History
According to legends, a long time ago, there used to be a pirates' den by the habour, where Tulle lived with his six sons. They all ravaged badly the area around Kinnekulle.
Even Strindberg mentions in his "Swedish Destinies and Adventures" a castle at Kinnekulle where amazons lived, and which was stormed by a lone viking who had landed his ship at the nearby harbour.
These mentions of ancient settlements might very well be at the same place as the present Hellekis manor. It is known for sure that Hellekis was owned by the councillor Mats Gustavsson Sparre in the 14th century. The manor was then taken over by the Wintorp family and later by the Posse family who owned the manor for more than 300 years, up until 1818, by the exception of some minor pauses when the manor was withdrawn by the monarchy.
In the beginning of the 16th century, the councillor Axel Nilsson Posse had a stone house built, the "quadrangle", which is pictured in the Svicia antiqua. On the ground floor there were storehouses, the middle floor were the gentlefolk's apartment and the top floor was used as assembly rooms. The quadrangle was seen as out-of-date already by the end of the 16th century, and the councillor Göran Posse had a tall narrow stone house with a steep roof built, but it was destroyed by fire in 1689.
A memory of this building is built into the wall above the present door to the stable. It is a coat of arms with the initials of Göran Posse and Elisabeth Oxenstierna. In the basement of the present building, there are also cross-vaulting and tiles of limestone originating from this late mediaeval building.
This is quite unique, since this is one of the few manors in Västergötland which still today have parts of a mediaeval building. While the "quadrangle" was a simple building, the one built 1597 was much more complicated, nspired by the new ideas of the renaissance. In 1708 the brown building was replaced by a corps-de-logie in the Caroline style, with an extended hall towards the park.
In 1790 the architect Olof Tempelman built the house you see today with the style of the neo-classicism. The old "quadrangle" was taken down in 1880 since it did not go together with the newly built manor house.
In 1932 the Klingspor family became the owners of Hellekis and they initiated a thorough renovation. The manor now has all the latest conveniences, although they have taken care to maintain the old exquisite style of the 18th century.
Throughout the building there are severeal valuable objects of art and antiques, for exemple a 17th century tapestry from Läckö, a big, beautiful tapestry from Brussels and a gigantic two-handed sword and a iron suit of armour, that was found under a fir tree on Kinnekulle some time during the 17th century. Perhaps a knight some time hid his suit of armour and sword to make it easier to escape from any pursuers, because one thing is certain, in the Middle Ages many dramas took place around Kinnekulle.
Hellekis was originally named Helghakys ie. the holy valley, holy kjusa.
