Museum sights in Sweden
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Medeltidsmuseet
While preparing to build a Riksdag car park here in the late 1970s, construction workers unearthed foundations dating from the 1530s. The ancient walls were preserved as found and a museum was built around them. Faithful reconstructions of typical abodes, sheds and workshops transport visitors to medieval Stockholm (albeit with a better lighting and sound system). Also in the museum is the well-preserved, 1520s-era ship, Riddarsholm.
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Judiska Museet
Expanding Swedish history beyond Vasa and Vikings, this kosher little museum explores Swedish Jewry since 1774. Nifty pull-out display cabinets cover everything from the Holocaust and Raoul Wallenberg (a Swedish Oscar Schindler of sorts) to Torah silverware, ceremonial Passover items, wince-inducing circumcision knives, and a seven-branched candlestick looted from Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70. The temporary exhibitions are often brilliant.
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Volvo Museum
Pay homage to one of Sweden’s enduring icons at the Volvo Museum, which contains everything from the company’s debut vehicle to the most cutting-edge experimental designs – including the first jet engine used by the Swedish Air Force. The museum is about 8km west of the city centre at Arendal. Fittingly, it’s tricky to get to without a car. Take tram 5 or 10 to Eketrägatan, then bus 32 to Arendal Skans.
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Gammlia
Don’t miss Gammlia, a cluster of museums 1km east of the town centre. They include cultural and historical exhibits and Sami collections at the regional Västerbottens Museum; the modern art museum, Bildmuseet; and the Maritime Museum. These are surrounded by Friluftsmuseet, an open-air historic village where staff wear period clothes and describe traditional homestead life.
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Etnografiska Museet
The National Museum of Ethnography focuses on non-European cultures. Highly original temporary exhibitions (ranging from Amazon photography to the macabre etchings of Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada) complement permanent collection highlights like Mali crocodile masks, Mongolian temple tents and a Japanese teahouse. The formerly in-house restaurant Babajan, serving a stellar Afro-Asian-Middle Eastern menu, has moved to Katarina Banggata 75.
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Tekniska Museet
The biggest drawcard at the vast and vibrant Museum of Science and Technology is CINO4, Sweden’s first 4-D cinema. Once you’ve been shaken, stirred and possibly squirted, check out the rest of this dazzling multimedia complex, which includes chatty Japanese robots, Sweden’s first motor car (from 1897), an artificial mine, a retro telephone collection and the Teknorama Science Centre, with its interactive displays on topics such as the basic principles of physics.
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Vin & Sprithistoriska Museet
Looking at history through a snaps glass, this engrossing ode to grog explores the often turbulent relationship between Swedes and their beloved brännvin (akvavit) and punsch (a liqueur). Step inside a 19th-century wine merchant’s distillery and happily sniff your way through 57 akvavit spices at the smelling organ. The wine bar hosts regular wine-tasting evenings (Skr350, book two weeks ahead), though you’ll need a group of eight to knock back in English.
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Vasaloppsmuseet
Even if you have no interest in skiing, you may be pleasantly surprised by the excellent Vasaloppsmuseet, which really communicates the passion behind the world’s largest cross-country skiing event. There’s some fantastic crackly black-and-white film of the first race, a display about nine-times winner and hardy old boy Nils ‘Mora-Nisse’ Karlsson, and an exhibit of prizes. Outside the museum is the race finish line, a favourite place for holiday snaps.
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Marinmuseum
The striking Marinmuseum is the national naval museum. Dive in for reconstructions of a battle deck in wartime, a hall full of fantastic figureheads, piles of model boats, and even some of the real thing – such as a minesweeper, a sailing ship and the Swedish navy’s debut submarine. Temporary exhibitions move beyond the marine (a recent show focused on contemporary Polish art) and the savvy cafe boasts generous servings and waterside decking for a satisfying recharge.
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Mining Complex
The mining complex, to the west of town at the top end of Gruvgatan, contains various sights. Most dramatic is the Stora Stöten (Great Pit), a vast hole caused by a major mine collapse in the 17th century. By a miracle, the miners were on holiday that day and no one was harmed. There are lookouts around the crater edge, and numerous mine buildings including a 15m waterwheel and shaft-head machinery. Opening hours are complicated – check the website for details. Take bus 709.
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Fredriksdals Friluftsmuseum
One of Sweden’s best open-air museums, Fredriksdals Friluftsmuseum is based around an 18th-century manor house, with a street of old houses, a children’s farm, a graphics museum and blissfully leafy grounds. Local wildflowers grace the beautiful botanic gardens, and there’s a wonderful summer program of activities and performances in the French baroque open-air theatre. The museum entrance, located just off Hävertgatan, is an easy 250m walk south of the Zoégas bus stop on Ängelsholmsvägen.
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Carolina Rediviva
Rare-book fiends should go directly to Carolina Rediviva, the university library. In a small, dark display room, glass cases hold precious maps and manuscripts, including some illuminated Ethiopian texts and the first book ever printed in Sweden. Occupying its own glowing VIP nook is the surviving half of the Codex Argentus (AD 520), aka the Silver Bible, written in gold and silver ink on purple vellum; aside from being pretty, it’s also linguistically important as the most complete existing document written in the Gothic language.
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Museum Gustavianum
A wondercabinet of wondercabinets, the Museum Gustavianum rewards appreciation of the weird and well organised. The shelves in the pleasantly musty building hold case after case of obsolete tools and preserved oddities, like Joseph Cornell shadowboxes gone wrong: stuffed birds, astrolabes, alligator mummies, exotic stones and dried sea creatures. Holding wider appeal is the 17th-century Augsburg Art Cabinet and its thousand ingenious trinkets. Don’t miss Olof Rudbeck’s vertiginous anatomical theatre, where executed criminals were dissected.
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Almgrens Sidenväveri Museum
Knut August Almgren founded this historic weaving factory in 1883 using parts of a Jacquard loom smuggled from France in barrels of cognac. (The art of Jacquard weave looming was a guarded French secret, forcing the crafty Almgren to pose as a Frenchman in order to learn, and steal, the craft.) It’s now an adorable working museum; you can watch the weavers work the original Jacquard looms between 10am and 3pm Monday to Thursday, learn about Sweden’s silk weaving history and swoon over shimmering fabrics. The museum shop is Stockholm’s best bet for hand-woven products.
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Historiska Museet
From Iron Age ice-skates to Renaissance triptychs, Sweden’s prime historical collection spans nearly 14,000 years of Swedish history and culture. The undisputed highlight is the subterranean Gold Room, a brooding chamber gleaming with Viking bling and rare historical jewels. The most astonishing artefact is the 5th-century, seven-ringed gold collar with 458 carved figures, which weighs 823g. Found in Västergötland in the 19th century, it was probably used by pagan priests in ritualistic ceremonies. To use the museum’s fantastic free digital audio guides, bring some ID.
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Stockholms Stadsmuseum
History gets a multisensory makeover at the brilliant Stockholm City Museum, housed in a building designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder and once used as a dungeon. Inside, a time-line exhibition traces Stockholm’s development from fortified port to modern metropolis via plague, fire and good old-fashioned scandal. You can smell medieval potions, peek into an 18th-century tavern and lust at the legendary Lohe Treasure, 20kg of 18th-century silver discovered in 1937. The temporary exhibitions are nothing short of refreshing, from Johan Hagelbäck’s ‘Raisin Art’ to the culture of death in Stockholm.
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Strindbergsmuseet
Set inside the Blå Tornet apartment where playwright and author August Strindberg spent his final four years, the Strindberg Museum lets you peep into his closet, scan his bookshelves and stumble across his desk, which still bears his pens, spectacles, theatrical program sheets and a copy of his Ockulta Dagboken (The Occult Diary, 1896–1908). The museum organises Strindberg-themed readings and seminars (occasionally in English; contact the museum for information). Those left longing for more should check out Strindberg’s disturbingly dark paintings at the Nordiska Museet.
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Sjöfartsmuseet
The main museum of maritime history is Sjöfartsmuseet, by Stigberg-storget about 2km west of the city centre. Tram 3, 9 or 11 will get you there. The collection includes model ships, cannons, a ship’s medical room and a large collection of figureheads, such as the vicious-looking Vinthunden from the frigate with the same name. The attached aquarium (included in the entry fee) wriggles with Nordic marine life. Outside, the Sjömanstornet (Mariner’s Tower), topped by a statue of a grieving woman, commemorates Swedish sailors killed in WWI.
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Hallwylska Museet
Looking as if it’s straight out of an Agatha Christie murder mystery, this kooky fin de siècle palace was once the home of cashed-up Count Walther von Hallwyl and his wife Wilhelmina, a notorious collector who took hoarding to new heights. The mansion’s lavish rooms are packed with the fruits of her labour, from 16th-century tapestries and Flemish paintings to rare silver teapots, oriental guns, vintage toiletries and even her children’s teeth. For in-depth voyeurism, join the one-hour guided tour (in English; Skr40; at 1pm Sunday, and at 1pm daily from late June to mid-August).
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Riddarhuset
Admirers of architecture shouldn’t miss this 17th-century Dutch baroque masterpiece, designed by Simon de la Vallée, Heinrich Wilhelm, Joost Vingboons and Jean de la Vallée. Used by the Swedish parliament between 1641 and 1674, it still hosts the triennial Assembly of Nobles. While the chancellery houses some 300 pieces of heraldic porcelain, the real scene-stealer is the Great Hall, plastered with 2345 coats of arms belonging to Swedish nobility, as well as a precious ivory-carved land-marshall’s chair from 1625 and a beautiful ceiling painting by 17th-century artist David Klöcker Ehenstrahl.
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Maritiman
Near the opera house, the world’s largest floating ship museum is made up of 20 historical crafts, including fishing boats, a light vessel and a firefighter, all linked by walkways. Shinny down into the 69m-long submarine Nordkaparen for a throat-tightening glimpse into underwater warfare. Another highlight is the labyrinthine 121m-long destroyer Småland, which saw service from 1952 to 1979. Inside, hunched figures listen to crackling radio messages, and the bunks look just-slept-in – you half expect to meet uniformed sailors in the dim, twisting passages… Allow a couple of hours to explore.
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Jamtli
Don’t miss Jamtli, 1km north of the town centre. It combines an open-air museum park (à la Skansen in Stockholm) with a first-rate regional culture museum. In the outdoor section, guides wearing period costumes explain the traditions of the area. A perpetual stroller convention goes on at Hackåsgården, the large section of the park set aside for the tiniest tots. Indoors, the regional museum exhibits the Överhogdal Tapestry, a Christian Viking relic from around 1100 that features animals, people, ships and buildings (including churches). It’s one of the oldest of its kind in Europe and may even predate the famous Bayeux tapestry.
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Ájtte Museum
The welcoming and illuminating Ájtte Museum is the highlight of a visit to Jokkmokk; it’s Sweden’s most thorough introduction to Sami culture, including traditional costume, silverware and some 400-year-old magical painted shamans’ drums. Look for replicas of sacrificial sites and a diagram explaining the uses and significance of various reindeer entrails. One section details the widespread practice of harnessing the rivers in Lappland for hydroelectric power and the consequences this has had for the Sami people and their territory. There are extensive notes in English. The museum also has a very practical section, with information on Lappland’s mountain areas, including…
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Arbetets Museum
Industrilandskapet, Norrköping’s star turn, is the impeccably preserved industrial area near the river. Pedestrian walkways and bridges lead past magnificent former factory buildings and around the ingenious system of locks and canals. The most thunderous waterfall is Kungsfallet, near the islet Laxholmen. Within the area are several interesting museums, all with free admission. The innovative Arbetets Museum documents working life. There’s one permanent display about Alva Carlsson, a typical worker in the former cotton mill, and temporary exhibitions focusing mainly on gender issues, human rights or multiculturalism. The seven-sided building, completed in 1917 and…
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ABBA: The Museum
Despite the indefinite postponement of its opening (expect a 2010 opening due to construction setbacks; check the website for updates on opening date, hours and prices), Stockholm’s eagerly anticipated, epically hyped ABBA: The Museum is set to become one of Sweden’s major crowd-pullers, with an estimated half-million visitors annually. Housed in a converted customs building on Södermalm, the museum’s three floors will trace the supergroup’s rise to pop immortality in what promises to be an interactive, multimedia extravaganza. A series of linear, interactive ‘scenes’ will have you hanging out in the recreated Polar recording studio, shaking your booty on stage and even…
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