Gripsholm Castle country Sweden
Gripsholm Castle (Swedish: Gripsholms slott) 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 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.History
Early history
A fortress was built at the location in the 1370s by Bo Jonsson Grip. It was sold to Queen Margaret the I in 1404, and remained the property of the crown until it was acquired by Sten Sture the Elder, the Regent, in 1472 by an exchange of landed properties, whereby it became private, hereditary land of allodial status, to belong to the ownership of Regent Steen's own family. Steen donated the place for use as a Carthusian monastery, or charterhouse, in 1498, and the Gripsholm estate functioned as Mariefred Charterhouse for almost 30 years.
In 1526, the monastery was dissolved by King Gustav I during the Swedish Reformation, and the estate was returned to its hereditary owner, the heir of the late Sten Sture the Old. It is well-recorded that Gripsholm was a part of the so-called Kungens Arv och Eget in registers of the 1500s and the 1600s.
The King tore the monastic buildings and the old castle 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.
As private family inheritance from the Regent Steen Sture the Old, the royal Vasa family held Gripsholm in high regard, as reminder of the royals' descent from earlier rulers, and used the place frequently.
Nation State Land Territory