MALMÖ CASTLE
Sweden
Malmö Castle, generally known as Malmöhus, is a very oddly shaped building with it's two massive drum towers looking for all the world like farm storage silos and strung between them a single slim building. Part of the explanation for this odd shape is that you are seeing one wall out of the four which once stood in a quadrangle surrounded by the moat.
The Castle is built on the site of Erik of Pomerania's fortress. The Castle dates to 1536-1542 and was built on the orders of King Christian III of Denmark who at that time controlled the southern parts of Sweden. It was a Royal Palace until the Swedish Kings took control of southern Sweden in 1658.
The Swedes refortified in time for the Castle to repel a Danish attack in 1677. The Castle, like so many others, also served as a prison - amongst those who were imprisoned were Lord Bothwell, the errant and ill-fated husband of Mary, Queen of Scots who died insane and chained to wall at Dragsholm in Denmark in 1578.
Today the buildings around the Castle house four museums, the Malmö Museum of Art, the City Museum, the Museum of Natural History, and the Science & Technology/Maritime Museum.
© Text copyright - Raving Loony Productions and Andrew J. Müller
© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. Müller
© Web Design and Layout - Andrew J. Müller
2001
