Queen Christina (1626–1689), an amazing woman in many respects, deserves the close attention of not only historians, but also the general public. Her personality is no less interesting than those of Catherine II, Catherine de Medici, Mary Stuart or Elizabeth I, and has the right to take pride of place in any gallery of historical portraits. Not a single major European event has passed her by. Possessing an inquisitive mind and impeccable artistic taste, she has amassed a magnificent library and a unique collection of art objects. She communicated and corresponded with prominent people of her time: Cardinal Mazarin, the French king Louis XIV, with the Roman popes Alexander VII, Clement IX and others, composers Alessandro Scarlatti and Arcangelo Corelli, sculptor Lorenzo Bernini, scientists Rene Descartes and Giovanni Cassini and many, many others .Only the outer outline of her life amazes the imagination: the daughter and heiress of the great Gustav II Adolf, hero of the Thirty Years' War and creator of the great-power Sweden, educated and brought up in the spirit of following her royal duty, quite happily ruling the country for eleven years, in the twenty-ninth year of her life she unexpectedly renounces the throne, leaves her homeland forever, converts to Catholicism and, after stormy years of private life, dies alone in Italy.