A memorial to a lost castle

On the island of Braheholmen in Sala kommun, a building known as Ebba Brahes paviljong, or the memorial building on Braheholmen, stands as a protected monument. Constructed between 1807 and 1808, it sits adjacent to Axholms gård. While it is not the original castle, it serves as a memorial to Axholms slott, which was built by Magnus Brahe in 1598. That original structure was a two-story stone building with a tower, spires, and a copper roof, surrounded by glasshouses, a smithy, and a courtyard.

The Brahe family owned several ironworks, including Bockhammar, Hörnsjöfors, and Svanå. When Magnus Brahe died in 1633, Axholmen was inherited by his daughter Ebba Brahe, who later passed the property to her son Pontus de la Gardie. In the early 1700s, the castle on Axholmen was abandoned in favor of a new main building on the mainland, now known as Axholms gård. The original castle fell into disrepair and burned down in the mid-1700s, leaving only the foundations behind.

The current memorial building was erected in 1807-1808 by the court marshal Count Knut Posse. It was designed as a simplified miniature of the original castle and reportedly utilized some of the building materials from the old ruins. During this time, interior paintings were added depicting motifs from the various legends surrounding Ebba Brahe and Axholms slott. The building sits on a platform that likely consists of the remaining foundations of the 16th-century structure.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons