Eksjöhovgårds slottsruin

In a romantic location on an island outside Sävsjö lies the ruin of Eksjöhovgård castle. The small island was the center of one of Småland's largest estate complexes, which at the end of the Middle Ages included 43 farms in 13 parishes. The estate was then held by the famous Stureätten. The farm buildings at the time probably consisted only of wooden houses.

The stone house, today's ruin, is a reminder of the grandiose building projects of the time; lavish investments that failed due to the reality of scarce resources. Before his death in 1666, one of the field marshals from the Thirty Years' War, later the Privy Councillor Karl Mauritz Lewenhaupt, commissioned the construction of a square, three-storey stone house with a balcony at the top. The second floor was intended to be used exclusively for festivities. The models for the house came from Stockholm and the idea was to create a symmetrical building. But reality caught up with the reduction of the 1680s, when Lewenhaupt's descendants lost large parts of the estate. The rest was sold in 1700. By then, the house had barely got its steep roof with a balcony. The furnishings and windows were missing, as were the facade decorations. The symmetry of the facades was also lacking.

The castle stood empty until the 1730s, when the new owner, Magnus Julius De la Gardie, had the top floor demolished and changed the interior.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)