From Malaysia to Sweden: Hagaparken (Haga Park) : Part 1

31 July 2017

Today, I visited Haga Park. It is a huge park, with not just a big garden but ...

... Haga Palace, King Gustav III's Pavilion, the Chinese Pavilion, the Echo Temple, the Turkish Kiosk, an older castle ruin (which is not really a ruin as it is the remains of a castle never finished) and several other interesting buildings on the grounds (such as the peculiar Copper Tents and also the Butterfly House). Included in the Haga Park is also the Royal Burial Ground of the Swedish Royal family (since 1922), where several members and ancestors of the present Swedish royal Bernadotte family rest. Source from Wikipedia.

I was in the Park for close to 7 hours exploring the entire place. Because it is summer, it was still bright at 8pm.

This is the entrance to the north of Haga Park. I took the bus here. Every place in Stockholm is conveniently accessible by public transportation. You need a car only if you plan to drive out of Stockholm.

The first thing I saw was the copper tents. The middle tent has a cafe inside which explains why you can see people in front of the tent. They are sitting and having their meals under the sun.

The 3 copper tents are built in 1787 - 1790 as stables and lodgings for King Gustav III's Royal Horse Guards. The tent concept came from the King himself. The middle tent was built entirely in timber while the side tent are bricks on a timber frame. The Copper Tents were meant to look like an encampment on the edge of the woods. During 2009, the tent fronts were painted in blue and yellow linseed paint, just as in the time of Gustav III. The pigments - cobalt blue and ochre yellow - were chosen to give a theatrical effect even at a distance. The previously open stable courtyard now became a tent-roofed room called the Silver Tent, which now houses a cafe. The middle Copper Tent is home to the Haga Park Museum. The east tent has a restaurant while the west tent is residential. Source from the Signboard.

This is how Haga Palace would have looked like - the foundation of this Palace can be found within Haga Park. The construction stopped when the King died.

I walked further and found myself in the vicinity of the Butterfly House. There is a Shark Aquarium and an exhibition on sharks, a rainforest (very warm when I went in) with fake wild animals (crocodile, tiger and hippopotamus), a Butterfly House with butterflies (duh!) and moths flying around, and an exhibit on dangerous animals. I just checked and the entrance fee is SEK175 for an adult. It is a lot...