Stockholm Cathedral

The big church you are approaching is the oldest in Stockholm, it goes back to the very foundations of the town in the 1200s. It’s been added to countless times over the years so it’s stylings range from the gothic to the baroque. Storkyrkan - it means literally the Big, or Great church - has often been used for coronations and royal weddings.
If you take a look inside this church you’ll discover some lovely paintings and sculpture – the sculptures of Saint George and the Dragon by Bernt Notke is from 1489, but the highlight is for me the wonderful oil painting sometimes called - in English - the Sun dogs painting; Vädersolstavlan – it’s a bird’s eye view of Stockholm in the 1530s and was commissioned on a whim by the reformer Olaus Petri during the reign of Gustav Vasa. It records an unusual weather system and was actually taken as a very bad omen at the time – times were changing and the painting gives a last look back at what will soon pass – we see the old castle Three Crowns, and the cloisters of both the grey and black order of monks. In short medieval Stockholm before it exploded in size. The capital of Sweden was no longer in the south in Kalmar, and the king was furious about the Great Church – this same Storkyrka – being larger than the castle – he felt his own shining power being diminished and that of the church exaggerated. And the king and his bishop were anyway constantly arguing and bickering.
Cast your mind back hundred and fifty years. Revolution was in the air in Europe and in 1848 Stockholm had its own uprising against the ruling classes – ministers and members of the establishment had their windows smashed as homes were put under siege. The riots continued and on the third day crowds marching here on Storkyrkobrinken – the hill behind the church – and then down Västerlångatan, well: they were stopped with a hail of bullets! There were 20 dead as the army put down the rioting.

Photo Photo by is licensed under by Lidingo is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0