Drottningholm

Drottningholm
The Royal Domain is praised by the Unesco as "the best example in Sweden of a Royal 18th-century residence ... influenced by the French king´s Versailles." Besides the castle itself, the Chinese Pavilion and the Drottningholm Theatre are part of the site.

The Castle was built around 1700 by the architects Nicodemus Tessin the Elder and Nicodemus Tessin the Younger. The Theatre and the Pavilion date from the late 18th century. The Chinese Pavilion is a mixture of rococo and oriental decorations, which was very fashionable at the time.

Since 1981, Drottningholm Castle is the residence of the Swedish Royal Family.

Year Decision Comments
1991 Inscribed Reasons for inscription



Visit December 2000

I have to make a confession: I didn´t really visit this site. But that was not my fault: everything in Sweden seems to close down for the winter, even if it is such a beautiful sight to see places covered in snow. So I just got on a bus to Drottningholm (15 minutes from Stockholm), took some pictures and left with the next bus.

Superficially, the palace looked better than I had read about. Probably it´s the inside that´s boring (another European castle), but the location near the water is great.

Reviews

Ian Cade (England):
As already stated the Palace closes down for a few weeks in mid December – January so I didn’t actually get to visit the inside of the Palace. I must admit there was a slight sense of relief when we had it confirmed that you couldn’t get inside, as we really were not excited by a trot around another European Palace. We did however enjoy a walk around the planned gardens up to the Chinese style Kina Slott. Had this been one of the first Royal Palaces I visited I would probably say it was great, but having already viewed an awful lot of them it just seemed nice and a good place for a walk. We arrived just as the guards were changing which added a little bit of entertainment, also the gift shop was open so we ducked in there and saw the certificate confirming its inscription of the World Heritage List.
If you have plenty of time in winter then this is a decent trip out from Stockholm, if you visit in Summer I can imagine this is a really worthwhile trip if you take the boat out from the lovely Stadtshuset in Central Stockholm. Stockholm itself was a really enjoyable and unique city to visit, being set across numerous islands, with a great ‘Old Town’ and super cool hotels (Nordic Light a decadent treat), bars and shops. It was a great place to see in the New Year.
We had plenty of time whilst we were in Stockholm so this was an enjoyable visit, I would like to have seen the theatre as this may differentiate it from many of the other palaces on the World Heritage List, and the gardens did provide a nice place for a walk.
 
Christer Sundberg (Sweden):
Being Swedish and grown up in Stockholm, Drottningholm was probably the first World Heritage Site I ever visited, long before UNESCO’s took the initiative to create the famous list. For me personally the site is associated with many memories and it’s truly a wonderful place for an excursion while visiting Stockholm. The castle and its surrounding park is obviously best visited in the summer and the best way is to approach the site is by boat. Many tour boats depart from the Town Hall in central Stockholm and it takes about an hour to slowly cruise through Lake Mälaren on a steam boat, a nice experience in itself.

The castle is inspired by Versailles but obviously not as enormous as its French cousin. Still it has played an important role in Swedish history. You will find wonderful French and English park as well as the oldest theatre in Europe still in use. A slow stroll through the park to the China Castle, were you will find a nice café, is an absolute must.

Seldom noticed by the tourist is the small village on the right side of the main road that runs by the castle. This village was planned and built in the mid 18th century for the people working at the castle and contains many picturesque houses and villas and is in itself a good example of how a Swedish village once would have looked like. Don’t miss this when you visit Drottningholm.

 
Rajeev Aloysius (Sri Lanka):
I visited Drottningholm in mid-June, and the weather was still quite cold as it was raining. It is easily accessible by bus from the Stockholm city centre, it is closer to the suburb of Bromma.

It is based on Versailles, but is on a smaller scale, of course.

The two main attractions are the Chinese Pavilion (which was a surprise birthday present to Queen Lovisa Ulrika, in 1753!), and the famous 18-century court theatre, where many opera videos and recordings have originated from. The Chinese Pavilion has several beautiful rooms, filled with porcelain, vases and statues. The court theatre, built by Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz, with its pseudo marble, painted fake doors, old thunder machine and wind machine, is a fascinating journey into the opera productions of the early history of the genre.

The palace interior is not very impressive by central European standards, but the lakeside and view of the gardens at the back are stunning. There is also a chapel with a small dome that welcomes a weary traveller after a trek through the vast gardens.

The Palace is included free of charge, on the Stockholm A La Carte pass, issued by Destination Stockholm.
 


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