BUILDING IN THE WORLD

Drottningholm Palace

     Hello guys! In this chance, I have an opportunity to explain one of " most famous " building or acrchitechture in the world. So, the building that I have chose is Drottnigholm Palace!! The reason is, because I love this country *SWEDEN* and this is not a mainstream spot. Many of people are not knowing this, so it is my proud to be the one that introduce it to my friends. So, yeah, I choose this by heart not popularity:) Let's see it! 

          

          Drottningholm Palace is on UNESCO's World Heritage list. It is the most well-preserved royal castle built in the 1600s in Sweden and at the same time is representative of all European architecture for the period. The combination of the exotic Chinese Pavilion pleasure palace, the palace theatre and the magnificent palace gardens make a visit to Drottningholm a unique experience.

          Influenced by French prototype, the palace was built by architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder by commission of Queen Hedvig Eleonora. A number of royal personages have since then left their mark on the palace. The Palace is Their Majesties the King and Queens permanent home residence. The rooms in the southern wing of the palace are reserved for this purpose. The rest of the palace and grounds are open to the public year round.

Overview

Opening Times:
January–30 March: Saturday–Sunday 12pm-3pm
April: Friday–Sunday 11am –3:30pm
May–August: Daily 10am –4:30pm
September: Daily 11am –3:30pm
October: Friday–Sunday 11am –3:30pm
November–14 December: Saturday–Sunday 12pm–3:30pm
Closed 15–30 December
Duration: 1-2 hours
Fees: Adult 130 SEK, Students 60 SEK, Children free.
Address: 178 02 Drottningholm, Sweden
Type: Palace
Contact: +46 8 402 62 80
Email: info.drottningholms-slott@royalcourt.se | Web

Prices
Adult 130 SEK, Students 60 SEK, Children free. Free admission with Stockholm Card.
Tips

• Baby Carriages – Plan ahead if you’re bringing your baby along. Baby carriages are not permitted inside the palace, but can be left at the entrance.

• No Photography – No photography is permitted inside the palace. Bring your camera along anyway – there are many beautiful sites to photograph outside on the palace grounds.

• Boat Ride – Consider making a boat adventure of your trip to the palace and back. There are several options for tour boats taking visitors to Drottningholm Palace from central Stockholm, with some boat rides even including lunch or dinner.

TransportDrottningholm Palace is located on an island in Lake Mälar in a suburb of Stockholm. There are several options for getting to the palace from the center of town:

• Car – From central Stockholm, follow route 275, also called the Drottningholm route. At Brommaplan, follow signs to Drottningholm.

• Bus or Train – Take the underground train to Brommaplan, and then change to bus 301-323. Buses 177 and 178 also go to Drottningholm.

• Boat – In the summer, boats depart for the palace at regular intervals from the City Hall Quay.

• Bike – Follow the bicycle path from the center of Stockholm to Drottningholm. This is a pleasant and scenic bike ride of about an hour each way.

Construction

In the sixteenth century Catherine the Jagiellonian, wife of king John III, had chosen the island of Lovön as the site of a summer palace. This led to the name Drottningholm, Swedish for Queen's islet. 

View from the lake

The palace, completed in 1580, was designed by the Flemish architect Willem Boy in Renaissance style.

In 1661 a fire destroyed the palace and the following year queen consort Hedwig Eleonora, widow of king Charles X Gustav, commissioned architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder with the construction of a new palace. Tessin based his designs on the prevailing Baroque style of contemporary French and Italian palaces. 

Hercules Fountain

After his death in 1681 the project was completed by his son Nicodemus Tessin the Younger.

Interior

Most of the interior decorations were designed in a Baroque style. When Hedwig Eleonora died in 1715 many of the rooms were not finished. After queen consort Louisa Ulrika became owner of the palace in 1751 she hired accomplished architects such as Carl Hårleman and Jean Eric Rehn to complete and remodel the interiors.

Royal Library

Most impressive is the Great Staircase which dominates the center of the palace. Large statues of the nine muses are placed on the balustrade of the staircase, which was designed by Tessin the Elder. The walls of the stair hall are decorated with trompe-l'oeil paintings by Johan Sylvius and the ceiling features a large painting by David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl.

On of the most interesting rooms is the chamber of Hedwig Eleonora, designed by Tessin the Elder and completed in 1683. Also of note is the elegant royal library, decorated by Jean Eric Rehn for queen Louisa Ulrika. 

Court Theatre

Large paintings in the galleries of king Charles X and Charles XI show scenes from historic events, respectively the crossing of the Great Belt (Denmark) in 1658 and the Battle of Lund, Sweden in 1667.

1. The Palace

      Throughout the years Drottningholm Palace has changed and the royal personages who lived here have left their mark on the palace's interiors – influenced by changes in style and fashion trends.

 Hedvig Eleonora, Lovisa Ulrika and Gustav III have all contributed markedly to the interior decoration of the reception halls.

          Hedvig Eleonora's state bedchamber was the heart of the state reception suite in the 1600s and was created by the country's foremost artists and craftsmen. You will also find a series of rooms decorated for Gustav III during the 1700s, amongst others the Chinese Salon featuring the popular trend of that period – chinoiserie. The reception halls are open year round for visitors. Also available are guided tours for individuals, guided tours for groups, theme visits as well as guided tours for children.

2. Museum de Vries

          A unique collection of sculptures from the Dutch sculptor Adriaen de Vries (1556–1626) can be seen at the old Dragoon Stables from the 1700s. Bronze sculptures dating back to the beginning of the 1600s were brought to Sweden as booty and were eventually placed in the Drottningholm Palace park.

          Today these sculptures have been replaced by modern bronze casts and the originals can be seen at the Museum De Vries. The museum contains the world´s largest collection of Adriaen De Vries' work.

3. Drottningholm Palace Chapel

          The Royal Chapel at Drottningholm was inaugurated in May 1746. During the chapel's just over 250-year history official Royal events have continued to be held here.

          Today, the Royal Chapel at Drottningholm is utilized by Lovö parish and a high mass is held on the last Sunday of every month.

4. The Royal Gift Shop

          The Royal Gift Shop is a unique present and souvenir shop offering products with a connection to the Royal Collections. Many of the products are produced in limited editions and can only be purchased at the Royal Gift Shop.

           The boutique's broad assortment offers everything from popular souvenir items such as postcards and key rings to exclusive jewelery in gold and silver, as well as glass and porcelain. There is something for everyone at the Royal Gift Shop. The selection appeals both to tourists who are looking for special souvenirs and companies who are looking for unique gifts for clients.

           The Gift Shop at Drottningholm is situated in the Visitor's Centre in the white villa in front of the Palace, from the seaside.

5. Drottningholm Palace Park

          Since the reign of Johan III's there has been a palace garden at Drottningholm. At that time it was primarily a utility garden and was situated approximately where the parking area, east of the theatre, is located today.

Queen Hedvig Eleonora

The oldest garden was planted at the end of the 1600s upon the initiative of Queen Hedvig Eleonora.

The work was headed by the palace architects Tessin – father and son. This part of the garden is known as the baroque garden and is situated directly adjacent to the palace, enclosed by four lime-tree lined avenues.
 
The architects were inspired by newly planted palace gardens in France at the time, where the ideal was strict, ordered and symmetrical.

The baroque garden lay in disrepair during the 1800s but was restored in the 1950–60s by Gustaf VI Adolf.

The parterre de broderi

Closest to the palace lies the parterre de broderi, which originally had an intricate embroidery pattern of box-wood hedges and coloured gravel.

Today, these have been replaced by a large lawn with box-wood hedges on the outer edges as well as a band of crushed brick and black hyperite.

  Adriaen de Vries

At the centre stands the Hercules fountain – bronze figures created by the sculptor Adriaen de Vries.

All the bronze sculptures located in the park are created by de Vries and came to Sweden as booty after wars in Prague 1648 and Fredriksborg 1659.
 
After a walled terrace comes the parterre d´eau with ten jets of water and lawns enclosed by box-wood hedges.

 Seven cascades

A cascade construction made of seven cascades on each side of the centre avenue make up the background of the parterres – a liberal free interpretation of the original Tessin cascades, which were torn down a the beginning of the 1800s .

Beyond the cascades lie four hedge groves and the crown fountain. Today the groves remain as they were formed during the 1700s.

The southwest grove contains a theatre of leaves, with hedges forming the walls and stage.

 Muncken's hill

Between the groves and Muncken's hill at the bottom of the baroque garden lie the high-grown remains of the star hedge formation, made up of pruned hedges.
 
The parterres situated at the palace´s water front are a reconstruction of those from 1723.

 King Gustav III

When Gustav III took over Drottningholm in 1777, he wished to make room for the new park ideal from England – the natural landscape park or English garden.

Fredrik Magnus Piper, who studied these gardens first hand in England, was commissioned in 1780 to create such a garden to the north of the baroque garden.

This garden is made up of two ponds with canals, islets and beautiful bridges, expansive lawns as well as tree-lined avenues and tree groves. Walkways wind themselves all around the park.

 The English garden

Viewing paths stretch through the English garden and partly through the baroque garden providing beautiful viewpoints and landscape vistas.

Only a few of all the romantic buildings that were planned for the English garden were completed – for instance the neo-Gothic style tower.

Copies of ancient marble statues are found at a number of locations in the park. The originals were purchased by Gustav III during his journey to Italy in 1783-84.

The intention was to provide beautiful surprises amongst the foliage or a visual endpoint from a distance.

6. The World Heritage

          The Royal Domain of Drottningholm is a well preserved palace and grounds from the 1600s and 1700s, inspired by French models such as the Chateau of Versailles. The Chinese Pavilion and the unique Court Theatre are particularly valuable parts of the Drottningholm domain. The Theatre auditorium remains unchanged since its completion in 1766.

          In 1991, Drottningholm was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List of places that are of outstanding universal value to humanity, representing the best examples of the world's cultural and natural heritage.

7. Drottningholm Visitor's Centre and Restaurant

  

     Those are the main part of Drottningholm Palace that you may wanna know. It is an extracted places, isn't it? Well, I hope you do think so like I do. Maybe, with this efforts, you will know more about world and will be more respect to it. I think it's enought for this time.. Love yaa.. See yaa.. Byeee...

Source : 

http://www.kungahuset.se/

http://overseasattractions.com/europe/sweden/stockholm/drottningholm-palace/

http://www.aviewoncities.com/stockholm/drottningholmsslott.htm

HOLIDAY

MY HOLIDAY

          So... I'm back from my hibernation of Holiday, hehe. And now, I'm gonna share my experience within my Holiday.

          At the bginning of the holiday, I litteraly did nothing. And, honestly this is a bad holiday. Even, I can't say that, because even though I did go nowhere, it is still a holiday, isn't it? But, there are a couple things that I did on my holiday, such as Movie Marathon on my computer, and learned about foreign languange, read some articles with numerous and random title, or maybe hang-out with my old friends. I indeed have an intention to finish-up my " reading novel " session, but it didn't end up well. Because, my mind was always distracted by others things. Also, in the matter of I am one of PK 62 member's, I need to work and manage one event, which is " MuBes ". Here, at my spare time, I went out to school to do forum and kind of meeting thing, also helped for any preparation. But, unfortunately I didn't take a chance to come along with them, because I have another issues that I couldn't leave behind. I was quite dissapointed and regret those things, but I do believe in every decision, the risk will always be there. But, regardless to that pathetic story, I confess that I was really happy and felt prestigious to be able to helped, my family.

          When the rest of PK 62 member's gone to Cisarua for MuBes, I stayed at home, but I also still went to school for chemical copaching for OSN. Istruggled hard with my self, to be honest, to get there. Because, I was too lazy to attend that coaching lesson. The reason was, what we discussed is very hard and I was frazzled to understood, what the coach try to explained. I also went to the College, to prepare for next-semester, so I wouldn't got blank brain on the first day of school.

          But, let's forget it. Because, I wasn't just did those misereable things. I also went to my hometown, Banjar and Ciamis. I came there about 1 day before New Year. I did my trip with my younger sister and my father, without my mother, because she with her family got a chance to visit Makkah for Umroh. Ya, so lucky My Mom. In Banjar, I still have no clue about what thing that I could do, there. So, we are just visitedmy father's family. Door to door, with unfriendly weather accompanied us. I mean, its ridiculously, extremely, surprisingly HOT!! For addition, I have so many home to visit. But, I can't lie that I was happy to ride that trip. Don't get me wrong, I was tired, a lot, but I got money from some of my family. Also, they gave us hulled rice, oil and all that stuff. We saved it on our trunk and brought it to home.

          I also visited my grandma's house at Ciamis, we just visited, then went back to Banjar, haha. Last, in New Year's eve, I did my journey to Pangandaran to celebrate that. I arrived there, approximately at 8 p.m. and went back home at 3 a.m. There are a lot of fireworks flew up on the sky, and that moments was very exquisite for me. Yeah, I think that's all interesting on my holiday to share with.

          Then, it's the end. I told you, my holiday was quite boring. I jusr did my regulary activity on my daily life. I listened to so many songs, watched a reality TV show, sometimes did a work out. But, the difference is I could do that with full-time part. I could do it eagerly and without hesitate, no worried to have any dateline chased on me. Its also refresh my minds, which is really deserve to got. I ate healthier, actually, with Oatmeal always on the top list. So, basically, I still got something from holiday, even it is far away from what I expected. Last, my message is enjoy everytime of your life and be better! *even if you have a bad holiday, hehe. Thankyouu... Love yaa, See yaa, Byee....