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ROYAL PALACE OF STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
The Stockholm Palace, or Stockholms slott, is the royal palace and official residence of the Swedish monarch, in Stockholm. The personal offices of the king and the other members of the Royal Family, as well as the administrative offices of the Royal Court of Sweden is located there.
The palace is also used for representative purposes by the king in performing his duties as the head of state. The private residence of the royal family is located at Drottningholm Palace.The palace is located on Stadsholmen, literally Island of the City, in the Old Town right next to the Riksdag building on Helgeandsholmen.
 HISTORY OF STOCKHOLM PALACE
The first building on this site was a fortress with a core tower built in the 13th century by Birger Jarl to defend Lake Malaren. The fortress grew to a palace. The palace was named Tre Kronor (Three Crowns) after the core towers spire. In the late 16th century under John III much work was done to transform the old fortress into a renaissance palace. In 1690 it was decided to rebuild the palace in baroque style. In 1692 work began on the northern row. The work was complete in 1697, and the row survived the fire but was damaged.
The new palace was built to replace the old palace which burned to the ground following a fire on May 7, 1697 after a design by Palace Architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger. The halfround wings around the outer cortyard was finished in 1734. The palace church was finished in the 1740s. The exterior of the palace wasn't finished until 1754. Finally the royal family could move to the palace. At that point in time the southwest, southeast and northeast wings was finished. The northwest wing was finished in 1760.
In the north the drive Lejonbacken (The Lion's Slope) was built 1824-1830. Its name comes from the lion sculptures that stand there.
EXTERIOR OF THE STOCKHOLM PALACE
The palace is built of brickstone, the midsections of the west, south and east facades is covered by sandstone. The roof slopes slightly inwards. The roof is covered with copper and is surrounded by a stone balustrade which stretched around the hole main building.
The palace has 609 rooms. The palace consists of 4 rows, the western, southern, eastern and northern row. From west to east the palace facade is 115 meters (without wings). From north south the palace facade is 120 meters. The four rows surround the inner courtyard. From the main buildings corners four wings strech out to the northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast. Three of these is 48 meters long and 16 meters wide. But the southwest wing is only 11 meters long.
This irregularity is hidden by two free-standing half-round wings which surround the outer courtyard. Logarden (The Lynx Yard), a small garden lies between the southeast and northeast wing.
The southern facade represents the nation the west facade is the king's facade, the east facade is the queen's facade and the northern facade represents the common royal.
The Palace is guarded 24 hours a day by the Hogvakten, which consists of conscripted members of the armed forces. The guard dates back to the early 16th century.
From Wikipedia
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