Uppsala Cathedral

Uppsala Cathedral tickets: which one to buy

Uppsala Cathedral stands in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden's fourth largest city and a university town, about forty minutes north of Stockholm by train, and entry is free. It is the largest church in Scandinavia and the seat of the Archbishop of the Church of Sweden. The cathedral treasury, in the north tower, is ticketed and displays medieval textiles and royal robes.

Walking tours of Uppsala combine the cathedral with the Gustavianum museum and its anatomical theatre, the Carolina Rediviva library with the Silver Bible, Uppsala Castle, the Linnaeus Garden and Old Uppsala, a site of royal burial mounds and an old church about five kilometres north. The cathedral is active, with daily services and concerts, and visiting pauses during services. Guided tours in English are offered in summer. Trains from Stockholm Central and Arlanda Airport run frequently to Uppsala.

Visiting Uppsala Cathedral: what to see

The cathedral was begun around 1270 in the French Gothic style, with the help of French master builders, and consecrated in 1435. It is built of brick, and its twin western towers rise 118.7 metres, the same as the length of the church. The towers and the facade were rebuilt in a neo-Gothic style in the late nineteenth century after fires. The cathedral was the coronation church of Swedish kings for centuries, and it holds the tombs of Saint Erik, the patron saint of Sweden, whose relics are kept in a silver shrine, King Gustav Vasa, who established Protestantism in Sweden, and his three wives, in a chapel decorated with murals. Other tombs include that of the botanist Carl Linnaeus and the scientist Emanuel Swedenborg. The interior is tall and bright, with a baroque pulpit and many chapels.

The treasury displays textiles, including garments from the Sture murders of 1567. The cathedral's choir holds colourful medieval paintings and the reliquary of Saint Erik, made of gilded silver. The nave's pulpit was designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger in the eighteenth century. Chapels around the ambulatory hold tombs of Swedish nobles and bishops. The cathedral's stained glass windows were added in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The organ is one of the largest in Sweden. The brick walls inside were painted with decorative patterns during a restoration in the nineteenth century. The cathedral's bells are rung for services and national events. A memorial stone commemorates Archbishop Nathan Söderblom, a Nobel Peace Prize winner. The treasury's collection of textiles is one of the finest in Europe. The cathedral's crypt holds graves of archbishops.

Uppsala Cathedral opening hours and the best time to go

The cathedral is open daily, with guided tours in summer. Uppsala is lively during the university term, and especially on Walpurgis Night, 30 April, when students celebrate with races on the river and singing, and during the spring graduation. Summer brings long days and fewer students. Winter is dark and cold, but Advent and Christmas concerts in the cathedral are beautiful. Allow about forty-five minutes for the cathedral and treasury, and visit the Gustavianum across the street. The Linnaeus Garden, the botanical garden restored to the design of Carl Linnaeus, is about ten minutes' walk away.