The Swedish Country House

Swedish country houses are among Europe’s best-kept secrets. Little known to the outside world and rarely illustrated, they survive in surprisingly large numbers, often with their original furniture and decoration.

The story of Swedish country houses is a mirror of Swedish social history, its hierarchy of classes, its absorption of European styles and movements, and above all the enduring character of its own culture.

This superb book, by a leading Swedish specialist in interiors, richly illustrated with images specially taken by a leading Swedish photographer, examines in detail examples from royal palaces to farmhouses, from the 15th century to the end of the 19th century.

Susanna Scherman has included examples from every level, drawing special attention to the qualities that make them unique: she is the acknowledged expert on that vital and most picturesque element of the Swedish interior, the tiled stove. She and Åke E:son Lindman explored the houses together, and together they bring them to life for the reader.