Bråborg Castle
Encyclopedia
Bråborg was a former Royal castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...

 at Bråviken
Bråviken
Bråviken is a bay of the Baltic sea that is located near Norrköping in Östergötland, Sweden....

, Norrköping Municipality
Norrköping Municipality
Norrköping Municipality is a municipality in Östergötland County in southeast Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Norrköping, with some 90,000 inhabitants....

 in Östergötland
Östergötland
Östergötland, English exonym: East Gothland, is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland, and the Baltic Sea. In older English literature, one might also encounter the Latinized version, Ostrogothia...

, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. Today, a ruin is all that remain of the estate.

History

The house was built by Queen Dowager
Queen Dowager
A queen dowager or dowager queen is a title or status generally held by the widow of a deceased king. In the case of the widow of a deceased emperor, the title of empress dowager is used...

 Gunilla Bielke
Gunilla Bielke
Gunilla Bielke; full name: Gunilla Johansdotter Bielke , was Queen of Sweden, the second spouse and queen consort of king John III of Sweden...

 in 1588-1590 and she lived there after her husband, King John III of Sweden
John III of Sweden
-Family:John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland , house of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica. She was the sister of king Sigismund II Augustus of Poland...

, died in 1592. Gunilla Bielke herself died at Bråborg in 1597.
Bråborg was later owned by her son, duke John of Östergötland. In 1612 he married his cousin, princess Maria Elisabeth of Sweden
Princess Maria Elizabeth of Sweden
Princess Maria Elizabeth of Sweden, , was a Swedish princess, daughter of king Charles IX of Sweden and Christina of Holstein-Gottorp, and by marriage duchess of Ostrogothia....

. They both died at Bråborg in 1618.

The buildning was partly destroyed in a fire in 1669 and in 1719 it was burnt down by a Russian army
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. The army also attacked the nearby town of Norrköping
Norrköping
Norrköping is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County. The city has a population of 87,247 inhabitants in 2010, out of a municipal total of 130,050, making it Sweden's tenth largest city and eighth largest...

. The inhabitants needed stone to rebuild their town and used building material from the ruins of Bråborg.
The new manor house at Bråborg was built ca 1000 meters from the burnt down house.

The old estate with remains of the renaissance castle covers an area of 240 x 190 meters. The foundations and cellars are still visible today, together with the moats and parts of the gardens.

See also

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