The Hallwyl Palace was built 1893-1898 to the design of Isak Gustaf Clason for Count Walther von Hallwyl and his wife Wilhelmina. It was created to accommodate the office of the count and the extensive art collection of the countess. While the exterior of the building and the court is historical in style — borrowing architectonic elements from medieval prototypes and Renaissance Venice — it was technically utterly modern on its completion — including electricity, central heating, telephones, and bathrooms, while the elevator was a later addition.
The countess collected her artworks during her worldwide journeys in order to found a museum, and, consequently, the palace was donated to the Swedish State in 1920, a decade before her death. The collection encompasses some 50,000 objects, and the museum is still open to the public.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.