Pavilions

Is there anything more romantic, tranquil and serene than a small pavilion tucked away in a quiet lush spot in the garden? A vanity house, hermitage, “otaheitihydda”, arbour - the much-loved pavilion, lusthus, has many names.

Built in all kinds of outdoor spaces like parks dating back to the baroque era, to moderate-sized suburban gardens and very often in the minimal space of allotment gardens on the outskirts of many Swedish cities and towns, the pavilions became a popular feature in the country during a period of 400 years.

Many of the finest lusthus in the country are featured in a book by the architect Hans Mårtensson called “Länge leve lusthusen” (Akantus) - Long live the pavilions.

Swedes have built their pavilions for all kinds of reasons but a common theme seems to be that the lusthus gave people the freedom to decorate in abundance and sheer delight something that was not possible in a functional home.

There are many remarkable pavilions in the Kalmar region. One of them is the Grosshandlarns’ lusthus at the Krusenstiernska Gardens. It was bought by the Sanning Lodge of the temperance order at the beginning of this century and is generally known by the name of the order, IOGT.

A very old pavilion dating back to 1730 can be found on the Virbo farm in the coastal region of Småland. This one has a fantastic tower made of shingles sprouting from the roof.
In Old Linköping there is a lusthus built by bee-keepers dating back to 1879. It has room for 84 bee colonies but it did not work well because the bees reportedly became disoriented and never found their way in.

New lusthus are being built to this day, many of them with a modern design, others adhering strictly to traditional lines. In the book “Länge leve lusthusen”, the author Per Wästberg describes the garden pavilion that he and his wife commissioned for their summer cottage Fide on the island of Gotland. This is an octagonal structure in white with slanting window bars.

Five specially remarkable pavilions are also featured on a new issue of postal stamps.
One of them is Sweden’s oldest pavilions, “Ebba Brahe’s Lusthus” in Bockhammar, Västmanland. The pavilion is purportedly the site of Ebba’s romantic encounters with King Gustav Adolph, with whom she had an adolescent love affair. The King, however, died in Lützen in 1632, years before the little pavilion was built.

In the 1700s Swedes were acutely interested in China, and many pavilions were given Chinese accents. In 1788, Johan Abraham Grill, formerly the East India Company’s top man in Canton, commissioned a Chinese pavilion for his manor, Godegård in Östergötland. This is one of the best preserved lusthus from this period.

Learned men occasionally used their pavilions as a den during the summer months. Emanuel Swedenborg’s pavilion from 1767, today on display at Skansen in Stockholm, became the site for his divine revelations. It was also here that he played his organ which can still be seen in the pavilion.

The Västanå farm pavilion in Borensberg, Östergötland, is a little newer, dating back to the 19th century. It is situated on the banks of Göta Canal, at that time the country’s major commercial artery.

The fifth stamp features architect Fredrik Blom’s classical pavilion from the 1820s that today also can be seen at the Skansen open-air museum in Stockholm. Blom (1781-1853) who designed Rosendal’s palace on Djurgården also created a revolutionary system for prefabricated structures.