Gustav III's Pavilion at Haga Park

Gustav III's Pavilion is a royal pavilion at the Haga Park, 2 km north of Stockholm. Construction began in 1787 by the architect Olof Tempelman with detailed instructions from King Gustav III, who was highly personally involved in the project, producing some basic designs himself and suggesting changes once the work was under way. These changes included extending both wings by the span of two windows.

Inside the structure, the aesthetic was guided by Louis Masreliez, a trendsetter in the interior design of the period. This building was just one of many great plans and visions that Gustav III had for the Haga Park, many of which made it no further than the drawing board. The King made use of the pavilion for a few years before his assassination. It was from the pavilion that Gustav III left for the fateful masquerade ball at the Opera on 16 March 1792.

Subsequent generations have reshaped the architecture. In the 1840s, King Oscar I commissioned a restoration by architect George Theodor Chiewitz, who added sculptures and grey-painted plasterwork to the façade and replaced the ionic columns at the gables with new columns in Italian marble. A significant restoration between 1937 and 1946 under architect Ragnar Hjort used the discovery of original Masreliez designs to restore the interior to its original form.

While this pavilion remains a highlight in Swedish art history, the neighboring Sultan's Copper Tents provide a contrasting experience. These structures were designed by the painter Louis Jean Desprez to resemble big tents clad in decoratively painted copper plate. While the middle tent currently contains the Haga Park Museum, the pavilion stands as a fine example of European neoclassicism in Northern Europe.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons