Qualla: Gripsholm Castle https://qualla.com/gripsholm-castle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:05 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/u/6/s/1/gripsholm-castle-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Gripsholm Castle https://qualla.com/gripsholm-castle Gripsholm Castle: Introduction https://qualla.com/gripsholm-castle/ Photo credit LarryBroom, CC0. The castle has a lion. It is badly stuffed. Very badly stuffed. The taxidermist who preserved this gift from the Bey of Algiers in the 1730s had apparently never seen a living lion, and the result has become one of the most famous failed taxidermy attempts in history, grinning maniacally from its display case while visitors photograph it for social media. But the Lion of Gripsholm Castle is merely the most recent chapter in a story that spans six and a half centuries, a story of monks and kings, imprisoned royals and widowed queens, all played out within the red brick walls of one of Sweden's most storied palaces.

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Image: LarryBroom | CC0

]]> Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/6/s/1/gripsholm-castle-wp/u6s1-gripsholm-castle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Gripsholm Castle: From Fortress to Monastery to Crown https://qualla.com/gripsholm-castle/ Photo credit Fredrik Alpstedt, CC BY-SA 2.0. Bo Jonsson Grip built a fortress here in the 1370s, giving the castle the name it still bears. Queen Margaret I purchased it in 1404, and the crown held it until Sten Sture the Elder acquired the property in 1472 through a land exchange. The Regent donated Gripsholm to the Carthu...

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Image: Fredrik Alpstedt | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/6/s/1/gripsholm-castle-wp/u6s1-gripsholm-castle-from-fortress-to-monastery-to-crown.mp3 0:06 2 full Gripsholm Castle: A Prison for Kings https://qualla.com/gripsholm-castle/ Photo credit Wolfgang Sauber, CC BY-SA 3.0. Gripsholm Castle has seen more royal prisoners than most dungeons. Between 1563 and 1567, King Eric XIV imprisoned his own brother John and John's wife Catherine Jagiellon within these walls. Their son Sigismund III Vasa was born here on June 20, 1566, a future king of both Polan...

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Image: Wolfgang Sauber | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/6/s/1/gripsholm-castle-wp/u6s1-gripsholm-castle-a-prison-for-kings.mp3 0:06 3 full Gripsholm Castle: The Widows' Palace https://qualla.com/gripsholm-castle/ Photo credit Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 4.0. Between imprisonments, Gripsholm served as a dower residence for royal widows. Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, widow of the legendary Gustavus Adolphus, lived here from 1636 to 1640. Queen Hedvig Eleonora occupied the castle for over sixty years, from 1654 until her death in 1715,...

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Image: Arild Vågen | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/6/s/1/gripsholm-castle-wp/u6s1-gripsholm-castle-the-widows-palace.mp3 0:06 4 full Gripsholm Castle: Portraits and Controversy https://qualla.com/gripsholm-castle/ Photo credit Marvin The Paranoid, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1822, Gripsholm Castle became home to the National Portrait Gallery of Sweden, one of the oldest portrait collections in the world. The Nationalmuseum took over supervision in the 1860s, and the collection remains here today. Between 1889 and 1894, architect Fredrik Lilljekvis...

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Image: Marvin The Paranoid | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/u/6/s/1/gripsholm-castle-wp/u6s1-gripsholm-castle-portraits-and-controversy.mp3 0:06 5 full