- Glimmingehus
Glimmingehus, located in
Simrishamn Municipality ,Skåne län in southernSweden , is the best preservedmedieval castle in Scandinavia. It was built 1499-1506, during an era when Scania formed a vital part ofDenmark , and contains many defensive arrangements of the era, such asparapet s, false doors and dead-end corridors, 'murder-holes' for pouring boiling pitch over the attackers,moats ,draw bridges and various other forms of death traps to surprise trespassers and protect the nobles against peasant uprisings. The lower part of the castle's stone walls are 2.4 meters (94 inches) thick and the upper part 1.8 meters (71 inches).Construction was started in
1499 by the Danish knightJens Holgersen Ulfstand and stone-cutter-mason and architectAdam van Düren , a North German master who also worked onLund Cathedral . Construction was completed in1506 .History
ceramics have been found here.Region Skåne. [http://www.skane.com/cmarter/cmarter.asp?doc=1943 Glimmingehus] . Retrieved 9 february 2007.] Evidence of the family's wealth can also be seen inside the stone fortress, where everyday comforts for the knight's family included hot air channels in the walls and bench seats in the window recesses. Although considered comfortable for its period, it has also been argued that Glimmingehus was an expression of "Knighthood nostalgia" and not considered opulent or progressive enough even to the knight's contemporaries and especially not to later generations of the Scanian nobility. Glimmingehus is thought to have served as a residential castle for only a few generations before being transformed into a storage facility for grain.
An order from
Charles XI to the administrators of theSwedish dominion of Scania in 1676 to demolish the castle, in order to ensure that it would not fall into the hands of the Danish king during theScanian War , could not be executed. A first attempt, in which 20 Scanian farmers were ordered to assist, proved unsuccessful. An additional force of 130 men were sent to Glimmingehus to execute the order in a second attempt. However, before they could carry out the order, a Danish-Dutch naval division arrived in Ystad, and the Swedes had to abandon the demolition attempts.Åkesson, Sylve. [http://www.algonet.se/~sylve_a/glimmhus.htm Castles and manor-seats in Skåne: Glimmingehus] . (In Swedish). Retrieved 9 February 2007.] Throughout the 18th century the castle was used as deposit for agricultural produce and in 1924 it was donated to the Swedish state. Today it is administered by the Swedish National Heritage Board ("Riksantikvarieämbetet").On site there is a
museum , medieval kitchen, shop and restaurant and coffee house. During summer time there are several guided tours daily. In local folklore, the castle is described as haunted by multipleghost s and the tradition of story telling inspired by the castle is continued in the summer events at the castle called "Strange stories and terrifying tales".References
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