Wrangel Palace, Court building in Riddarholmen, Sweden
Wrangel Palace sits on Riddarholmen island in Stockholm, featuring a southern tower that stands out against the city skyline. The structure contains multiple stories with classical masonry and has undergone various rebuilding phases that reflect different architectural periods.
The southern round tower survives from Gustav Vasa's fortifications of the 1530s. In 1648 Queen Christina bought the property as a gift for field marshal Carl Gustaf Wrangel, who had it rebuilt and enlarged from 1652 to 1670 to designs by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder and Jean De La Vallée. After the 1697 Tre Kronor fire it housed the royal court as Kungshuset until 1754, then the Statskontoret from 1756 to 1928.
The palace has housed the Svea Court of Appeal since 1756, and the court still uses the whole building since 1954. It is said that the Statskontoret, housed here from 1756 to 1928, gave August Strindberg material for a biting passage in the first chapter of Röda rummet, "Stockholm in bird's-eye view".
The building is currently occupied by the court and not fully open for casual visits, though the exterior and surrounding area can be viewed freely. The southern tower is clearly visible from multiple vantage points across the island and from nearby bridges.
The plain facades date from the rebuilding after the 1802 Riddarholmen fire; only fragments of the earlier ornament survive, such as a carved sandstone portal and galleries facing the courtyard. The white plaster with grey details was restored in the 1984–1985 renovation.
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