Sofiero Castle

Sofiero located in southern Sweden, Skåne, north of Helsingborg.

Sofiero was built in 1864 as a summer residence for the Crown Prince Oscar and his wife Sophia of Nassau. The first one-story building received its present form 1874-1876. Late King Oscar II donated it in 1905 to his eldest grandson Prince Gustav Adolf to the wedding.

Gustav Adolf and his first wife Margaret were the ones who planned and designed the garden in its present form. In 1907 she planted the first rhododendron, the ground floor of a unique collection of 10,000 plants in Europe in 300 species. While in the upper part of the site several themed gardens and contemporary sculpture dominate, the rhododendrons extend in the lower part by an artificially created river valley to the Öresund.

After the death of Gustavus Adolphus in 1973 Sofiero fell to the municipality of Helsingborg. Now a museum, a restaurant and a café are housed in the castle.