Corps-de-garde

I visited the Galley Shipyard Cemetery, or Galärvarvskyrkogården on Djurgården on a hot day earlier in the month. This building, overlooking the cemetery, is known as Galärvarvskastellet. It dates back to 1839 and was the guardhouse, the corps-de-garde. It was designed by the architect Fredrik Blom. Up to 5000 people have been buried at this cemetery over the centuries. Many of the men that rests here were in the Swedish navy, and there are a lot of monuments and stories about the Vasa ship, and more recently the Estonia disaster. You will also find a few famous artists, directors and politicians buried here. Today this is actually the home of the caretaker, and his wife, and as I walked in to the cemetery I exchanged a few words with him about the weather as it was a brutally hot day.