Sweden Guide
Stockholm
Storkyrkan
Opening time: Mid-May to mid-Sept daily 9am–6pm; 25kr; rest of the year daily 9am–4pm
Price: Free
The highest point of old Stockholm is crowned by Storkyrkan, the "Great Church", consecrated in 1306. Pedantically speaking, Stockholm has no cathedral, but this rectangular brick church fulfils the same role and is the place where the monarchs of Sweden are married and crowned. Storkyrkan gained its present shape at the end of the fifteenth century, with a Baroque remodelling in the 1730s. Inside, twentieth-century restoration has removed the white plaster from the red-brick columns, and although there's no evidence that this was intended in the original, it lends a warm colouring to the rest of the building. Much is made of the fifteenth-century sculpture of St George and the Dragon, though this is easily overshadowed by the golden, throne-like royal pews and the monumental black-and-silver altarpiece. Organ recitals take place here on winter Saturdays at 1pm.