The Great Guard Room

The Great Guard Room was built in the time of Sten Sture the Elder at the end of the 1400s to be the place of assembly for the castle’s garrison. The storage room that was in the Great Guard Room’s place before was demolished and the room was vaulted to be a two-bay hall, just like the medieval King’s Hall. The room was heated with a hypocaust furnace, and later by a tiled stove that was built later in the 1500s. There may have been a “secret room,” a privy, adjoining the Great Guard Room.

Light entered the Guard Room through windows on both sides of the room. Originally the windows were smaller than they are today, but they were enlarged in 1545. In the 1500s, the room was decorated with built-in benches along the walls that were covered with embroidered footstool covers and seat cushions. The vaulted ceilings in the Great Guard Room were demolished in 1558.

Today, the Great Guard Room functions as an exhibition room. The ongoing Crown’s People (Kruunun väkeä) exhibition tells the story of the lives of the castle’s soldiers from the Middle Ages up until the 1600s. The exhibition describes who the soldiers were, where they came from and what their day-to-day life was like. You can also acquaint yourself with the authentic gear worn by cavalrymen, foot soldiers, and officers, as well as the different types of hand weapons and firearms.

Next, exit through the door at the end of the room to go out onto the balcony above the entrance hall.