Alsters herrgård, Manor house and museum in Alster, Karlstad Municipality, Sweden.
Alsters herrgård is a white wooden manor house in Karlstad Municipality set on landscaped grounds with gardens and furnished with period pieces and traditional architectural details from the 18th century. The complex includes exhibition rooms, a café serving Swedish food, and shops selling regional crafts.
Alsters herrgård is first documented in 1397. In the 16th century it belonged to Queen Margareta Eriksdotter (Leijonhufvud) and King Gustav Vasa, then to his son Duke Karl, the founder of Karlstad; the stone main building then stood where the east wing is now. After a fire in the 1760s the manor was rebuilt in 1772 on its present site, with a second storey added in 1787. In 1837 Jan Fröding, the poet's grandfather, bought it and had it rebuilt in Neoclassical style to plans by Johan Fredrik Åbom, painted white as it remains.
The manor is run as a memorial to Gustaf Fröding, who was born here on 22 August 1860; the memorial opened in 1976. The upper floor retains four tiled stoves and a panoramic wallpaper from the 1837 renovation. Fröding's grandfather Jan bought the estate that year and had it rebuilt in neoclassical style.
Parking is available on the grounds while a café serves Swedish meals and pastries and shops sell regional crafts. Plan to arrive with enough time to explore the exhibition rooms and gardens at a comfortable pace.
The manor was bought in 1928 by Per Clarholm, chief physician at Karlstad's central hospital. After his death in 1942 it was donated to the county council, which ran it as a convalescent home until 1968; the Fröding memorial opened in 1976.
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