Almarestäket
Fortress guarding the waterway to Uppsala and Sigtuna.
Almarestäket, or Stäket, is a narrow channel leading into Lake Mälaren in central-eastern Sweden. Before Stockholm’s 14th-century founding, this strait protected the route to the medieval towns of Uppsala and Sigtuna. A fortress stood here from roughly 1370 to 1517.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Strait at the inlet of Lake Mälaren, central-eastern Sweden
- Fortress period
- c. 1370–1517
- Builder
- Albert of Sweden
- Site
- Island of Stäkesön
- Demolition year
- 1517
- Demolition ordered by
- Swedish government
Facts from the source article.
Did You Know?
- A trench was dug near Almarestäket as a defence structure in the 17th or early 18th century.
- Most of the trench was filled in 1875 when the main line railroad (Västra Stambanan) was built.
- The area was built upon again in the 1970s when a highway was constructed.
Fortress
It later became the residence of the Swedish Archbishop. In 1517, Archbishop Gustav Trolle locked himself inside to avoid trial, prompting the Swedish government to demolish the fortress. The demolition was formally unauthorized because State and Church property were then separate. Trolle, with King Christian II of the Kalmar Union, later took revenge in the Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520.
More in Ruined Castles in Sweden
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