Visingsborg herb garden

Visingsborg was a magnificent castle built in the 1570s by Count Per Brahe the Elder, one of the most influential nobles of his time in Sweden.

The castle was built on Visingsö in Lake Vättern and was surrounded by extensive gardens that reflected the Renaissance ideals of order, utility and beauty.

A central part of the complex was the herb garden, which was of great importance to the castle’s daily life and self-sufficiency. Here, herbs and plants were grown for use in cooking, in medicine, as spices and in the household. During the 16th century, knowledge of plants was based on a combination of practical experience and medical beliefs of the time, with many herbs considered to have both healing and protective properties.

The herb garden that exists today is a historical recreation. It is intended to give visitors an idea of what a castle herb garden might have looked like at the end of the 16th century and the role it played in daily life on a Swedish noble estate during the Renaissance.

Owner: Wisingsborgs Trädgård AB