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Founded: 1642Category: Castles and fortifications in Sweden
Historical period: Swedish Empire (Sweden)
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Fiholm was first mentioned in 1275 in the letter of the king Valdemar Birgersson. In 1404 Eric of Pomerania donated it to the Eskilstuna monastery hosted by powerful Order of Saint John. After After Reformation the monastery was demolished and in 1562 received the Privy Council Kristiernson Gabriel Oxenstierna Fiholm as a fiefdom of King Erik XIV.
When Axel Oxenstierna in 1617 inherited Fiholm, he planned to build a castle. He hired Nicodemus Tessin the Elder as an architect. Two magnificent wings in the Franco-Dutch Renaissance style was completed in 1642. The actual main building was designed in 1642 by the French architect Simon de la Vallée in the Dutch Renaissance style, but it was never built.
Today the castle is owned by Charlott and Goran Mörner. There is a café and gift shop in a barn from 1864.
References:Linderhof is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed.
Ludwig II, who was crowned king in 1864, began his building activities in 1867-1868 by redesigning his rooms in the Munich Residenz and laying the foundation stone of Neuschwanstein Castle. In 1868 he was already making his first plans for Linderhof. However, neither the palace modelled on Versailles that was to be sited on the floor of the valley nor the large Byzantine palace envisaged by Ludwig II were ever built.
Instead, the new building developed around the forester's house belonging to his father Maximilian II, which was located in the open space in front of the present palace and was used by the king when crown prince on hunting expeditions with his father.