Pallas Nordica

Young she ascended the throne, young she also abdicated: Christina of Sweden, for some years also sovereign of the island of Usedom, was born exactly 400 years ago and was in her own time a much-noted woman. Scholars and diplomats compared her to Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. Christina could ride and fence, was versed in the sciences and loved music.

After her abdication and move to Rome she turned the Palazzo Riario into a musical centre of Europe; Arcangelo Corelli joined her court chapel in 1677 and dedicated his Opus 1 to her in 1681. Here she is portrayed — through her own letters and diaries, testimonies of diplomats and the music she herself listened to — brought to life by the multiple-award-winning Ensemble NeoBarock (artistic direction: Maren Ries, formerly violinist with Reinhard Goebel's Musica Antiqua Köln) and the actress Alexandra Lowygina.