Sunday, August 31, 2014

Stockholm Cont'd

Since we are leaving this afternoon at 3:00 to catch our ship to Helskinki, Finland, we decided to just take the bus to city center and walk around to see some of the buildings we passed on our bus tour.  Not sure what this one is but it was nice.


"The Riddarholm Church (SwedishRiddarholmskyrkan) is the burial church of the Swedish monarchs. It is located on the island of Riddarholmen, close to the Royal Palace in StockholmSweden. The congregation was dissolved in 1807 and today the church is used only for burial and commemorative purposes. Swedish monarchs from Gustavus Adolphus (d. 1632 AD) to Gustaf V (d. 1950) are entombed here (with exceptions such as Queen Christina who is buried within St. Peter's Basilica in Rome), as well as the earlier monarchs Magnus III (d. 1290) and Charles VIII (d. 1470). It has been discontinued as a royal burial place in favor of the Royal Cemetery.

It is one of the oldest buildings in Stockholm, parts of it dating to the late 13th century, when it was built as a greyfriars monastery. After the Protestant Reformation, the monastery was closed and the building transformed into a Protestant church. A spire designed by Willem Boy was added during the reign of John III, but it was destroyed by a strike of lightning on July 28, 1835 after which it was replaced with the present cast iron spire

Coats of arms of knights of the Order of the Seraphim are in the walls of the church. When a knight of the Order dies, his coat of arms is hung in the church and when the funeral takes place the church bells are rung constantly from 12:00 to 13:00".




Coats of Arms
Hammarskjold the Statesman Coat of Arms
Tombs of Kings



Made our way back across the bridge looking for City Hall where the Nobel's are awarded

City Hall
Inner Courtyard
There were several couples here who were all dressed up.  Looked like they were waiting to be or had just been married at City Hall
The tours were guided and the next one was too late for us as we needed to get back to our hotel to catch the cab to the boat.
This seemed to be a convention of Chihuahua's at City Hall.  Perhaps there was a Chihuahua wedding.
So long Stockholm


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