Växjö, Sweden

When the international border between Sweden and Denmark was here, Kronoberg Castle was necessary for Sweden to guard its frontier. Lots of resources went into fortification, expansion, and upkeep. When the international border was moved to the Øresund, Växjö lost its strategic significance and the castle declined. Today, only ruins remain. [1984]

THE BACKSTORY ~ Posted on the 11^th Anniversary of Geographically Yours, 4 August 2021: From my travel log on the two days a friend and I spent in Växjö, Sweden, in the summer of 1984. “We headed inland and got off at Alvesta, then caught another train to Växjö. In Växjö we stopped at an outdoor museum (closed), saw a windmill, and a few folk barns, stopped to see the cathedral, and fortunately bought a few things for supper at the grocery store. Växjö was dead though. It was Saturday afternoon and almost everything was closed.”

The next day we rented an Opal Corsa for a single day and drove out into the countryside from which so many Swedish immigrants to the United States had come. My friend was a descendent of one of those immigrant families. “We  drove back to Växjö, after eating in the car, on a very rural road that wound its way through the woods and among the lakes of Kronoberg. It rained the whole day and prevented a lot of picture taking. In Växjö we rushed to the Emigrant House Museum, which is undergoing considerable expansion. It was located next to the Smaland Museum where they have some buildings moved in from around Sweden. Nobody in the museum knew anything about the outbuildings and didn’t have anything in writing about them either. The Emigrant House Museum was very nice. It had both English and Swedish descriptions which made it more meaningful for us."

“One more stop we made before returning to the hostel. We went to see the ruins of Kronoburg castle, the best castle we have yet seen. It is situated on a point of land which juts into Helgasjön Lake. The ruins were restored with a few bricks to support the arches and a few new stairways made of wood.  The castle is open to the weather, however. The only contrived aspect was the wooden stage and simple benches which were set up in the central courtyard and some passageways that were blocked off. We had the whole castle to ourselves. The castle is on the site  of a medieval bishop’s castles (Bishop of Växjö). The present castle was built in Gustavus Vasa’s time and was added to in the 1550s.” The next morning, we boarded the train to Stockholm. D.J.Z.