Danviken Hospital, Healthcare building in Nacka Municipality, Sweden
Danviken Hospital is a three-story stone building in Nacka Municipality near Stockholm, featuring a symmetrical facade with rectangular windows and a central entrance. The structure was constructed between 1718 and 1725 and shows classical Swedish architectural style from that period.
The hospital was founded in 1558 under King Gustav Vasa, with the current building designed by Göran Josuæ Adelcrantz and built between 1718 and 1725. The facility operated continuously through different phases as a hospital, mental institution, and retirement home until it closed in 1861.
The name Danviken became embedded in Swedish language as a term referring to mental hospitals, appearing in literature such as Zacharias Topelius' "Fältskärns berättelser". The place shaped how people spoke and thought about psychiatric care in the region.
The site is located in Nacka at Sjokvarnsbacken and is accessible to visitors, as it now functions as an art gallery. It helps to use local public transportation to reach it, since it sits in a quiet area outside the city center.
The garden complex surrounding the building was originally designed with a medicinal herb arrangement meant to assist patient recovery. This garden layout reflected medical and philosophical ideas of the time and made the grounds into more than just a place of treatment.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
