Riddarholmen, Riddarholmskyrkan, Mälardrottningen Hotel Ship
Riddarholmskyrkan — the Church of the Knights — stands on the small island of Riddarholmen, just beside Gamla Stan, and is one of Stockholm's most striking medieval monuments. Founded as a Franciscan friary in the late 13th century, it became the burial church of Swedish monarchs, a role it held for centuries. Nearly every Swedish king and queen from Gustav II Adolf onward rests within its walls, making it a profound repository of royal history. Its slender cast-iron spire, added in the 19th century after the original was destroyed by lightning, is one of the most recognisable silhouettes on the Stockholm skyline. Today it functions as a museum rather than an active church.
Mälardrottningen (Swedish: Queen of Lake Mälaren) is a hotel and restaurant ship permanently moored at Riddarholmen in central Stockholm, Sweden. The vessel, registered as Lady Hutton, is a former luxury yacht built in 1924 at Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft in Kiel, Germany.
Originally named Vanadis, the 240-foot steel-and-nickel-hulled motor yacht was commissioned by New York millionaire C. K. G. Billings and was the largest diesel-driven yacht of its day. Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton received the vessel in 1930 as a present from her father on her 18th birthday, lending the ship its registered name.
Renovation into a hotel and restaurant was completed in 1982, and the vessel has been docked at Riddarholmen ever since. The hotel includes meeting facilities, a Finnish sauna, and a glass-floored lounge allowing guests to view the engine room below. It offers views across Riddarfjärden towards Stockholm City Hall and Gamla Stan.
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