Gripsholm Castle 4.37

Gripsholm Castle is a castle in Mariefred, Södermanland, Sweden. It is located by lake Mälaren in south central Sweden, in the municipality of Strängnäs, about 60 km west of Stockholm. Since Gustav Vasa, Gripsholm has belonged to the Swedish Royal Family and was used as one of their residences until the 18th-century. It is now a museum, but it is still considered to be a palace at the disposal of the King and as such it is part of the Crown palaces in Sweden.HistoryEarly historyA fortress was built at the location in the 1370s by Bo Jonsson Grip. It was sold to queen Margaret in 1404, and remained the property of the crown until it was acquired by Sten Sture the Elder in 1472. It was donated to a convent for males of the order of the Carthusians in 1498, and functioned as a convent for almost thirty years. In 1526, the Carthusian Abbey was confiscated by King Gustav I during the Swedish Reformation. The King tore it down, and built a fortified castle with circular corner towers and a wall, for defensive purposes. Of the original medieval fortress, only the façade of a wall remains.