1.
Uppsala
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Uppsala is the capital of Uppsala County and the fourth largest city of Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. It had 149,245 inhabitants in 2015, located 71 km north of the capital Stockholm, it is also the seat of Uppsala Municipality. Since 1164, Uppsala has been the centre of Sweden. Uppsala is home to Scandinavias largest cathedral – Uppsala Cathedral, founded in 1477, Uppsala University is the oldest centre of higher education in Scandinavia. Among many achievements, the Celsius scale for temperature was invented there, Uppsala was originally located a few kilometres north of its current location at a place now known as Gamla Uppsala. Todays Uppsala was then called Östra Aros, Uppsala was, according to medieval writer Adam of Bremen, the main pagan centre of Sweden, and the Temple at Uppsala contained magnificent idols of the Norse gods. The Fyrisvellir plains along the south of Old Uppsala, in the area where the modern city is situated today, was the site of the Battle of Fyrisvellir in the 980s. The present-day Uppsala was at that time known as Östra Aros and was a town of Gamla Uppsala. In 1160, King Eric Jedvardsson was attacked and killed outside the church of Östra Aros, the cathedral is built in the Gothic style and is one of the largest in northern Europe, with towers reaching 118.70 metres. Uppsala is also the site of the 16th century Uppsala Castle, the city was severely damaged by a fire in 1702. The arms bearing the lion can be traced to 1737 and have been modernised several times, the meaning of the lion is uncertain but is likely connected to the royal lion, also depicted on the Coat of Arms of Sweden. Situated on the fertile Uppsala flatlands of muddy soil, the city features the small Fyris River flowing through the landscape surrounded by lush vegetation. Parallel to the runs the glacial ridge of Uppsalaåsen at an elevation of circa 30 metres. The central park Stadsskogen stretches from the south far into town, only some 70 kilometres or 40 minutes by train from the capital, many Uppsala residents work in Stockholm. The train to Stockholm-Arlanda Airport takes only 17 minutes, rendering the city accessible by air. The commercial centre of Uppsala is quite compact, during recent decades, a significant part of retail commercial activity has shifted to shopping malls and stores situated in the outskirts of the city. Meanwhile, the areas have expanded greatly, and some suburbanization has taken place. Uppsala lies on the 59th parallel north and has a continental climate, with cold winters
2.
Carl Milles
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Carl Milles was a Swedish sculptor. He was married to artist Olga Milles and brother to Ruth Milles, the latter was featured on a stamp issued in 1975 commemorating the centenary of his birth. Millesgården became his last home and is now a museum, Milles was born Carl Wilhelm Andersson, son of lieutenant Emil Mille Andersson and his wife Walborg Tisell, at Lagga outside Uppsala in 1875. In 1897 he made what he thought would be a stop in Paris on his way to Chile. However, he remained in Paris, where he studied art, working in Auguste Rodins studio, in 1904 he and Olga moved to Munich. Two years later settled in Sweden, buying property on Herserud Cliff on Lidingö. Millesgården was built there between 1906 and 1908 as the private residence and workspace. It was turned into a foundation and donated to the Swedish people in 1936, five years after Milles had sailed for America and the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills. In 1931, American publisher George Gough Booth brought Milles to Cranbrook Educational Community, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, part of Booths arrangement with his principal artists was that they were expected to create major commissions outside the Cranbrook environment. The sculpture is located at Fort Christina in Wilmington, Delaware near the site where the colonists arrived in 1638. In America he is best known for his fountains, Milles fountain group The Wedding of the Waters in St. Louis symbolizes the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers merging just upstream. Local officials insisted that the name be changed to The Meeting of the Waters, the statue was placed on a pedestal with the help of sculptor Marshall Fredericks. The statue was commissioned by the United Automobile Workers, and paid for by donations from UAW members. The annual Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research is an award for research on entrepreneurship and it consists of a statuette replica of The Hand of God and a prize sum of 100,000 euros. Milles sculptures sometimes offended American sensibilities, and he had a fig leaf maker on retainer, photographs of his sculptures, taken for a monograph on Milles, are now held in the Carl Milles Photograph Collection, c. 1938–1939, in the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago, Milles and his wife returned to Sweden in 1951, and lived in Millesgården every summer until Milless death in 1955. They spent winters in Rome, where the American Academy had supplied them with a studio, Milles and his wife, Olga, who died in 1967 in Graz, Austria, are buried in a small stone chapel, designed by Milles, at Millesgården. Because Swedish law requires burial on sacred ground, it took the assistance of the then reigning Gustaf VI Adolf to allow this resting place, harwood St. Mythe et identité du XIXe s
3.
John, King of Denmark
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John was a Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union. He was King of Denmark, Norway and as John II Sweden, from 1482 to 1513, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig and Holstein in joint rule with his brother Frederick. He currently remains the only King of Denmark since the century to not be named Christian or Frederick, if one does not include the current Queen of Denmark. The three most important political goals of King John were the restoration of the Kalmar Union, reduction of the dominance of the Hanseatic League, and the building of a strong Danish royal power. He was born at Aalborghus, in Aalborg, the son of Christian I of Denmark and Dorothea of Brandenburg, in 1478, he married Christina of Saxony, granddaughter of Frederick the Gentle of Saxony. This produced the following offspring, Christian II, Francis, Knud, and Elisabeth, from about 1496 until 1512, he had a relationship with Edele Jernskjæg. In 1458, Johns father, King Christian I, had the Norwegian Council of the Realm commit to electing Christians eldest son as king of Norway upon his death. A similar declaration was made in Sweden, in 1467, John was hailed as successor to the throne in Denmark. John used the title heir to the throne of Norway, in line with Norways old status as a hereditary kingdom, but this was a claim the Norwegian Council did not immediately recognise. Consequently, upon King Christians death in May 1481, Johns position was unchallenged in Denmark, whereas in Norway the Council of the Realm assumed royal authority, and an interregnum ensued. No serious rival candidates to the Norwegian throne existed, but the Council was determined to demonstrate Norways status as a sovereign kingdom. A meeting between the Councils of Denmark, Sweden and Norway was appointed for 13 January 1483 at Halmstad, to work out the terms for electing John as king — his håndfæstning. The Swedish Council failed to turn up at the meeting, but the Norwegian and Danish councils proceeded to produce a joint declaration containing the terms for Johns rule and it was hoped that Sweden would later accept the same document and thereby acknowledge John as king. Subsequently, John was crowned King of Denmark in Copenhagen on 18 May, during the first years of his rule John carried out a balancing policy. By diplomatic means he tried to weaken the position of the Swedish regent Sten Sture, after the 1493 treaty, Ivan III of Russia imprisoned all Hanseatic merchants trading in Novgorod and instigated the Russo-Swedish War. The Hanseatic cities were also troubled by a war by Danish privateers. Johns domestic policies were marked by economic support of the Danish merchants and by the use of commoners as officials or even as councillors. The most important of his initiatives was perhaps establishing a permanent Danish navy, according to the Privilege of Ribe the Noble Diets of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein were to elect a duke among the sons of the previous duke
4.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
5.
Kalmar Castle
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Kalmar Castle is a castle in the city Kalmar in the province of Småland in Sweden. During the twelfth century a defensive tower was built on Kalmarsund. At the end of the thirteenth century King Magnus Ladulås had a new built with a curtain wall, round corner towers. Located near the site of Kalmars medieval harbor, it has played a part in Swedish history since its initial construction as a fortified tower in the 12th century. Kalmar Castle suffered heavy damage during the Kalmar War of 1611-13 and was damaged by a fire in 1642. Repairs were begun but from the end of the century the castle was allowed to fall into disrepair. In 1856, architect Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander initiated reconstruction/restoration work at Kalmar Castle and his pupil Helgo Zettervall continued restoring Kalmar Castle in the 1880s. Architect Carl Möller drew up the plans and other documents, the work began in 1885 and by 1891 the castle had gained the silhouette it bears today. In 1919 professor Martin Olsson was charged with the restoration of earthworks, the moat, the bridge. Work continued until 1941, when the castle was once surrounded by water. Today, it is one of Swedens best preserved castles and is open to the public. The Medieval Fortress, Castles, Forts and Walled Cities of the Middle Ages Official visitor site Barometern Multimedia Tour of Kalmar Castle Virtual tour of the Castle
6.
Christian I of Denmark
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Christian I was a Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union. He was King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, from 1460 to 1481, he was also Duke of Schleswig and Count of Holstein. He was the first Danish monarch of the House of Oldenburg and he was a son of Count Dietrich of Oldenburg, a descendant of King Eric IV of Denmark, and Hedwig of Holstein, a descendant of King Eric V of Denmark and Abel of Denmark. His subsequent accessions to the thrones of Norway and Sweden, restored the unity of the Kalmar Union for a short period. In 1460, following the death of his uncle, Duke Adolphus of Schleswig, Count of Holstein, Christian also became Duke of Schleswig. In the 1470s, he undertook several costly travels, in 1474 to Pope Sixtus IV, Christian I was born in February 1426 in Oldenburg in Northern Germany as the eldest son of Count Dietrich of Oldenburg by his second wife, Helvig of Holstein. Christian had two brothers, Maurice and Gerhard, and one sister Adelheid. Through his father, he belonged to the House of Oldenburg, based on the two strongholds of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, the family had gradually expanded its rule over the neighbouring Frisian tribes of the area. Christians father was called the Fortunate as he had reunited and expanded the familys territory, christians mother, Helvig, was a daughter of Gerhard VI, Count of Holstein, and a sister of Adolphus, Duke of Schleswig. Through his father, Christian was a descendant of King Eric IV of Denmark through his daughter Sophia. Christian thus descended from the three surviving sons of Valdemar II and his second wife Berengaria of Portugal, at Dietrich death in 1440, Christian and his brothers jointly succeeded their father as Count of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst. In January 1448, King Christopher of Denmark, Sweden and Norway died suddenly and his death resulted in the break-up of the union of the three kingdoms, as Denmark and Sweden went their separate ways. The vacant Danish throne was first offered by the Council of the Realm to Duke Adolphus of Schleswig, but being relatively old and childless, the duke declined and recommended his nephew, count Christian of Oldenburg. The council also demanded that Christian should marry the widow of his predecessor King Christopher III, on 1 September 1448, after signing his ascension promissory, count Christian was elected to the Danish throne as king Christian I at the assembly in Viborg. His coronation was held on 28 October 1449, in the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen, meanwhile, Sweden had on 20 June 1448 elected Charles Knutsson as king. Norway was now faced with the choice between a union with Denmark or Sweden, or electing a separate king, the latter option was quickly discarded, and a power-struggle ensued between the supporters of Christian of Denmark and Charles of Sweden. The Norwegian Council of the Realm was divided, in February 1449, a part of the Council declared in favour of Charles as king, but on 15 June the same year, a different group of councillors paid homage to Christian. On 20 November, Charles was crowned king of Norway in Trondheim, however, the Swedish nobility now took steps to avoid war with Denmark
7.
Tre Kronor (castle)
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Tre Kronor was a castle located in Stockholm, Sweden, on the site where Stockholm Palace is today. It is believed to have been a citadel that Birger Jarl built into a castle in the middle of the 13th century. The name Tre Kronor is believed to have given to the castle during the reign of King Magnus IV in the middle of the 14th century. Most of Swedens national library and royal archives were destroyed when the castle burned down in 1697, when King Gustav Vasa broke Sweden free from the Kalmar Union and made Sweden independent again, Tre Kronor Castle became his most important royal seat. The keep may have existed previous to the 16th century, but in a smaller form than on the pictures from the beginning. The tower was then about the half of the height in the end of the 16th century, the castle consisted of two parts, the main castle and the walled in gardens surrounding it with the high tower in the middle. On May 7,1697 a large fire broke out in Tre Kronor that completely demolished the majority of this now more-than-400-year-old castle, the fire was discovered by the castles keeper, Georg Stiernhoff. The fire marshal, Sven Lindberg, informed the staff that he could not get to the fire extinguishing equipment because the fire blocked his access to it. The royal family and court were forced to evacuate the castle, the servants attempted to save as much as possible of the royal possessions. The fire spread quickly to all parts of the castle, since the castle was made out of wood and copper, the hot copper plates set the roof on fire. As mentioned, due to the fire most of Swedens national library, shortly after the fire died out, the investigation into why it was not discovered before it was too late got underway. A royal court found three possible culprits, Sven Lindberg – the fire marshal for the castle – and Anders Andersson and Mattias Hansson, soldiers on fire watch for the night, reporting to Sven Lindberg. It is revealed that Anders Andersson was running an errand for the fire marshals wife, Mattias Hansson had left his post, going into the kitchen to get some food. Mattias claimed that the fire marshals wife had given permission to do so – a statement she denied, the royal court concluded that the fire marshal had used the soldier for his and his wifes private errands. It was also found that he had accepted bribes in exchange for hiring people into certain positions at the castle, in February,1698 the sentences were handed out. Sven Lindberg and Mattias Hanson were sentenced to death since they had neglected their duty. Anders Andersson was sentenced to run the gauntlet, the death sentences were both later commuted to running the gauntlet and six years of forced labour at Carlsten fortress. Sven Lindberg died while running the gauntlet, plans were made to rebuild a new castle on the old foundation
8.
Bernt Notke
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Bernt Notke was a late Gothic artist, working in the Baltic region. He has been described as one of the foremost artists of his time in northern Europe, very little is known about the life of Bernt Notke. The Notke family came from Tallinn and his father was probably the trader and ship-owner Michel Notke and his mother was probably Michels second wife Gertraut, who was from Visby. Bernt Notke was born in the town of Lassan in Pomerania. He was married, but the name of his wife remains unknown, she died before he did and is not mentioned in his last will and testament. The couple is known to have had two daughters, one named Anneke and another whose name has not been preserved and who seems to have suffered from intellectual disability. He seems to have spent part of his youth in Flanders and he probably worked in the workshop of tapestry weaver Pasquier Grenier in Tournai, where he learnt to work on art objects of a large scale. He probably also learnt how to divide the labour in a workshop in a way there, as several of his own works were large. He is mentioned in sources for the first time by the city council of Lübeck on 14 April 1467. In 1479 he acquired a house on Breite Strasse, a prestigious address in Lübeck. After 1497 he lived in Lübeck until his death in 1509, in 1505 he acquired the title of Werkmeister at the Church of Saint Peter. This was also the case with Bernt Notke, who was the head of such a workshop, during renovation of the large triumphal cross made by Notke in 1470–77, a note signed by Notke and five co-workers was discovered in a hollow part of one of the sculptures. It lists, apart from Notke himself, a carpenter, a painter, the question whether Notke was first and foremost a painter, a woodworker or simply main organiser and entrepreneur is not clear. He was called painter by the city council of Lübeck in a document from 1467 and he and his workshop produced art in the form of tapestries, wooden sculptures, and paintings. The main type of artwork produced by the workshop of Bernt Notke was altarpieces, encyclopædia Britannica claims that he was also active as an engraver, but this claim is not found in other sources. It was lost or destroyed but survived in the form of a copy, made in 1701, until 1942, a second Danse Macabre, made at approximately the same time as the one in Lübeck, survives in part Tallinn, in St. Nicholas Church. It has been suggested that the fragment in Tallinn may have been a cut out from the Lübeck Danse Macabre. Regardless, both display the characteristic vivid expressionism that would become characteristic for Notke, in 1470 –1478, Notke executed a very large sculpture group, a so-called triumphal cross for display in Lübeck Cathedral
9.
Storkyrkan
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Storkyrkan, officially named Sankt Nikolai kyrka and informally called Stockholms domkyrka, is the oldest church in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is an important example of Swedish Brick Gothic, south of the church is the Stockholm Stock Exchange Building facing Stortorget and containing the Swedish Academy, Nobel Library, and Nobel Museum. Storkyrkan was first mentioned in a source dated 1279 and according to tradition was originally built by Birger Jarl. For nearly four hundred years it was the parish church in the city. It became a Lutheran Protestant church in 1527, the last Swedish king to be crowned here was Oscar II in 1873. The most famous of its treasures is the wooden statue of Saint George. A copy from the early 20th century is found on Österlånggatan just south of the church, the Saint George is a symbolic representation of Sten Sture, the dragon is the Danish King Christian I, and the Princess is Sweden. The church also contains a copy of the oldest known image of Stockholm, the painting Vädersolstavlan, the painting was commissioned by the scholar and reformer Olaus Petri, a 19th-century statue of whom is found on the eastern side of the church. It depicts a halo display, e. g. sun dogs, the monumental pulpit is the work of Burchard Precht in 1698-1702 and is in a French Baroque style. It became the model for a number of other large pulpits in Sweden, from the rear of its lofty sounding board issues widely billowing dragery, in front of which hover two large winged genii on either side of a radiant sun bearing the Hebrew letters יהוה. The relief on the front of the pulpit itself depicts the story of the Canaanite woman, the door of the pulpit is adorned with a relief of Christs head, while its pediment is crowned by a statue of Hope with putti on either side. Below the memorial are the arms of the Funck family who bore the greater cost of the pulpit, beneath the pulpit and surrounded by an iron railing lies the worn gravestone of Olaus Petri. The view down the aisle of the church is dominated on either side by the Royal Pews. They were designed by the celebrated architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, each consists of a large enclosed box with decorated sides and back. The royal seats are upholstered in blue velvet with rich applied embroidery. On either side of the Silver Altar is a holding a candle, one of St. Nicholas. The rose window above and behind the Silver Altar was made in Paris in the 1850s, list of churches in Stockholm Virtual tour of Storkyrkan by Virtualsweden
Bain, Robert (1911). "Sture". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 1051–1052.
Media related to Sten Sture the Elder at Wikimedia Commons
