Visingsborg

Visingsborg is the name of a county and a castle on the eastern side of the island of Visingsö in Lake Vättern in Sweden. Both are historically closely linked with the Brahe family.

The castle was built in the 1560s as a quadrangle with four towers and a moat. Stones from Alvastra Abbey were also used for this. The old castle on Visingsö, Näs slott, had long been a ruin by that time.

The county comprised places both on the island and in Småland and Västergötland, in 1569 a total of 468 farms, in the 1640s another 100 in addition. In 1654 Count Per Brahe the Younger received capital jurisdiction (high court) over those resident on the island of Visingsö.

The castle was ruined as a result of a fire in the night from 22 to 23 December 1718. The Russian prisoners of war from the Great Northern War who had been transferred there at that time were accused of having started the fire. The builders of the castle were:

Per Brahe the Elder had the west wing built.

Magnus Brahe, son of the former, had the south wing built, which with its halls and other chambers formed the most stately part of the castle.

Per Brahe the Younger had a north wing added for the servants. In his time a harbour was also laid out. The castle was crowned by six towers with gilded spires. Inventories from his time attest to an extensive library and an armoury with weapons for 800 men. The ramparts were fitted with cannons. A small army of 200 men was stationed at Visingsborg. Per Brahe the Younger also had Brahehus built as a dower seat for his wife. He furthermore founded, against the resistance of the church, a school on Visingsö, which was set up in the church of Kumlaby.

Machine-translated from “Visingsborg” on the German Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Visingsborg ranks #4,429 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #125 of the 206 mapped in Sweden. Founded c. 1560, it is older than 38% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 755 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,048 times in the last 60 days, more than 68% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Linköping, 85 km away. See how Sweden compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia (in German) ↗