From its beautiful exterior to its lengthy history, Gripsholm Castle has been towards the top of my Sweden bucket list for a while. Just a little while away from Stockholm, it made an easy day trip and is quite a lovely place.

A Brief History of Gripsholm Castle

You may have heard of the Vasa ship, which is named after the Vasa dynasty of Sweden. That same dynasty built Gripsholm Castle. It was first constructed by King Gustav Vasa in 1537 on Lake Malaren, surrounded by hunting grounds. It was built to be a home but also a defensive structure, so many people ended up imprisoned at Gripsholm Castle: King Erik XIV (who ironically had imprisoned people there prior to his own imprisonment); Queen Dowager Maria Eleonora; King Gustav IV Adolf and his family; etc.

Gripsholm Castle became home to Sweden’s National Portrait Gallery in 1822. During this time, the castle was modernised. It was shortly after, in 1889, that renovations to restore the castle to its original appearance started being done. I personally love a historic restoration, but it was quite controversial since people thought it undid a few hundred years of history. Additionally, lots of original work was lost anyway, so it was created from scratch but in a 16th century style.

Today, you can see that work as well as the National Portrait Gallery during your visit.

Visiting Gripsholm Castle Today

Gripsholm Castle is described by its website as what a castle is supposed to look like. And I agree! A large building with imposing towers on a small island, it is a perfect vision of a fairytale castle.

Before you enter, you’ll see some more of Sweden’s historical heritage with some runestones. Enter the main gate over the moat and you’ll see beautiful 16th century cannons from Russia with images of a sow (female pig) and a boar. Go even further into the inner courtyard and you’ll see a charming iron well with a lovely carved wooden room resting above the entrance door. I think this was my favorite view!

As I mentioned in the history, the castle was restored to its Renaissance appearance. You can see several areas where there are Renaissance era frescoes on the walls. My definite favorite room was Duke Karl’s Chamber, which looks amazing with its painted wood and ceilings. However there was a barrier up and being 5’1″, it was quite difficult to see over the barrier. I wish they’d used something more transparent.

You can see several frescoes around different rooms primarily on the ground level. There are also many rooms with exquisitely carved wood panelling. Even though the castle was restored, there are many decades and styles represented at Gripsholm Castle – though I do admit I like the older looking rooms the best. After visiting several other palaces that were heavy on the flamboyant baroque and rococo decor, it was different to see an older, more tame style in Sweden. Beautiful but not over the top.

There’s also a private 18th century theatre that was added by King Gustav III. You can see the theatre and even go backstage to look at the mechanics.

A lot of the rooms are bare but some do have period furniture from different centuries. The most notable for me was the upholstered toilet seat which… is something I would not particularly want in my own house.

The lower levels have older art and the upper lovers have more modern art. Since it’s a portrait gallery you’ll see a ton of paintings of royalty, and due to the castle’s age and importance, many of them probably knew and visited Gripsholm Castle itself! So that is a bit fun. Portraits start from the late medieval and Renaissance eras to the more modern art of the 20th and 21st centuries – though the collection weighs more heavily on the former.

The castle is filled with centuries of talented painters, but the true gem of the collection is actually a botched piece of art – a lion that was taxidermied in the 18th century. It’s unknown how the lion came to look so bad. Is it a case of the artist saying “yes I know what a lion looks like” when the artist, in fact, did not know what I lion looks like? We’ll never know, but we do know that it was seen as hilariously bad even back centuries ago. I did not take a picture of him but you can see his face here. It is quite comical.

I think the lion’s room was one of my favorites because it has different artwork associated with hunting in Renaissance era Sweden. I liked how it came together to show what a certain aspect of life was like several centuries ago.

So my major beef is that there is no information on the rooms or the artwork. You can purchase a guidebook at the front for about 600 SEK and there’s information in the book about the rooms you see and the history behind them. I didn’t know this when I started my tour so I just wandered around the castle looking at things. It was really disappointing since the castle has so much history and I wanted to know what I was looking at or hear stories about things that had happened in those rooms. So if you go, I advise you spend the extra change on the guidebook.

There are also some signs that are exclusively in Swedish. I recommend downloading the Swedish dictionary on the Google Translate app since it will translate everything through the lens of your phone without having to use internet. It’s very useful!

And no, there’s no information on the artwork like you would see at a typical art museum or gallery. Usually there’s a little namecard with the work’s title and artist, or sometimes it’s written on the frames of artwork, but that was not present at the castle. They did have a QR code for you to download their app to explore their artwork but no, I’m not downloading an app for a single visit.

When you’re done with Gripsholm Castle, you can venture out to the small but charming woods and gardens that border the castle. It’s a very nice, tranquil setting. The town of Mariefred is a short walk away and you can get a bite to eat, maybe some ice cream, and enjoy the lovely shores of Lake Malaren.

The castle was quite beautiful but without any context or information on what I was looking at, I was left disappointed and, honestly, annoyed. Was it enough to deter my recommendation for you? Absolutely not. I still think Gripsholm Castle was very much worth the visit. But I do hope they change their system soon.

Overall, I did enjoy my half day at Gripsholm Castle. It’s full of history and quite a picturesque place. If you find yourself looking for a place to visit outside Stockholm, definitely keep Gripsholm Castle on your list!

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