Logården vid Stockholms slott under 1700-talet

Abstract

When the old royal castle of Stockholm burnt to the ground in 1697 the archtitect Nicodemus Tessin Jr. could present ground plans for a new palace within only a few months. In them he also planned for a small pleasure garden, Logarden. This project, which has never been fully analysed, was a rare example of Tessin planning a garden for an urban environment and it is also interesting since it concerns his major work, the Royal Palace in Stockholm. This article analyses the project with respect to changes to the plan, as well as to patterns copied by and inspiring Tessin, known for his eclectic methods. The investigation demonstrates how his plans were developed into higher confidence and maturity. Originally Logarden was planned as a secluded garden but by means of slight transformations Tessin gradually made it more repsentative and connected it to the environing cityscape. Tessin’s plans for Logarden were never executed. The second part of the article treats the development of the site in the eighteenth century. The Ropyal Palace was not ready for occupation until 1754 and the construction works continued long after that. Because of the long building time, during which a delicate garden had low priority, a garden parterre was not laid out until 1792. The invention was made by Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz and much simplified compared to Tessin’s plans. Within a decade Logarden was rearranged in an English style, and the irregularity was kept until the 1930s, when Ivar Tengbom authored the garden that stands to the present day.