From Sundbyberg to Sigtuna - a visit to the Sigtuna Foundation

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Guest writer: Christina Gripenberg

More precisely, to the Sigtuna Foundation. It's a 1.5 hour journey, first by commuter train then by bus. From the northern suburbs to the city on Lake Mälaren, founded around 980. Sigtuna was one of the first three cities in Sweden at that time and the Sigtuna Foundation is the castle that has been enthroned on its hill since 1917.

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I get off the bus on the road just below the castle-like building and look up towards the top of the hill where the Sigtuna Foundation is located. Between the green pine groves I glimpse the yellow facades. Finally here again!

Ever since I was here for the first time one summer a few years ago, the urge to return has been there. Now I have done it and already when I take the steps up the stone stairs towards the main building, it feels special, almost a little sacred.

There is something unique about this place and I look forward to staying here, if only for a night. The September wind rustles lightly in the pine trees and there is a natural peace here. The sun shines on the facades, granite and tiled roofs, I enter through the gate.

A labyrinth that resembles life itself

At reception, I am given the key to my room and an explanation of how to get there.

You take the stairs or lift to the third floor, go left, then turn right, walk to the end of the corridor and round the corner.

The Sigtuna Foundation is not like other places. It's full of nooks and crannies. It can take several visits to find your way around. Here, you are not meant to be in a hurry either. On the contrary, the soul finds peace in this place, and you slow down and let the calm come.

The Foundation's architect John Åkerlund described the Sigtuna Foundation's distinctive character with winding staircases and a sense that there are no right angles with life itself - "In life there are no right angles, in life you sometimes get lost".

Desk, white sheets and Mälar view

The Bisäter room, named in honour of the Sigtuna Foundation's first housewife Lisa Biberg, is bright and lovely with white curtains and rose-patterned wallpaper. It exudes national romanticism with its simple décor and colours of lime green, summer yellow and creamy white. I think of the artist Carl Larsson's paintings and the interior from the artist's home in Sundborn. The window looks down on the splendour of the rose garden.

So many writers, poets, artists and writers have stayed here at the Sigtuna Foundation that we no longer know how many there are, but one thing is certain: this is a writers' watering hole! Here the walls breathe literature, art and culture.

I open the other window facing Lake Mälaren and hook it with the hasp. A new wind blows in and for one day Bisäter will become my very own little writing den.

In the company of roses

The Sigtuna Foundation looks like a mix of a Swedish castle and an Italian medieval monastery. It has a foundation of Swedish granite, is built with beautiful arcades and arches. There is a courtyard with paths along the house wall, in the centre a lush garden with a fountain that bubbles gently. Bright red roses bloom here and the courtyard has been named the Rose Garden.

In the paths around the garden, chairs and tables are placed for those who want to enjoy a lunch in the company of roses or just relax with a cup of tea and a good book. This is the epitome of monastic romanticism, a true Lisa for the soul, I think, sinking into a chair with the feeling of almost being in another time in a place far away.

Multifaceted meeting place

Right from the start in 1916, with Manfred Björkquist as leader and initiator, the Sigtuna Foundation has functioned as a meeting place where dialogue "across the big border issues" was central. Even today, it is precisely this curious, open and respectful dialogue and encounters between people that form the basis of our activities.

It includes a hotel, a conference centre, a restaurant and an ancient library with rarities from the 16th century and an interior reminiscent of the Harry Potter films. Education, research and culture are the cornerstones of its activities, and this is clearly reflected in the packed programme published in the calendar.

An exhibition of photos taken by Dag Hammarskjöld, the UN Secretary-General who died in a plane crash in 1961, has been on display in the Great Hall and the Chapel for some time. Tomorrow, the exhibition will close in the Great Hall with an author talk and lecture on Dag Hammarskjöld by his niece Caroline Hammarskjöld.

Over the years, writers have used the Sigtuna Foundation as a meeting place, not least through scholarships awarded to up to five writers each year. The scholarship holders stay at the guesthouse for three weeks.

Gunnar Ekelöf is a writer who has been immortalised here at the Foundation with the so-called Gunnar Ekelöf Room. Ekelöf was one of Sweden's foremost and most influential writers and poets. He was elected to the Swedish Academy in 1958. The purpose of the Gunnar Ekelöf Room is to preserve for the future parts of the author's working environment with the books and other furnishings that were in his home.

Yes, there are many rooms and spaces to discover. If you stay here for a while in the Swedish-Italian monastery castle, you can travel away both on the outside and on the inside. Boundaries are blurred and encounters occur, that meeting you didn't know how it would look or be but which the Sigtuna Foundation so openly and generously invites you to. It will be a meeting with yourself and your senses.

Then, now and in the future

In the evening, dinner is served with a glass of white wine to match. Even the palate can partake of the goodness here. I go back to my room, watch the moon shine through the window and crawl into bed.

There is an aurora over the Sigtuna Foundation and the morning sunlight makes the pine trees glow orange. Breakfast is served in the dining room. I take a cup of coffee up to my room and sit down at my desk. Time to revive the desire to write and the genes that are actually there in the family line.

I write a letter to my sister, telling her that maybe it's time to revive dormant creativity and that I want to come here again with her. Somehow, writing a handwritten letter is more appropriate than sending a text message. The letter is being taken care of at reception by friendly staff and will be posted tomorrow.

For various reasons, more letters than just mine have been written here. The film adaptation of Alex Schulman's novel 'Burn All My Letters' is a real-life drama about a love affair between the writer Sven Stolpe's wife Karin Stolpe and Olof Lagercrantz that begins at the Sigtuna Foundation in the 1930s. It is a passionate and dramatic story, but also a historical account of what it was like here at the time and still is. This is perhaps what creates the unique feeling of staying at Sigtunastiftelsen.

The historical environment is still there, while the range of activities is adapted to contemporary needs and wishes. Here I feel somehow intellectual and educated, even though I am not. Inspiration comes alive and I just want to write, read books, look at and smell the roses. For someone who often feels like Ferdinand the bull who thrives best under the oak tree, the Sigtuna Foundation is an excellent place for both retreat and education.

My stay is over for this time and the journey back to Sundbyberg has begun. I walk down the stone steps towards the bus and already long for the return, grateful that there is a place like this, a place of beauty and tranquillity hidden among the pines on a hill in Sigtuna. I will be back in the future.

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Christina Gripenberg

Curious and creative writer living in Sundbyberg just north of Stockholm. Writing has been an interest since childhood. Writing suits me perfectly as a means of creative expression. I want to discover life and the world in small and large and write about what catches my attention. My desire is to both inspire and be inspired by the reader.

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