Svaneholm Castle (Svaneholms slott) was initially erected in the 1530s by the Danish knight and royal advisor Mourids Jepsen Sparre. Original murder-holes in the oldest castle walls are still preserved.
During the Middle Ages the residence was called Skurdorp (Skudrup), which was fortified and situated next to the parish church, where remains still can be seen. During the mid-15th century it was owned by guardsman Henning Meyenstorp (Meinstrup) and through marriage it later came to the possession of the Sparre-family. Approximately 1530 the residence was moved from Skurup to an islet in the Lake Svaneholmssjön, after that it was called Svaneholm. Through inheritance and purchase Svaneholm Castle came to the possession of Prebend Gyllenstierna in 1611.
At the death of his great-grandson Axel Gyllenstierna in 1705, the castle went to the nephew Axel Julius Coyet via testament, but 1723 his aunt Sofie Gyllenstiernagained half of the properties via trial. Her half was 1751 bought by baron Gustaf Julius Coyet. 1782 it was inherited by Coyet's nephew, baron Rutger Maclean — "The reformer of Scanian agriculture". At Maclean's death in 1816, Svaneholm Castle was inherited by his nephew Kjell Christoffer Bennet and his three siblings, 1839 it was sold to chamberlain Carl Johan Hallenborg and belonged to his son and grandchild until 1902 when it was redeemed bycount Carl Augustin Ehrensvärd, married to a Miss Hallenborg.
A year after the death of Ehrensvärd in 1934, Svaneholm Castle, the park, the garden, most of the lake and the surrounding forest was purchased by the Svaneholm Castle Cooperative Society. The castle now houses a museum run by Wemmenhög Hundred's Momuments and Home District Society.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.