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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: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.