Storkyrkan

Lonely Planet review

One-time venue of royal weddings and coronations, Stockholm's 700-year-old cathedral is also its oldest parish church. The Gothic-cum-baroque interior includes extravagant royal-box pews designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger and the famous Parhelion Painting, a 1630 copy of the earlier original depicting Stockholm during an eerie display of atmospheric optics in 1535. The star is German Berndt Notke's sculpture St George and the Dragon.

'St George and the Dragon' was commissioned by Sten Sture the Elder to commemorate his victory over the Danes in 1471. The ceilings feature some medieval paintings, including work by Albertus Pictor in the Chapel of the Souls' cross vault. The ornate interior contains a life-sized statue of St George and his horse confronting the mythical dragon, sculpted by the German sculptor Berndt Notke in 1494.

You'll also see the extravagant pulpit from 1700 (the Hebrew word is 'Yahweh', meaning God), two large royal-box pews with crown-shaped canopies and the 350-year-old silver altar. Left of the altar sits a 2m-high bell, dating from 1493.

In front of the altar, there's a 15th-century seven-branched candlestick, while on the wall to the left there's a 9m-high painting of the Last Judgement (1696).