Karl X Gustav was a young gentleman with a strong passion for food, women and war. It is said that he had a waist size of more than two metres.

When king Karl XI visited Borgholm Castle, it caused great distress to the people of Öland, who were forced to serve and provide supplies to the king and his entourage of 500 persons!

This and much more is depicted in Borgholm Castle’s exhibition Rise & Fall.

Did you know, for example, that Öland’s inhabitants suffered a number of pirate attacks during the 12th century, where Swedish girls were taken as slaves to be sold in the Baltic region?

Or that one of Swedish history’s big royal mariages of love took place at the castle between King Johan III and Catherine the Jagiellonian of Poland?

The exhibition Rise & Fall summarizes Borgholm Castle’s 900-year history. Over the years, a tower with a fortress was built here, then a Renaissance castle devastated by war and siege, and on its ruins a stately Baroque castle designed by Nicodemus Tessin the elder. In the exhibition you can experience the fire that turned the castle into the ruins which today form one of Sweden’s most attractive tourist destinations.

Rise & Fall is part of an extensive EU project called “Öppna portar” – a major investment in South East Sweden’s cultural heritage.