As early as 1430, this small city park served as the king's vegetable garden. It borders Stockholm's fashionable Blasieholmen district and today is a center of urban life. Once surrounded by walls and accessible only to royal and aristocratic visitors, it was opened to the public in the late 1700s. In the early 1800s, Crown Prince Charles Jean had the greenery removed, replacing it with gravel so the space could be used for military exercises. In 1822, he renamed the park, calling it Carl XIII Square and unveiled a statute to honor his predecessor. Carl XIII, a frail and childless king, adopted the 50-year old French general Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who then called himself Charles Jean, thus founding the Bernadotte dynasty.
Click the images below to enlarge.
The King's Garden in Spring
A Lush and Verdant Landscape (1805)
Charles XIII statue with the Orangery in background (1829)
