Skokloster Castle

Skokloster castle is one of the most famous Swedish baroque castle built in the 1650s'. Its architecture was probably inspired by the Warsaw's Ujazdów Castle. Since the 1970s', it is a national museum. During summer, the castle is open for visits, weekend only in June and September. There is a cafe in the castle where salads and sandwiches can be served. In addition, there is an old vintage gas station with a small grocery shop and café. The entrance is free but the armoury and the top floor can only be visited as part of a guided tour for a fee.

The castle towers are crowned with "armillary spheres", otherwise called spherical astrolabes, made of oak and clad covered with coper plating. The spheres are a symbol of the planet's movements.

The text below is one of the text painted along the walls of the corridor of the first floor of the castle. While all texts are writen in Latin, this one is in French and read "Friends are like cantaloupe, one needs to try several to get a good one."

The two Arcimboldo paintings are dating of the 1500s'. Both were taken by the Swedish army during the looting resulting from the 1648 Battle of Prague. They were part of the fabulous collection of art pieces assembled by Rudolph II, the Holy Roman Emperor.

Swedes were among the first groups of settlers in the Americas. The founded "New Sweden" and occupied it from 1638 until 1655 when it was conquered by the Dutch and incorporated in the "New Netherland". New Sweden was established along the river Delaware. Swedish traders had been visiting the area since 1610. The objective of the colonization was to trade fur and tobacco independently from the French and the British powers. Fort Cristina was built in Wilmington in 1638. The book below in the Skokloster museum dates from 1702 and depicts the life of the indigeneous populations in New Sweden.