Swedeish Architecture

With relatively few skyscrapers and many historical buildings preserved, Stockholm has an unusually short skyline for a city of its size. That, of course, doesn’t mean that it lacks in architectural beauty. Historically, Swedish architecture has been influenced by movements and styles from abroad.

As is the norm in architecture history, an architectural history of a nation naturally lends itself to a history of those monuments to the development of that nation and its institutions of power; palaces, castles, and churches. This also applies in the case of the history of architecture in Sweden being related here.

When Art déco came to Sweden in full force it transformed into Nordic Classicism to cater to Swedish tastes, and functionalism morphed into its Swedish offshoot “funkis”.

Modern Swedish architecture, both commercial and residential, is characterized by sustainability in tune with nature. New projects are planned to work in unison with the surrounding nature and much care is put into making sure that building materials are energy efficient and eco-friendly. This has produced some truly spectacular projects, for example, the New Crematorium at the Woodland Cemetery.

The 13th century city walls around Visby are some of the best-preserved medieval city walls in Europe. The street layout of Stockholm’s Old City is still medieval. In other Swedish cities secular buildings from the Middle Ages are very rare and often heavily rebuilt during the following centuries. One example of that is Skytteanum in Uppasala.