The Castle Church

The current Castle Church is used in premises that were built in the 1550s on top of the medieval defence floor. In the lower part of the outer wall of the room, the old embrasures can still be seen. The residential and festive premises of Duke John of Finland were located on the new Renaissance-style floor.

This room was the banqueting hall of the ducal court at the time, and was referred to as the Great Hall. Unlike the other rooms, the walls of the hall were not panelled. As the celebrations neared, the walls were draped with a red woollen cloth called Brabant red.

In April 1614, during King Gustav II Adolf's visit to the castle, a fire broke out, which damaged not only the banquet hall, but all the premises of the main castle. The traces of the devastating fire were only partially repaired, and after that the rooms of the main castle, with the exception of the Sture Church, were used for storage purposes. The old church gradually turned out to be too small for the size of the castle congregation, so a new church was built here in the old banquet hall. The church was consecrated for use in 1706.

The interior of the church was supplemented with enclosed pews in 1775, when King Gustav III and his wife Sofia Magdalena were expected to visit the castle. The one pew was decorated with the initials of the king and the other with those of the queen. The church and its interior were destroyed in a fire in 1941 during the war. However, it was possible to re-build it in its original form on the basis of old photographs.