King Karl XIV Johan's art museum

On Rosendal's terrace, where King Karl XIV Johan planned an art museum in 1830, there is a monumental sculpture featuring marble parts from the museum that never came to be.

The lost art museum will now be given a new lease of life, as history and the present come together in a new work of art. Marble parts from Karl XIV Johan's planned museum will be integrated into the impressive installation sculpture 'Museum'. The sculpture's freestanding concrete forms will be cast in the very place where the king planned his art museum at Rosendal in 1830.

When Crown Prince Karl Johan bought the Rosendal country estate a year before becoming king, he embarked on a major project to create a pleasure park. He was well-versed in the writings of the Enlightenment and put his visions into practice, transforming Djurgården with great determination. The landscape we see today on Djurgården is the result of both major investments and Karl XIV Johan's dreams and hard work.

Visiting Djurgården on Sundays became popular thanks to Karl XIV Johan's efforts to make Rosendal accessible to the people of Stockholm. The king rode out to Djurgården on 1 May, accompanied by a procession and the whole of Stockholm's society. Then everyone knew that spring had officially begun.

The art museum that never was

Rosendal Palace is actually part of a clever innovation project involving prefabricated houses in the style of Fredrik Blom. Based on his drawings, the 'movable palace' at Rosendal was completed in 1827. A couple of years later, Karl XIV Johan had the idea of also building an art museum at Rosendal. He once again enlisted the help of Blom, ordering marble to create columns and other parts for the large project. However, after ten years of preparations, the project was abandoned. The art museum was never built, and the marble blocks that had been ordered were stored in a warehouse.

The museum gets a new lease of life

Now, almost two centuries later, Polish artist Monika Sosnowska has used eleven of the marble pieces in a new sculpture, 'Museum' – the latest addition to Princess Estelle's Sculpture Park.

The five-metre-high composition is open in separate parts, as if the museum Karl XIV Johan dreamed of was still under construction; or perhaps we are seeing its ruins.

The almost two-hundred-years-old marble pieces are integrated into six freestanding concrete forms, cast on site. The sections can be seen as memories of a building – a portal, part of a wall, pillars or a staircase.

King Karl XIV Johan maintained the park until his death in 1844. King Oskar I and Queen Josefina, who were both keen gardeners, continued his work. During their time, cultivation at Rosendal flourished and laid the foundations for today's Rosendal Gardens.

Top image: Montage, marble pieces from the planned museum. Photo: Palle Lindqvist. Drawing from the Palace Archives.