| Malmö Castle | |
|---|---|
Malmöhus | |
| Malmö | |
 Malmö Castle | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Castle |
| Open to the public | Yes |
| Location | |
  Malmö Castle Malmö Castle (Sweden) Show map of Sweden | |
| Coordinates | 55°36′17″N12°59′15″E / 55.6048°N 12.9875°E /55.6048; 12.9875 |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1434, rebuilt 1537[1] |
Malmö Castle (Swedish:Malmöhus or Malmöhus Slott) is amedievalcastle located onSlottsholmen ("Castle islet") inMalmö,Sweden. It was built between 1526 and 1539. Malmö Castle is part of TheMalmö Museum. It is owned by the Swedish state and managed by theNational Property Board. It also houses theMalmö Art Museum. The Commandant's House (Kommendanthuset) and the Castle Mill (Slottsmöllan) are also located near the castle.[2]
TheØresund toll, or theSound Dues, was introduced in 1429 byKing Eric of Pomerania. Any foreign ship that passed a line betweenHelsingør (Elsinore) andHelsingborg had to pay a toll. To strengthen the power the king exercised over the Sound, he built the Malmö fortress, founded the market town ofLandskrona and madeCopenhagen the capital. At Helsingør he built the castle Ørekrog or Krogen, the predecessor ofKronborg, while at the same timeHelsingborg Castle was reinforced, which together monitored the customs.
As early as the 14th century there was a simple fortification for Malmö's defense.[3] Construction of the Malmö Castle's predecessor began in 1434. King Eric of Pomerania ordered a major expansion of Malmö's seaward defenses. Aseawall had been under construction in the city since the early 15th century. By royal order, this work was now accelerated, and the new fortress came to form the western defense point of this seawall. The fortress, known asMøntergaarden ("TheMint"), was of the castle type, i.e. a rectangular structure surrounded by high walls with agate tower. The fortress once had an outerbailey to the east, but this disappeared when the present castlemoat was built in the 1530s.[4]
In 1525,Frederick I ordered his lord of Malmö Fortress, Albert Jepsen Ravensberg, to build a new castle. In 1530, he was paid a huge sum (5690 marks) for four years of construction work. It was during this period that the current main building was erected. The inner courtyard of the castle was to be framed by a three-storey gateway. The entrance to the castle was moved at the same time with the addition of the western bailey. From the main building itself, a four-storey trench would also extend to both the west and east. In the west, this connected to the current gate tower, which originally had an additional floor. It is mainly through clear traces in the existing walls that the oldest building phases of the castle have been identified.[5]
In 1529, a fire broke out at the castle. However, there is no information on how extensive this was. In the following year, the county revenues to be used for the construction of the castle were increased from 300 marks to 500 marks and in 1532 to a total of 888 marks. This shows that the construction of the present castle was going on during this time. In 1534,The Count's Feud broke out and the burghers demolished the huge wall with its ramparts that ran from the main building and surrounded the castle's inner courtyard. The damaged traces of this wall can still be seen in the main building, proof that the current castle was built before 1534. Literature about Malmö Castle often states that the current castle was built after the end of the count's feud, a statement that is thus difficult to reconcile with preserved building traces and accounts. Between 1537 and 1540, the castle was instead reinforced on the orders ofChristian III by the construction of a moat and ramparts with four large brickcorner towers. Historically, this fortress was one of the most important strongholds ofDenmark.[6]
In 1526, Malmöhus län was created by the withdrawal of the former Lindholm län, which consisted of the threehundreds ofOxie, Ingelstads andJärrestad's hundreds. Högby län (now Hyby inBara härad) was also added. The revenue from the counties created the conditions for managing a large national castle like Malmö Castle. The lords of Malmö Castle were appointed by the king himself. They therefore usually came from Denmark's more wealthy noble families.
During the years 1554-1559, the heir to the throne, laterKing Frederick II, resided at Malmö Castle.Mary Stuart's third consort, theEarl of Bothwell, was imprisoned here from 1567 to 1573. The last Danish king to live at the castle for a short time wasFrederick III in 1652. In the early Swedish period after 1658, the castle was used by the castle commissioners. It was also used to hold political prisoners, includingJörgen Krabbe andAnjala man Carl Gustaf Armfeldt the Younger, who died here in 1792.[7]
In 1822, the buildings were handed over to thePrison Board and in 1828 theMalmö Correctionella Arbetshus (Malmö Correctional Workhouse) was opened, which was then Sweden's largest and most modern prison. A county prison according to theSeparate system was built off the eastern side of the Malmö Castle moat in 1854-1855 with 102 light and five darkcells. After the castle fire of 4 September 1870, the large western wing building ofChristian IV was demolished and replaced in 1876 by a central prison in a larger building with 137 cells and 304 accommodation places.
With the advent of the new central prison at Lundavägen in 1914, the facilities at Malmö Castle were taken out of use. However, prisoners were also received for a short time from 1919 to 1921. The buildings of the central prison were demolished in 1933. The county prison section was used asemergency shelter before being demolished in 1927.[8]
It was not until 1937 that the museum was able to move to the castle island. By then, the three prison barracks had been demolished and replaced by the current museum buildings. The castle building itself had already been restored in 1928 and gives an idea of what it looked like in the 16th and 17th centuries.[9]
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