Stockholm Architecture and Art

Hi Taliesin and other Grandkids or family

On Sunday morning we had a late brunch at the hotel breakfast room- it was crowded with other families on vacation in Stockholm.  We went down the street to an eyeglass store that opened at 11 AM to have Grandma’s glasses fixed.  We had stopped there the night before to see if they could fix her glasses, but they were just closing and didn’t have enough time.  We looked at clothes in nearby stores and Grandma was really happy to have her glasses fixed- so she didn’t have to wear her sunglasses inside buildings.  We walked down the street to a city house built by a rich businessman and his wife, Walther and Wilhelmina Hallwyl.  She built this house as a place to display her collections of furniture, paintings, jewelry and other decorative art objects.  The rooms were lavishly decorated and they each had windows with elaborate draperies facing the central courtyard.  The architecture and decorative wooden paneling, tapestries, furniture and paintings were all quite beautiful, collected from other countries and historical periods.  The house was like a palace although they were not the king or queen and we enjoyed looking at these beautifully furnished and decorated rooms. 

Taliesin- the Hallwyls had three daughters who inherited the family businesses (lumber and ironworks), but they had always planned to give their Stockholm house and furniture as a museum to display these treasures for other people like us to enjoy.  When our life on earth comes to an end, we will leave everything we have built or made or collected for someone else because we won’t take anything with us to heaven or to hell.  We can enjoy the beauty of paintings and sculptures that artists make, or the music that we hear, or the jewelry and furniture and clothes that craftsmen create on earth because we each have artistic and creative gifts that God has given to us. But Jesus told us not to store up treasures on earth because they can be stolen (like our luggage) and they will eventually decay or be destroyed.  Jesus told us to store up treasures in heaven where they will endure forever.  “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” Matthew 6:20.  Jesus wants us to make God our most important treasure (worship and serve only Him) and to love Him with all of our heart and mind and soul.

We rode the trolley past Skansen to Prince Eugene’s house and gardens and painting studio which he built about 1900.  We stopped for lunch at a café in the woods surrounding the house with outdoor tables looking over the water to the buildings of Stockholm.  Grandma ordered a shrimp salad and a plate of the “orange mushrooms” that are served all over Sweden at this time of the year.  Prince Eugene was an artist and was friends with many Swedish artists, writers, actors, and musicians.   He was a painter who usually painted large pictures of Swedish landscapes and he collected paintings of other Swedish artists.  We were looking forward to “finding” a few more paintings by Carl Larsson- and we did see several because the special exhibit was of Swedish painters from around 1900.  The rooms were colorful and the walls were filled with paintings and some furniture because this was his house as well as his art studio.  Our day was filled with beautiful art and architecture in these two houses in Stockholm.

We rode the trolley back to Jacobs Kyrka (church) that was built by Johan III in 1600 along with the Klara church next to our hotel.  We attended the 6 PM international worship service (in English) in this majestic Swedish Lutheran cathedral.   We sat in the first section of pews with candle lights along the aisle.  A small organ was playing as more people came into the church.  The priest opened the service with a prayer and we followed the responsive reading and prayers.  A woman sang a solo and we joined in singing a few hymns and the priest gave a message about God’s love and forgiveness through Jesus-giving us grace and not giving us what we deserve.  At the end we gathered in a circle and celebrated communion (bread and wine) to remember what the death of Jesus on the cross has given us if we believe- now we are free from our sins and will inherit eternal life.  

Taliesin- this was a special experience for us- to worship in a majestic cathedral that was 400 years old- giving thanks to God with people from other countries and singing praise to God for what He has done and promised to us.  God is our greatest treasure on earth and in heaven! We can talk to Him and worship and thank Him wherever we are and wherever we go.

On Monday we got up early to walk to the dock near City Hall in time to board an old (1901) steamship on Malaren Lake to go to Drottningholm Palace- built in about 1700- with grand rooms decorated in Baroque and Rococo styles with tapestries, paintings furniture and painted ceilings- similar to Versailles Palace near Paris.  Riding on the steamboat up one of the “fingers” of the lake to the palace was a fun way to travel- there were many small towns along the shores of the lake.  This was the summer palace for the kings and queens of Sweden and their families.  The palace has a large marble staircase with sculptures and paintings, and the rooms are elaborately decorated with painted ceilings, chandeliers, fancy wood moldings, doors and tiled floors.  The fancy furniture and tapestries and display cabinets were filled with fancy jewelry and ceramic figures.   There were large gardens with fountains and statues around the palace, but it was windy so we looked at the gardens through the palace windows. The kings and queens usually had guests staying at the palace and one of the queens had a theatre built in 1766 (just before the American revolution) for plays and drama productions.  We had a nice lunch after touring the palace at the café and found a few souvenirs at the gift shop. 

We rode a bus to the subway station and rode the subway train back to downtown and switched to the trolley to go see the Vasa ship museum near Skansen.  The Vasa ship was built in 1623 as a mighty battle ship for King Gustav II Adolf.  It was supposed to show the world that Sweden was a strong nation with a powerful Navy.  But the king changed the shipbuilder’s design and wanted two decks of cannons that made the ship too tall, and it capsized on the maiden voyage within a mile of the launching ramp- what an embarrassing day for the king and all of Sweden.  He should have let the ship designers build a mighty ship that worked!  Because it sank into the mud, the wooden ship and many of the decorative carvings and ship contents were preserved.  The ship was raised from the Stockholm harbor in 1961 and towed into a dry-dock.  A museum building was built around the ship and it was rinsed and cleaned and sprayed with a preservative.  I remember visiting the ship in 1967 when my family visited Europe, and they built a larger museum building for the Vasa ship in 1990.  It was fascinating to walk around the ship on five different levels and look into the gun ports and onto the decks of this immense wooden ship.  The complicated riggings (ropes) for all of the sails have been reconstructed- how did the sailors know which ropes to pull?  The museum had films about the Swedish Navy and shipbuilding and the salvage operations, and there was a large detailed model of the ship- with brightly painted carvings as it looked when it was launched.  We found more souvenirs in the gift shop and rode the trolley back to our hotel.  We had a very good dinner in the hotel restaurant where we normally had breakfast.  For desert Grandma had lemon custard and I had crème brulèe. 

Model of Vasa Ship

Carvings on Stern (Back) of Vasa

Painted Figures on Stern

Taliesin- we had a fun day looking at a king’s golden palace and another king’s ship that sunk. Most kings rule over their people with laws and taxes and armies- fighting for more land and for more wealth and power for themselves.  They have many servants and soldiers but are not very interested in the welfare of their people.  But there is another king, King Jesus, who loves us and who invites us to come to him and let him carry our burdens and give us comfort and peace! “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” I Timothy 1:17.   Let Jesus be the King of your life.  Love Him and serve Him in all that you do.

Love, Grandpa and Grandma