Gråborg Castle

Färjestaden, Öland, Sweden

Gråborg is the largest ancient castle in Öland. It was built probably in the 6th century and enlarged through Middle Ages. According old tax reports dating back to the year 1450, Gråborg was owned by Vadstena abbey and functioned as a some kind of trade center. It was used for defence against Danish even in 1677. According to legend Gråborg was strongly associated with king Burislev Sverkersson who had grown up there with his half-sister Sofia of Minsk.

Gråborg Castle consisted of a circular wall, about 4-7 meter tall. There were three entrances and one of them was vaulted in the Middle Ages. Archaeological excavations have revealed lot of findings, which are stored today in Kalmar Museum.

There are medieval ruins of the chapel of St. Knut on the north side of castle.

References:

Upptäck Öland

Address

Borg 106, Färjestaden, Öland, Sweden

See all sites in Färjestaden, Öland

Details

Founded: 500 AD
Category: Castles and fortifications in Sweden
Historical period: Migration Period (Sweden)

More Information

en.wikipedia.org
www.olanningen.com

Rating

4.3/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby

Algutsrum Church (4,8 km)

Borgholm Castle (22,9 km)
Kalmar Castle (15,2 km)
Långe Jan Lighthouse (53,8 km)
Kalmar Cathedral (14,6 km)
Borgholm City Museum (23,7 km)
Eketorp Fort (41,9 km)
Solliden Palace (22,4 km)
Ismantorp Fortress (9,1 km)
Vickleby Church (13,2 km)

User Reviews

Ludovic Nion (3 years ago)
A nice breath in the Swedish countryside

Leonardo Romanello (3 years ago)
Need steps? Love cattle? Then don’t miss Gråborg. ?

Zommy NL (3 years ago)
Very interesting place with loads of old and ancient buildings, graves and several hiking trails. We visited the wall ( which has cute little goats in them now) and the old ruined chapel. Signs are very clear and available in several languages (See, En, Ger). You can spent the entire day here of you walk all the trails or quickly stop by the chapel and wall as we did. Entry is free

claire gisubizo (gisubizo claire) (4 years ago)
Historical information and its beautiful view makes it different

Pardalis Georgios (4 years ago)
The chapel ruin could get some better care,but combining it with the fortress ruin and the nice hiking paths around makes it a pleasant experience.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Finest Norman castles in Italy

Exploring the History of Northern Poland

Discovering Slovenia's Historic Wonders

Photo from Flickr, copyright Andy Hay

Historic Site of the week

Argos Theater

The ancient Argos Theater was built in 320 BC. and is located in Argos, Greece against Larissa Hill. Nearby from this site is Agora, Roman Odeon, and the Baths of Argos. The theater is one of the largest architectural developments in Greece and was renovated in ca 120 AD.

The Hellenistic theater at Argos is cut into the hillside of the Larisa, with 90 steps up a steep incline, forming a narrow rectilinear cavea. Among the largest theaters in Greece, it held about 20,000 spectators and is divided by two landings into three horizontal sections. Staircases further divide the cavea into four cunei, corresponding to the tribes of Argos A high wall was erected to prevent unauthorized access into the theatron and may have helped the acoustics, but it is said the sound quality is still very good today.

Around 120 CE, both theaters were renovated in the Roman style.