its silhouette evokes a baroque villa as well as a castle! It was at this time, and after a terrible fire, that the City of Stone of Sundsvall was rebuilt. Its wide avenues and beautiful squares are lined with sumptuous buildings (in stone and fireproof bricks this time!), such as the neo-Renaissance style Hirschka House, watched over by a golden dragon, symbol of protection against fire, the Knaust Hotel with its large marble staircase and its hall of mirrors, or the neo-Gothic church of Gustaf Adolf, which rises to 81 m. Neo-Gothic is the style of choice of Helgo Zettervall, who worked on the restoration of famous Gothic buildings, wishing to give them the appearance of a flamboyant French Gothic, of which he was a great admirer... even if it meant erasing the contributions of Hanseatic Gothic and Baroque, as was the case for the cathedrals of Uppsala and Skara. In parallel to these historicizing trends, modernity made some inroads via beautiful examples of metal architecture, such as the Palmeraie in Gothenburg, and the arrival of a new style: Art Nouveau, or Jugendstil. The Jugendhuset in Gothenburg is one of the first buildings of this style, which fuses structure and decoration. The national romanticism combines all these stylistic contributions by associating them with local traditions. The most famous of its representatives is the Stockholm City Hall. Designed by Ragnar Östberg, it is a free reinterpretation of Hanseatic and Venetian Gothic. Östberg's villas are a beautiful synthesis of Swedish craftsmanship, classical architecture and wood tradition (Villa Bonnier, Villa Pauli). Ivar Tengbom is also inspired by the medieval tradition, while bringing it into dialogue with modernity, as shown by his church in Högalid with its massive silhouette and interior walls mixing Art Nouveau and Art Deco influences. These still somewhat exuberant lines were to be succeeded by the Nordic classicism that the Anglo-Saxons dubbed "Swedish Grace". Indeed, the lines of Gunnar Asplund's neoclassical creations, such as the Stockholm Library, are graceful. Together with Sigurd Lewerentz, Asplund designed Stockholm's wooded cemetery, Skogskyrkogården. Here there are no excessive rules or alignments, but a layout reminiscent of medieval cemeteries. The 1930 Stockholm Exhibition marked the advent of functionalism, which is well represented by the Esselte Company headquarters and the Citypalatset, designed by Ivar Tengbom, with their long rows of windows and their top floors forming a staircase structure set back from the façade. Sven Markelius was inspired by the socio-political concept of the People's Houses and imagined collective buildings combining common spaces, local services and comfortable, bright housing. He pushed his thinking further with the new urban plan for Vällingby, which he designed with a constant concern for detail and the environment. We also owe him the project of the Hötorget skyscrapers which, with their glass and aluminum curtain walls, are the quintessence of this functionalist modernism. These reflections will largely inspire the "Million Program" of the years 1960-1970. The goal was to give everyone access to decent housing at a reasonable price. Thousands of housing units were created and entire neighborhoods were built, such as Skärholmen in Stockholm or Rosengård in Malmö. Unfortunately, these neighborhoods were quickly transformed into what they rejected: dormitory towns. As a counterpoint, some architects are trying to find another way, like Bengt Warne and his concept of Naturhus, an ecological house topped by an insulating glass case!
Contemporary effervescence
Stockholm, the European Union's first green capital in 2010, has a wealth of sustainable urban development projects, including some truly contemporary treasures, such as the beautiful Artipelag Gallery, a pine and concrete building with a roof made of succulents and opening onto the sea; the Kallbadhus, an astonishing circular structure with a glass facade that seems to float on the water; the Victoria Tower, whose glass silhouette reaches 117 meters and gives it the appearance of a lighthouse; or the Sthlm 01 Tower, the spearhead of the new ecological district of Hammarby Sjöstad. And the city should soon welcome its first wooden skyscrapers! In Malmö, don't miss the Library transformed by Henning Larsen into a glass cube (which earned it the nickname of the light calendar!); the Triangeln underground station, designed as a light well that shines 25 meters deep; the indescribable Emporia shopping mall, by Gert Windgårdh, whose structure seems to fold in on itself in an astonishing play of geometric variations; and above all the Västra Hamnen district, a former industrial wasteland reconverted into a 100% sustainable zone, where the new emblem of the city stands: santiago Calatrava's HSB Turning Torso, the world's first twisted skyscraper! In Gothenburg, let yourself be surprised by the Kuggen, a cylindrical structure covered with mosaics of glazed terracotta plates that change color depending on the light: a very baroque trompe-l'oeil! Gothenburg is also home to one of the country's most prolific agencies, White Arkitekter, which is multiplying superb sustainable projects, such as the Växjö train station-city hall project under a monumental wooden structure. And let's not forget the Tree Hotel in Harads, with its tree houses whose mirror-chamber is made almost invisible by its cladding; or the Solar Egg in Kiruna, the city's new giant sauna covered in stainless steel sheets with a mirror effect. By 2035, the city center will have been moved several kilometers to make way for the nearby iron ore mine. Its most beautiful buildings, including its wooden church, will be moved and will rub shoulders with the modern buildings of the new sustainable and ecological center!
Traditional architecture
Wood is the main element of the Swedish traditional architecture. It must be said that it is found here in abundance. The first structures, of which we can still see beautiful examples today, are, certainly summary, but very ingenious! The log cabins are very solid because of the mortise and tenon assembly technique which allows a perfect interlocking. All that was needed to build them was an axe! The backstugor, literally "slope cottages", blend into the landscape. Almost semi-subterranean, they have 3 wooden walls, the surrounding stone acting as a4th wall. And their roof is covered with peat and grass. Just like the summer farms in the mountainous regions. In the 17th century, the wealthiest inhabitants built two-storey manor houses, made of wood of course, but this time in pretty colors! But it is in the XIXth century that this wooden architecture knows its apogee. It is the advent of a trend called snickarglädje, literally "the joy of the carpenter". The windows, doors, canopies and cornices of these wooden houses are adorned with superb decorations that have the finesse of lace (mantling, friezes, volutes ...). The house of the artist Anders Zorn (Mora Church) is a superb example of this rustic and refined architecture. Fascinated by the richness of this wooden architecture, the artist and his wife have even created the largest open-air museum in Dalarna, gathering about 40 wooden houses. But the most beautiful are of course the decorated farms of Hälsingland. These 7 wooden houses date from the 18th and 19th centuries and testify to the prosperity of the farmers of the time. Between popular traditions and European styles, the paintings and decorations underline the purity of the lines of these rustic houses. An attention to color that is found in most traditional Swedish houses, with a predilection for red, and in particular the red falun made from the copper residues of the mine of the same name. But this paint is not only aesthetic, it is also practical, since it protects the wood. These small houses whose piercing red is enhanced by the white of the frames and edges are inseparable from the Swedish landscape!
