Riddarholm Church

Riddarholmskyrkan
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The Riddarholmskyrka is the royal burial church on the small island of Riddarholmen in central Stockholm. Its striking brick tower with its cast-iron spire is one of the city's landmarks and shapes the silhouette of Stockholm's old town like hardly any other building.

Medieval monastery church

The church was built in Gothic style at the end of the 13th century as part of a Franciscan monastery, which was established in 1270 under the Swedish king Magnus Ladulås (1240 - 1290). Except for the church, however, all the buildings of the monastery were demolished in the 17th century, after all monasteries in Sweden had already been dissolved during the Reformation. In 1807 the congregation belonging to the church was also dissolved, so that since then the church has been used exclusively as a funeral and memorial church.

Burial place of the Swedish kings

In the interior of the Riddarholmskirche, the gravestones and sarcophagi of 17 Swedish kings and queens are particularly impressive. The baroque burial chapels for Charles X and Gustav II Adolf are particularly magnificent.

Between 1632 and 1950, all but one of the Swedish monarchs were buried here. Only Queen Kristina, who abdicated in 1654 and converted to Catholicism, found her final resting place (as the first woman ever) in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Since the introduction of the hereditary monarchy by Gustav Vasa, the Swedish kings were not yet buried in Stockholm but in the cathedral churches of Strängnäs and Uppsala. Only with the increasing importance of Stockholm as the centre of the Swedish empire, starting with Gustav II Adolf, the Swedish kings were buried in the Riddarholmskirche.

Gustaf VI Adolf, grandfather of the present King Carl XVI Gustav, ended this tradition and chose instead the Royal Cemetery in Hagaparken as his final resting place. Since then, the members of the Royal House of Bernadotte are buried there.

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Tickets and prices

Tickets are also available in combination with the Royal Palace.
  • Adult: 50 SEK, Combiticket 180 SEK
  • Student: 25 SEK, Combiticket 90 SEK
  • Child (7-17): 25 SEK, combination ticket 90 SEK

Wegbeschreibung

  • Subway: to Gamla Stan stop, from there only 4 minutes walk.
  • Bus: line 2, 3 and 53 to the stop Riddarhustorget