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On a bright summerday I visited Hagaparken in Stockholm. This park north of the city is very large and a very popular spot for picnic or just killing time. It has a history as a royal park and therefore it also has some remarkable buildings.

In the centre of the park you can´t miss the three copper tents built by covering a wooden framework with a thin skin of painted sheet metal. This was done in the 1790´s and the reason is quite peculiar. At that time Sweden was ruled by a king, Gustav III, who was more interested in opera and masqurades than ruling a country. A bit of irony - a plot of army officers assassinated him at a masqurade at the opera. A good lesson for statesmen - if you are worried about your security don´t give masqurades.

The copper tents were built as lodgings and stables for the Royal Guard and it was supposed to give the impression of a sultans army camp in the desert. After building three buildings facing the excercise field time and money was gone and the rest of the camp was built with normal Swedish army design but hidden behind these three.

This tent is one of the wing buildings, the middle one is bigger and has a tentlike tower in the middle to mark the main entrance. The tents are painted in blue and gold but the color is a bit fainted so a sepia version looked better.

Today the tents house a cafeteria, a resturant and a hall where you can eat your pack lunch.