Our Story (Vara Saga) ...
Vadstena above all, is the city most noted for two
important facts of Swedish
history. It was in Vadstena, year 1350, that Saint Birgitta of Sweden founded the first
monastery
of her Bridgettine Order, and Vadstena Castle is one of Sweden’s best-preserved castles from the
era of Gustav Vasa in the 16th century, when Sweden became Protestant.
The first known settlement recorded
was recorded by archeologists as being 800AD. In the 1100's it was more popular as a stopping
point for a pilgramage to Trondheim, Norway. King Magnus Eriksson and Queen Blanka issued their
will in Lödöse , whereby Vadstena royal estate, the farm Bjälbo and the parish Sväm
in Ödeshög were donated to St. Birgitta's planned monastery building.
Today the surviving buildings of the
monastery
are occupied by a hotel, (Vadstena Klosterhotel), and the castle houses the provincial archives
and a museum of 16th and 17th century furniture, portraits and paintings.Since the 16th century,
Vadstena has been the location of a hospital. Earlier in history, it mainly housed mental
patients. Today, some of the oldest buildings present the Vadstena Hospital
Museum.
