Almarestäkets castle was built in the 1100s to protect the Sigtuna and Uppsala cities. It was also called as St. Erik's castle after Eric IX. Throughout the Middle Ages there was a struggle between the Crown and Church who can control the castle.
The castle was first mentioned in the late 1300s. In 1440 got Archbishop Nicolaus Ragvaldi permission to build a new castle, which was completed about ten years later. In the 1510s troubles Almarestäkets was in possession of Bishop Gustav Trolle between 1516-17. The castle was sieged by his main enemy Sten Sture the Younger in 1517. Archbishop Gustav Trolle locked himself in there to avoid trial, and the Swedish government demanded and carried out the demolition of the fortress. The procedure was formally unauthorized because at the time State property was to be separate from Church property. As a revenge for this and other perceived injustices, Trolle, assisted by the Danish King Christian II, took revenge in the Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520.
Today there are visible traces of castle foundations with potholes filled with stone and occasional bricks.
References:The church of the former Franciscan monastery was built probably between 1515 and 1520. It is located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Old Rauma. The church stands by the small stream of Raumanjoki (Rauma river).
The exact age of the Church of the Holy Cross is unknown, but it was built to serve as the monastery church of the Rauma Franciscan Friary. The monastery had been established in the early 15th century and a wooden church was built on this location around the year 1420.
The Church of the Holy Cross served the monastery until 1538, when it was abandoned for a hundred years as the Franciscan friary was disbanded in the Swedish Reformation. The church was re-established as a Lutheran church in 1640, when the nearby Church of the Holy Trinity was destroyed by fire.
The choir of the two-aisle grey granite church features medieval murals and frescoes. The white steeple of the church was built in 1816 and has served as a landmark for seafarers.