Barockparken

The park is actually part of Stora Wäsby Castle Park, the part that was cut off from the rest of the park by the construction of the railway in the 1860s. The park was laid out according to the French park ideal in the 17th century, that is, during the Baroque period: hence the name today. This means exact symmetry between the rows of trees, as well as ponds laid out like baroque mirrors: to reflect the sky in the park. All the trees were heavily pruned from the start, and in the eastern part of the park the crowns were completely intertwined to form green roofs - so-called boskés. In keeping with the fashion of the time.

In 2007, Stora Wäsby and Upplands Väsby Municipality began working together to make Stora Wäsby accessible for outdoor recreation and to restore the so-called baroque park - the park was then in a very dilapidated state. Among other things, the water supply, via wooden pipes under the railway, from Lång-Brittas spring just below the actual castle park, had been cut off in connection with the construction of the Arlanda railway in 1991-92. And the trees, whose crown shoots had soared over the years, had increasingly suffered from stem rot: the now so heavy tree crowns were fluttering as they fell one by one from storms. The place had become a paradise for wildlife, but deadly for visiting humans - on windy days. What to do? Well, create a compromise between natural decay and human impact: re-cutting the trees to their original height, building a new water source, restoring the three ponds, two of which were given new glazed walls; and last but not least: replanting about 160 park linden trees, some of which originated from Hammarby Church's old linden trees!

The park has never had a so-called point de vue, a viewpoint seen from the castle through the park, as most Baroque facilities used to have. It could be a facade of a Greek temple or something similar of classical origin. The fact that this was not on the old drawings has puzzled us. At the same time, the Väsbyån river crosses the line of sight from the castle, and the river is the remains of the old waterway between Lake Edssjön and Lake Mälaren that existed as late as the Viking Age: the park's point of view had to be a Viking ship! We placed it at a height of 5.5 meters above the ground: roughly where the water surface was above the current ground at the time. The ship's sides are made of dead trees from the park. It has been named Åfare through a naming competition in the municipality.