Sweden Guide
Stockholm
Riddarhuset
Opening time: Daily Mon– Fri 11.30am–12.30pm
Price: Free
Website: www.riddarhuset.se
If Stockholm's history has gripped you, head to the handsome Baroque Riddarhuset, the seventeenth-century "House of Nobles". It was in the Great Hall here that the Swedish aristocracy met during the Parliament of the Four Estates (1668–1865) and their coats of arms – 2326 of them – are splattered across the walls. Some six hundred of the noble families survive; the last ennoblement was in 1974. Take a look downstairs, too, at the Chancery, which stores heraldic bone china by the shelfload, and racks full of fancy signet rings – essential accessories for the eighteenth-century noble-about-town.