Nääs Castle, neoclassical manor house in Lerum Municipality, Sweden
Nääs Castle is a neoclassical manor house on the Nääs Estate by Lake Sävelången in Västergötland, Sweden. Its white plastered facade has a projecting central section with a triangular pediment and round clock face, three arched red doors with a balcony, and a portico of four columns reached by a stone staircase. Two rows of red-framed windows and a grey-blue band on the lower level run along the wings.
The first documented reference to Nääs is a royal letter of 3 October 1529, in which Joen Småsven was granted two crown estates named "Näss i skalfzö soken" against an annual tax of four pounds of butter. A legend attributing a hunting castle to Kristian II has no documentary support. In 1868 the estate was bought by Gothenburg merchant August Abrahamson, who founded the craft school and left the property to a foundation created by his will of 7 April 1898.
From 1872 August Abrahamson ran a craft school here, and from 1874 a teachers' seminary led by his nephew Otto Salomon drew instructors from some 40 countries between 1880 and 1914. The estate is still run by the August Abrahamsons Foundation, and summer craft courses continue in the old seminary buildings.
The main building can only be visited on guided tours, held three times daily in June–August; groups can book outside the season. The estate has a restaurant, café, craft shop and building-conservation exhibition, plus nature and walking trails. The old stable houses a riding school, and there is overnight and conference accommodation on site.
The seven siblings of Gottfrid Berg who died in infancy are commemorated by a memorial stone in the castle park, moved there from Skallsjö old church. It stands by the northern gable of the mansion.
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