Gävle Castle, Royal castle in Gävle, Sweden

Gävle Castle is a royal castle in Gävle, Sweden, featuring symmetrical wings, a central courtyard, and a white exterior with yellow trim and regularly spaced rectangular windows. The complex includes several interconnected buildings surrounded by maintained grounds that shape how people move through the space.

King Johan III began a church castle on the site in 1583, designed by architect Willem Boy and completed in 1597. After decades of decay it was rebuilt in the 1650s and 1660s as the governor's residence and provincial government office. A fire at Easter 1727 ruined the castle church and the top floor; Carl Hårleman drew up the rebuilding, and the first governor, Axel Johan Gripenhielm, moved in in 1754.

The castle's name comes from its origin as a church castle begun under Johan III, with the church room at its centre. Inside the castle wall, in the south-east corner of the plot, stands Slottshäktet, probably originally a food cellar and used as a jail from the 17th century; since then it has housed Sweden's Prison Museum.

The castle is the working residence of the County Governor of Gävleborg County, so the interior is not open to tourists. What visitors can see from outside is the 18th-century facade by Carl Hårleman and the courtyard wall by Slottstorget. In the south-east corner of the plot stands Slottshäktet, the former prison, which now houses Sweden's Prison Museum.

Inside the castle wall, in the plot's southeast corner, stands Slottshäktet, probably originally a food cellar and used as a jail from the 17th century. It burned in the 1727 fire, was rebuilt by 1732, and now houses Sweden's Prison Museum.