Gräfsnäs slottspark

Gräfsnäs slottspark – a castle ruin by the lake Anten in Alingsås municipality. The castle was originally built in the mid 1500’s by the noble family Leijonhufvud and was one of the largest castle facilities in Västergötland county at the time. It’s been restored, renovated and expanded several times, at the beginning of the 1800’s it was one of the most impressive castles in Västergötland with 50 rooms, two defense towers and a three story middle section. The castle has been burning three times, 1634, 1734 and 1834. After the last fire it went into a long period of decay and material plunder. In the 1890’s the roofing was removed by order from the church who had discovered the castle was being used by young people for dancing parties (OMG!). In the 1930’s a conservation project started and not until 1996 it was opened for public access. Today the site is run by Alingsås municipality and besides the castle ruin you can visit a café, take a swim in the lake or just stroll in the English tree park with old large deciduous trees.

Read more here (in Swedish): Gräfsnäs slottsruin historia and Slottsguiden – Gräfsnäs

This is how the castle is supposed to have looked like in 1697 (copyright Royal National Library of Sweden):

And here is a collection of my photos from the site:

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