Sweden · Ruin
Almare-Stäkets borg
Almarestäket's castle (Sankt Erik's castle) is a medieval castle ruin on a low plateau in Upplands-Bro municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden. It stood at the strategic Almarestäket strait at the inlet to Lake Mälaren and is listed as an ancient monument by the Swedish National Heritage Board.
Its prime
1510
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1510
What Almare-Stäkets borg looked like in its prime.
A compact stone-and-brick fortress occupying a plateau roughly 125 × 80 metres and 3–4 metres high, its built area concentrated toward the northwestern quarter where house foundations cluster. A continuous curtain of masonry ran along the western slope, now visible as a string of fallen blocks. The summit held courtyards and ranges of stone-built domestic buildings; the hilltop commanded direct views over the Almarestäket strait and the approaches to Görväln.
Its story
The story of Almare-Stäkets borg.
Built for Sigtuna and Uppsala in the Twelfth Century
A castle was raised during the 12th century on Stäketsholmen, then an island, and served as a defence work for the towns of Sigtuna and Uppsala. It sat on the choke point of Almarestäket, the strait at the inlet to Lake Mälaren, where the important waterway between Stockholm and Uppsala ran, and whoever controlled the waterways controlled the kingdom. Named after Eric IX, it was also known as Sankt Erik's castle, and it was once counted among Sweden's strongest and most talked-about castles. Through the whole of the Middle Ages there was a constant tug-of-war between the king and the church over who should rule it.
Burned in 1434, Rebuilt from 1440
The castle is first mentioned at the end of the 14th century, and the rhyming chronicle Karlskrönikan describes it as burned down on the night of 11 November 1434 by Eric Nipertz. He acted on the orders of Erik of Pomerania and of Hans Kröpelin, captain of Stockholm Castle. The point of the burning was to keep Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson's troops from taking the place.
In 1440 Archbishop Nils Ragvaldsson was given permission to build a new castle on the site. It stood finished about ten years later.
Sten Sture Against Gustav Trolle, 1516–1520
During the domestic political strife of the 1510s the castle was in the hands of Gustav Trolle, and in 1516–17 it was besieged by his chief opponent, Sten Sture the Younger. In 1517, in the face of an open threat of excommunication, Sten Sture forced through a ruling that the castle should be demolished.
The demolition had evidently been carried out by 1519, when brick from Almarestäket is recorded as having been shipped to Stockholm for reuse. The affair became the prelude to the Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520.
What Survived the Demolition
What is left is a plateau-like hill roughly 125 by 80 metres across, carrying traces of foundations and house footings at its north-western end and, on the western slope, a line of blocks that may come from a collapsed wall. Below the hill stands an obelisk of red granite about five metres high, raised in 1804. The ruin is protected as an ancient monument in the register kept by the Swedish National Heritage Board.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1510.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Almare-Stäkets borg, including the full exterior approach. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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