Nordiska Museet

Lonely Planet review

With its flouncy turrets and neo-Swedish Renaissance looks, Isak Gustav Clason's iconic building is hard to miss. Step inside for a sprawling collection of all things Swedish, from Sami folklore to eclectic exhibitions of Swedish fashion, shoes, interiors and even table settings. The museum owns the largest collection of paintings by August Strindberg and the audio tours ( Sk20 ) of the collection and building are nothing short of satisfying.

The gigantic Nordiska Museet (National Museum of Cultural History) is Sweden's second largest indoor space and is housed in a most unusual four-storey Renaissance-style castle. There are notable temporary exhibitions and endless Swedish collections from 1520 to the present day, with a total of 1.5 million items. Make use of the English language leaflets and CD commentary to help you find your way.

Of greatest interest is the superb Sami exhibition in the basement, which includes a shaman's drum and an extraordinary 1767 drawing of a rather cool-looking deer being castrated by a Sami using his teeth! On the 4th-floor gallery, the Swedish Home exhibition is also worth a look at, higlighting how both the rich and the poor have lived in times past.