200 years of the Rosendal Urn

King Karl XIV Johan commissioned a monumental granite statement piece from Älvdalen porphyry quarry for his summer palace Rosendal. The 200th anniversary of the Rosendal Urn is being marked by reconstructing the urn's lost border of egg-shaped ornamentation.

Rosendal is one of the best-preserved environments from the reign of Karl Johan, where architecture, natural beauty and art interact to form a cohesive whole. One significant feature is the Rosendal Urn, which was commissioned by King Karl XIV Johan from Älvdalen porphyry quarry in 1823. Two years and 3,500 man-days later, it arrived on Royal Djurgården. It was positioned on the raised terrace north of the palace, with its views of Djurgårdsbrunn Bay and Ladugårdsgärdet.

The Rosendal Urn celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2025, and will continue to inspire wonder among visitors to the palace's park.

"Just as you might say that the palace is far too small for a park like Royal Djurgården, you might also say that the porphyry urn is far too large for the palace. It would be worthy of Versailles, but Versailles has nothing quite like this."

(Quotation from Illustrerad Tidning, 31 May 1862, Stockholm City Museum)

King Karl XIV Johan and Älvdalen porphyry quarry

At the time, Sweden was the only country in the world where the precious volcanic rock porphyry was mined, and during Karl Johan's time as crown prince and king, the rock's fashionable status in Europe was reinforced. In 1818, the king purchased the loss-making Älvdalen porphyry quarry with private funds in the name of his son, Crown Prince Oskar.

The quarry was founded in 1788 in response to a severe supply crisis that had hit Sweden, and not least the parish of Älvdalen, during the 1770s. Since the end of the 18th century, porphyry objects have been produced in Älvdalen, including small ornamental and practical items for interior use and larger decorative pieces. The rock was difficult to work with and was both labour-intensive to quarry and time-consuming to process, making the end products expensive.

Porphyry came to be closely associated with King Karl XIV Johan and the Swedish Empire. Karl Johan commissioned many works of art that were displayed in the royal palaces and presented as impressive state gifts. They were also used for bartering during his reign.

The many types of rock processed at the quarry were named after the places where they were found in Älvdalen and had different properties, in both aesthetic and technical terms. One type was the light red, fine-grained granite – or granitell – from Garberg, which was particularly suitable for producing large pieces, as it did not have the same tendency to crack as harder porphyry. The Rosendal Urn was one piece that was made from Garberg granite.

The Rosendal Urn

In spring 1823, Carl Henrik Röslein – a member of the War Council who was employed by the King's private office and was responsible for operations at the porphyry quarry during King Karl XIV Johan's reign – wrote to the quarry's director and asked for a monumental urn to be produced to thank the king for his support and to glorify his reign. Before the urn was made, drawings were produced by Court Painter Fredric Westin, who used an antique marble urn found in Herculaneum, Italy, as a model.

The task of producing the urn was entrusted to the quarry's director, Per Forsgren, who had many years of experience and great artistic skill in working with the hard rock. The urn was made on an enlarged scale based on Westin's drawings, and was carved from a block of granite in two parts. When finished, it measured 3.67 metres tall and 3.59 metres wide at the mouth of the bowl. It weighed approximately nine tonnes on completion and was the largest piece ever made in Älvdalen at that time. The bowl of the urn was wide with a gadrooned underside, and was crowned by a decorative border of loose granite eggs. Handles, or 'ears', were also made for the bowl. The base of the urn was decorated with fluting.

The work progressed with difficulty, with up to forty men working on grinding and polishing. After approximately 3,500 man-days the urn was completed, and on 5 October 1825 it began its journey from Älvdalen to Stockholm.

A costly, laborious transportation process

The urn travelled by land and sea under the supervision of Forsgren, who was given responsibility for transporting it. Special orders for assistance with its transportation were issued by the County Governor. The bowl and the base were placed on separate trailers. While the base was pulled by horses, the bowl was pulled by a crew of about 120 men from Dalarna. On steeper slopes, it was pulled by up to 200 men. The urn's handles were towed separately by a horse. These handles have since been lost, and have not been recovered.

Between Älvdalen and Mora, Forsgren had two musicians lead the slow procession, which was accompanied by drummers. Wherever the procession passed, people gathered to see the impressive sight.

Transporting the urn was a major undertaking, and was both laborious and costly. For example, the procession passed over 21 bridges during part of the journey, most of which had to be rebuilt or reinforced.

On 12 November, the urn arrived at Stockholm harbour. It then passed through Slussen to Manilla on the southern shore of Royal Djurgården, from where it was finally transported by road to Rosendal. By then, the exterior of the summer palace had largely been completed. Under the supervision of architect Fredrik August Lidström, the urn was positioned on a granite pedestal on the terrace in front of the palace's northern façade, and on 24 November 1825 the urn was plastered in place and could finally be admired in its entirety. The urn soon attracted many visitors, who came to Rosendal to see the new statement piece.

Even though the palace's interior was far from finished, the king invited his family and entourage to a formal luncheon at Rosendal on 16 January 1826 to show off the Rosendal Urn.

The eggs disappear

Records show that the decorative granite eggs that adorned the edge of the Rosendal Urn disappeared early on. Over time, these were replaced with eggs made from both wood and plaster, which were painted to imitate the original material. In 1881, it appears that repair works had also been carried out by the stonemason D.O. Nyholm, who had "… repaired the egg border on the porphyry urn…". Only a few of the original eggs remained by the mid-20th century, and in 1967 the last ones were finally removed and stored by the Royal Djurgården Administration.

Top image: Rosendal Palace with its porphyry urn, Paul Gaimard, from Voyages en Scandinavie, 1838–1840, the National Library of Sweden