“Queen Christina put Sweden on the European map of art and culture, by which I mean the entire kingdom, not just the area within today’s borders. I want to know what influence she had in the Baltics, particularly Estonia, and how French and Italian cultural ideals were transferred there via Christina,” says Stefano Fogelberg Rota, associate professor of Comparative Literature.

In this project, he will re-examine the fascinating Queen Christina of Sweden. After previously studying her time in Rome and her interest in court ballet in Sweden, he will now look towards the Baltic to trace her legacy there. How did French and Italian culture spread through the Baltic Sea region and how were Baltic settings and societies adapted to the reception of these new cultural influences? How important was the queen’s active participation – was she a cultural mediator and a link with southern Europe?

Gardens, libraries and drama

To examine how culture was translated, adapted and received, Stefano Fogelberg Rota will use three case studies: the substantial collection of foreign literature in the library at Skokloster Castle, gardens in French and Italian styles at castles and manors in the Baltic region, and the pastoral drama, “Il Pastor Fido” by Giovan Battista Guarini, which was translated into Swedish.

“For the gardens, this partly concerns their design and how cultivation practices from southern Europe could be adapted to the Nordic climate. But how people thought about the gardens conceptually is not the only issue, this also includes behavioural patterns and how people acted in a certain way in the context of the court,” he says.

The ideal of the authentic

During the Renaissance, intellectuals and the nobility had a great interest in the idea of retreating from the bustling cities to live close to nature – which was regarded as the original home. It is this ideal that the third case study investigates.

“Pastoral drama produces terminology for the ideas surrounding the construction of gardens, these two go hand in hand, and this is where I have seen the gaps in research on Queen Christina that I hope to fill. It is not too often that the scholarly aspects – the libraries – are associated with what we now call the fictional, the pastoral. It’s somewhat of an original link,” he says, continuing, “Her father, Gustavus Adolphus, was important to Uppsala University, so the ideas themselves were not new. But she had a more modern view of culture, it being something that is practised in conversation, not just by sitting in a library reading. It is just as much about how you present yourself. It is ideal if you are visible when you speak, act and write.”

History puts the present in perspective

He hopes to put the present into perspective by looking into the past – not everything has to look like it does right now.

“I always tell my students that we are not the height of civilisation. In some ways, humanity might have been further ahead in Queen Christina’s time, such as in terms of tolerance. History can teach us that movement is possible, we can incorporate outside influences, and that development can go both forwards and backwards.”

Stefano Fogelberg Rota is a literary scholar and has a particular interest in early modern cultural history and literary networks, meaning the Renaissance and Baroque. He has previously studied Queen Christina’s cultural patronage in Rome, travel literature in the Age of Liberty and the development of guidebooks. The Baltic Queen: Christina’s Legacy in the Baltic Area During the Swedish Great Power Era is one of 16 research projects granted funding from the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies in 2024. External link.