The Architecture of the Renaissance in Sweden 
wars against neighboring nations waged by 
the Swedes under Gustavus Vasa, Gustavus 
Adolphus and a dozen other sovereigns, it 
will be evident that a form of artistic expres¬ 
sion that gained so strong a hold even in 
northern Germany could no more be resisted 
by Sweden than by her enemies or her allies. 
To a study of the architecture of this period, 
Dr. Gustaf Upmark, the director of the 
Swedish National Museum in Stockholm, de¬ 
voted many years of his life. His work has 
at last been brought to completion in a most 
worthy manner, but unfortunately not in 
time for the author to see its final form. 
Among the earliest of the great Renaissance 
structures of Sweden is The Castle of Grips- 
holrn , commenced by Gustavus Vasa in 1537. 
Standing in an unusually beautiful situation 
on the shore of Lake Malar, it probably oc¬ 
cupies the site of an earlier fortress to which 
it seems related by its plan (page 29). When 
the completion of the castle was celebrated 
by the King in 1544 it consisted of only the 
three great towers with buildings connecting 
them. With its dark brick walls, its massive 
corner towers and its steep roof, Gripsholm 
must then have presented an essentially me¬ 
diaeval aspect. Subsequent additions have 
greatly changed its appearance ; and to-day 
its beauty depends rather on the grouping of 
its masses, and on the fortunate relation 
which it bears to its surroundings than upon 
well chosen proportions or excellent details. 
Upon the first floor of the castle, and 
within the massive walls of the Falcon I ower, 
everywhere twelve to fifteen feet in thick¬ 
ness, is The Karlskammer , a highly interesting 
room, the work of which dates from the 
year 1596. With its high wainscot and its 
walls painted with typical motifs of the 
Renaissance, the chamber bears a curiously 
close resemblance to certain rooms in the 
Tyrol now very generally known to archi¬ 
tects through the “ Kunstschatze aus Tirol.” 
The room, apparently so irregular in plan, 
is entered by a single door in the straight wall, 
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