Riddarholmskyrkan, Stockholm

Riddarholmskyrkan is a church whose identity is inseparable from royal burial: most Swedish monarchs rest here. Its story reaches back to a Greyfriars monastery, and parts of the building date from the late 13th century. The church was consecrated around 1292, when King Magnus Ladulås was buried here, and it remains Stockholm’s oldest surviving building and its sole preserved medieval monastic church.

The masonry and tall openwork spire give you a clear sense of its long history. Gothic architecture forms the main character, while later baroque additions and attached burial chapels create a layered appearance. The present cast-iron spire replaced an earlier one destroyed by lightning on 28 July 1835.

Inside, the church serves burial and commemorative purposes rather than ordinary parish life. Swedish rulers from Gustavus Adolphus through Gustaf V are buried here, with Queen Christina as the exception; she lies in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

The walls also carry heraldic plaques for deceased knights of the Royal Order of the Seraphim. When such a knight dies, the arms travel from the Royal Palace to this church, linking the building’s medieval fabric with a living royal ceremony.