Sweden · Restored
Bäckaskog Castle
Bäckaskogs slott
Bäckaskog Castle in Kristianstad Municipality, Scania, stands on the narrow isthmus between Ivö Lake and Oppmanna Lake. The complex began as a 13th‑century monastery and was transformed into a secular castle and residence during the 16th–17th centuries. The standing buildings reflect that converted monastic plan and are preserved as a historic castle.
First raised
1300
Its prime
1640
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1640
What Bäckaskog Castle looked like in its prime.
A compact masonry complex sited on a narrow isthmus with water on both sides; long lake-facing façades and connected ranges form a unified compound. Rooflines are dominated by pitched roofs and gabled end walls, with a larger central volume that records its former monastic function. Low defensive walling links residential blocks to the shore. From the water the castle reads as a continuous, roofed ensemble of 16th–17th‑century construction set between Ivö and Oppmanna lakes.
Its story
The story of Bäckaskog Castle.
Bäckaskog began as a monastery, built in the 13th century on the isthmus between Ivö Lake, Scania's largest, and Oppmanna Lake, in what is now Kristianstad Municipality in southern Sweden. The Danish Crown closed the monastery in 1537 during the Reformation, and in the 16th century the complex was transformed into a secular castle.
Between 1584 and 1653 the noblemen Henrik Ramel and his son Henrik Ramel Junior gave the castle its present appearance. The standing buildings still reflect the converted monastic plan, and the complex is preserved as a historic castle and residence.
Step inside
4 places to explore in 1640.
The record describes 4 distinct spots at Bäckaskog Castle, including 1 interior: interior of the former monastery church (converted). Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Bäckaskog Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1640, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Castle Siege
Play Castle Siege at Bäckaskog Castle.
A strategy game played on Bäckaskog Castle’s real ground plan: the same surveyed walls shown in the archive below. Post your finite garrison on the battlements between assaults, then hold out as rams, siege towers, trebuchets and sappers arrive in ever-worse waves.
Sign in free to see the garrison muster. One castle costs 150 Clan Coins and is yours forever.
Sign in to take command →Whose castle
Clans who held Bäckaskog Castle.
The families that held Bäckaskog Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Ramel
Held by the noblemen Henrik Ramel and his son Henrik Ramel Junior, 1584–1653, who gave the castle its present appearance.
From the archive
Bäckaskog Castle on paper: the measured plan and period views.
The survey plan and photographs below are the ground truth this page's reconstructions are checked against, drawn and photographed while the castle was still a working garrison. Every image is public-domain or openly licensed, with its source named.
'Från Biologiska Föreningens utfärd till bl.a. Ivö i nordöstra Skåne: :: :: Fotografi över Bäckaskog slotts b
· Gothenburg Museum of Natural History (via Europeana)
CC BY
