The Sculpture Park

The site where Millesgården stands today was once a wild granite cliff, overgrown with pine, birch, and a small tarn, when Carl and Olga Milles began purchasing land here in 1907. Today, Millesgården is a cultivated cliff, where the granite boulders have been transformed into stairways, terraces, and walls, and where new stone materials have been added: sandstone from Öland, red quartzite from Älvdalen, and gravel from the ridges surrounding Stockholm. 



In garden design Carl Milles was a daring improviser, being able to freely integrate such diverse architectural fragments as columns from King Gustav Ill's opera house, a marble arch entrance from Stockholm's demolished Hotel Rydberg and juniper planted terraces.



One highly personalised garden room is Millesgarden's Little Austria (1924) con­ceived as a surprise for Olga Milles to cele­brate her 50th birthday. Being all too aware of his wife's permanent homesickness for her alpine homeland, Carl chose a steep, stony hollow and with plantings of alpine flora, and a scenography of two wayside pieta chapels, a large wooden replica of a medieval Christ on the crucifix and a lime­stone baptismal fount created a fantasy evocation of Olga's beloved Austria.



Personally Milles loved and wished to evoke at Millesgarden the gardens of Italy's Mediterranean coast. In the newly-built loggia, the Little Studio designed by Evert Milles, Carl commissioned a fresco painting of the bay of Naples with acan­thus and cactus in the foreground and olive and wheat being farmed in the distance.



To further underline the Mediterranean char­acter of the building and landscape fresco painting, straight black and white marble paths, crowned by columns lead to the log­gia. Between the paths pines are planted together with birches for a touch of Nordic spice.



This playful Nordic/south European hybrid, heightened by the bubbling Triton fountain and colourful plantings never fails to charm visitors from the south.



To read more about the various terraces and some of the sculptures placed there click below.

This is the oldest part of Millesgården. Carl Milles purchased a plot of land here, at the top of the Herserud cliff, in 1906, and began building in 1908—constructing a home and studios for himself and Olga. Over the following years, the appearance of the Upper Terrace was continually transformed through renovations and additions, but also as Carl Milles moved sculptures around to experiment with their placement.

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The grand Stairway to Heaven, the stairs which leads up to the Middle Terrace, was completed in the late 1910s. Here, you’ll find a fountain, Venus with the Shell, whose basin extends onto the narrow terrace. The columns facing the sea were carved by stonemason Per Palm from Vätö granite. Along the upper part of the staircase, star magnolias bloom in April, and by May, the steps are tinted blue by blooming ivy-leaved toadflax.

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Little Austria is a terrace Carl Milles created for Olga, to give her a sense of her homeland, Austria, which she missed dearly. He planted edelweiss and gentian there and placed crucifixes and small chapels reminiscent of those seen along Alpine roads. Today, a small chapel stands on the site, where Carl and Olga now rest in peace.

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The Lower Terrace was built during the 1950s, after Carl and Olga Milles returned to Europe following 20 years in the United States. They lived in Rome during the winters and spent several summers at Millesgården. The Lower Terrace was inspired by the Italian piazza. Carl Milles envisioned an open, stone-paved square with bubbling fountains and space for gatherings. The terrace’s red stone paving is made from Älvdalen quartzite.

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The area behind the Large Studio is called the Studio Garden. It was originally designed as a kitchen garden but is now part of the sculpture park open to the public. It is accessed through the large glass doors of the Large Studio and becomes a magical place in early summer when the blue irises bloom.

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