Bonde Palace

The original design by Simon de la Vallée and Tessin the Younger, based on French Baroque and Renaissance prototypes, was H-shaped in plan, the planned two southern wings flanking a main court, while the northern wings surrounded a small Baroque garden.

The central building was covered by a tall steep-pitched, copper-dressed roof surrounded by the cupolas of the corner pavilions, while the façades were decorated with Ionic pilasters, festoons and portraits of Roman Emperors.

The Reduction in 1680 (e.g. the Crown recapturing lands earlier granted the nobility) dramatically reduced the financial power of the Bonde dynasty, and therefore, following the devastating fire of the royal palace Tre Kronor in 1697, the Royal Library and the Svea Court of Appeal were lodged in the Bonde palace.

[2][3] The reconstruction following another fire in 1753 produced much of the present shape of the building; the design of Johan Eberhard Carlberg resulting in the construction of the southern wings to the original plans, the addition of a new top floor, and an up-to-date low hipped roof; the present interior still reflecting the taste of the mid 18th century.

As a City Hall, the palace commenced its central role in Swedish legal history by witnessing several dramatic historical events, including the public flogging of Jacob Johan Anckarström in 1792, and the mob beating of statesman Axel von Fersen the Younger to death in 1810.