Valåsen Manor (, ) is a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

Valåsen och Labbsand Valåsen och Labbsand () is a locality ( tätort) situated in Karlskoga Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden with 354 inhabitants in 2020. Established in 2015, but had previously been part of Karlskoga, according to Statistics Sweden. Geography ...

Valåsen Ironworks Valåsen Ironworks () is an ironworks in Valåsen, a village in Karlskoga Municipality in Sweden. Valåsen is older than the nearby Bofors. History The estate was taken over by Sven Björnsson. In 1631, Björnsson sold the estate to the mayor A ...

. The manor is located in

Karlskoga Municipality Karlskoga Municipality () is a municipality in Örebro County in central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Karlskoga. Other localities include Valåsen och Labbsand, Kortfors, Linnebäck and Villingsberg. Karlskoga was formed as rur ...

Örebro County Örebro County () is a county or '' län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Västra Götaland, Värmland, Dalarna, Västmanland, Södermanland and Östergötland. It is frequently culturally divided into the hilly northern region of ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The current-standing manor house was built in the 18th century, but the history of the property is older. Valåsen Manor is one of Karlskoga's major historical buildings. The manor is associated with several Swedish writers including

Selma Lagerlöf Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf (, , ; 20 November 1858 – 16 March 1940) was a Swedish writer. She published her first novel, ''Gösta Berling's Saga'', at the age of 33. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, which she was ...

Hjalmar Bergman Hjalmar Fredrik Elgérus Bergman (19 September 1883 in Örebro, Sweden – 1 January 1931 in Berlin, Germany) was a Swedish writer and playwright. Biography The son of a banker in Örebro, Bergman briefly studied philosophy at Uppsala Univers ...

Erik Gustaf Geijer Erik Gustaf Geijer (12 January 1783 – 23 April 1847) was a Swedish writer, historian, poet, romantic critic of political economy, philosopher, and composer. His writings served to promote Swedish National Romanticism. He was an influentia ...

and

Sven Stolpe Sven Stolpe (24 August 1905 – 26 August 1996) was a Swedish writer, translator, journalist, literary scholar and critic, who was active in Swedish literary and intellectual discussion for most of his life. In the early 1930s, he argued for i ...

Geography

Valåsen Manor is near the course of the River Valån, east of Lake Möckeln, uphill on a sloping site. It is bounded notionally by

Kilsbergen Kilsbergen is a low mountainous ridge that separates Närke from Värmland. It is the southernmost extension of the taiga in Scandinavia and shows a flora and fauna that are unusual for the latitude. There are several skiing and hiking facilities in ...

and Lake Angsjön, to the east.

History

Valåsen Works was acquired in the 1630s by Gerhard Ysing from Arvid Bengtsson. Valåsen was passed to Ysing's heir, Johan Ysing. In 1779, the manor was acquired by nobleman Bengt von Hofsten. There he created an

English landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

. The manor was then passed to his heirs. For several generations the property was strongly associated with the Swedish noble family von Hofsten. Bengt von Hofsten died in 1826. The manor was therefore inherited by his son Erland von Hofsten, he resided in the manor for approximately 13 years. The manor was then inherited by his son Bengt Johan von Hofsten in 1839. The last member of the von Hofsten family to reside at Valåsen Manor was painter Hugo Olof von Hofsten, who in 1885 emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Swedish reform pedagogue

Anna Whitlock Anna Whitlock (13June 185216June 1930) was a Swedish reform pedagogue, journalist, suffragette and feminist. She was co-founder and twice chairperson of the National Association for Women's Suffrage. She was also the co-founder of the women's ...

was employed as

governess A governess is a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or ma ...

by Ironmaster von Hofsten at Valåsen Manor. In the 1880s, the owner had gone bankrupt and was therefore forced to auction the property.

20th century

C. J. Yngström resided in the manor at the beginning of the 20th century. It was then purchased by Ironmaster Ernst Kjellberg. He settled in the manor in 1913. In the mid 20th century, the manor was acquired by

and Karin von Euler-Chelpin. They resided at the manor, where they also gave birth to

Lisette Schulman Astrid Maria Elisabet "Lisette" Schulman (née Stolpe; 13 June 1951, Karlskoga – 19 February 2015) was a Swedish television host and politician. She was the widow of television producer Allan Schulman. She was the mother of media personaliti ...

. Lisette became renown Swedish journalist

Alex Schulman Carl Magnus Alexander Schulman (born 17 February 1976 in Hemmesdynge) is a Swedish author, journalist, blogger and television and radio personality. His career started when he created the website Stureplan.se in 2005. The same year he had a r ...

's mother. Sven Stolpe enjoyed living at Valåsen Manor since he embraced the building's history.

Cultural depictions

In 1925, Swedish author

published novel ''

Charlotte Löwensköld ''Charlotte Löwensköld'' is a 1925 novel by the Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf. It is the second installment in Lagerlöf's Ring trilogy, or ''The Ring of the Löwenskölds''. Thus it follows ''The Löwensköld Ring'' and is followed by '' Anna ...

'', in which she depicted Valåsen Manor.

References

Works cited

External links

Official website
* {{coord, 59.30959, 14.58632, format=dms, type:landmark_region:SE, display=title Buildings and structures in Örebro County Manor houses in Sweden Karlskoga Municipality