Salsta Castle, Baroque castle in Vattholma, Sweden

Salsta Castle is a two-storey stone and brick building of about 35 rooms, raised in the 1670s to a design by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder, executed by Mathias Spieler. It has a lower ground floor with two projecting corner pavilions and two independent wings facing the garden side. The ground floor was decorated in 1682 with fabric-stretched ceilings painted in shades of grey to imitate stucco.

The medieval fortified manor on the site is first documented in 1301, when Karl Gregersson exchanged it with Abjörn Sixtensson Sparre. Nils Turesson Bielke raised a three-storey Renaissance castle in the 1610s. In the 1670s Nils Bielke the Younger replaced it with the present French Baroque palace, built by Mathias Spieler after a design by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder.

The castle shows the marks of different noble families who lived here over the centuries through its decoration and layout. The style and furnishings show how Swedish nobility displayed their wealth and power during the Baroque period.

The castle is located north of Uppsala and opens to visitors during summer months, with guided tours available through advance booking. It is wise to check current opening times beforehand and allow enough time to explore the various rooms at a comfortable pace.

The estate's medieval centre lay on a flat promontory in Salstasjön, cut off from the mainland by a deep, water-filled ditch. A 1644 map shows a square stone tower house about 10 by 10 metres with its entrance on the south side, surrounded by timber buildings and a palisade that have since vanished.