The history of Sturehof manor date from the Middle Ages. The small village was owned by count and stateman Svante Sture, who was murdered by King Erik XIV. His son Mauritz Sture named the manor as Sturehof. In the next to centuries Sturehov was owned by several powerful noble families like Oxenstiernas and Wrangels.
Johan Liljencrantz , Gustav III's "Finance minister", acquired the property in 1778 as a summer lodge. The farmhouse was burnt and only the two wings from the 1600s was still standing. He let the architect Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz draw a new main building. Adelcrantz was at that time a very famous architect who designed also the Gustav III's opera house in Stockholm. The English garden was built in the 1700s to the north of the manor.
The main building was furnished and decorated by contemporary skilled craftsman and decorative painters, among them Louis Masreliez . As co-owner of Marie porcelain factory had Liljencrantz opportunity to gain Marieberg stoves to their new building. Therefore Sturehov has today the largest collection Marieberg stoves in Sweden, a total of 17 pieces. The most magnificent is "Liljecrantz fireplace”, also drawn to a Swedish stamp. Johan Liljencrantz did not stay long at Sturehov. After his first wife died in 1788 he built Norsborgs mansion and lived there with his new wife, Eleonora.
Today the manor is managed by the Real Estate Department of the municipality. There is a café in the south wing.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.