Museums in Stockholm- Focusing on History!

King Charles XII

I write often about the different art museums in Stockholm, mainly because they generally have temporary exhibitions... changing from season to season. Museums with historical content, on the other hand, have mostly permanent exhibitions with few temporary exhibitions. In other words, after I have visited one of these museums and blogged about, there seldom is a reason to reblog... unless the museum does a major change. So, I thought I would put together a list of the top history museums in Stockholm to refresh everyone's memory and to show the wide range of historical themed museums.

Drottningholm Palace.

• Historiska Museet (Swedish History Museum)- a general look at Swedish history from the Stone Age to more recent history. A permanent exhibit on Swedish Vikings as well as the Gold Room (collection of Viking gold & silver finds).
• Medeltidsmuseum (Museum of Medieval Stockholm)- as the name suggests, this museum looks at life in Stockholm during the medieval era and how the city looked and grew during this time (Stockholm was first mentioned in texts during this period. 1252 to be exact).
• Stadsmuseet (Stockholm City Museum)- a museum dedicated to Stockholm: the architecture, life, art and... history! They also organize themed city walks, like the Millennium Trilogy and ABBA. 
• Vasamuseet (The Vasa Museum)- museum built around the salvaged wreck of the royal warship Vasa (sank 1628). Besides the ship, an extensive look at Stockholm and Sweden during the 1600's as well as life of sailors/soldiers onboard a warship. Recent blog article. 
• Armémuseum (Army Museum)- a look at Swedish history from a military perspective. Sweden's warlike past comes as a surprise for many visitors! Recent blog article. 
• Sjöhistoriska Museet (Maritime Museum)- a look at naval and maritime history... everything from Swedish naval history to commerce to sailor tattoos. 
• Judiska Museet (Jewish Museum)- museum on Jewish culture in Sweden and the history of the Swedish Jews. Interesting temporary exhibits from time to time...
• Skansen- park, zoo and open air museum that looks at historic Swedish traditions as well as rural culture. Farm houses, manors and churches have been transported to Skansen from counties all over Sweden. 
• Birka- the main town in Sweden during the Viking Age. Nothing is left of the settlement today, instead you have a museum there as well as a walking tour which describes the town's history as well as points out the archeological excavations. Open only during the summer and requires a full day with a boat trip. Blog article.
• Livrustkammaren (The Royal Armoury)- a collection of the armour, clothes and carriages belonging to the kings & queens of Sweden. The museum often has temporary exhibitions regarding Swedish royal history. A part of the Royal Palace.
• Skattkammaren (The Treasury)- The Swedish royal family's collection of crowns, swords, scepters and orbs. A part of the Royal Palace.
• Tre Kronor- A museum dedicated to the original royal castle in Stockholm, Tre Kronor, which burned down in 1697. A part of the Royal Palace.

At the Army Museum.

The Royal Palace (Kungliga Slottet) itself is definitely worth a visit for history buffs. Not only does it contain the three last named museums (listed above), the Royal Apartments are also open to visitors. While this is the main palace, there are several other castles and palaces in the Stockholm region that are open for visitors... Drottningholm Palace, Gripsholm Castle and Skokloster Castle are the most popular.  

Part of the Royal Apartments... Gustav III's Bedchamber, photo by Alexis Daflos, Kungliga Hovstaterna

Certain historical Swedes are important enough to get museums dedicated to themselves. Learn more about inventor/philanthropist Alfred Nobel at the Nobelmuseet (Nobel Museum) and author/playwright August Strindberg at the Strindbergsmuseet (the Strindberg Museum). 

Click here for more Viking themed activities in Stockholm and nearby areas...

You can always experience living history
by wandering the streets of Gamla Stan.

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AN history, Museums, royal, viking

Royal Celebrations, Half Marathons and More This Weekend!

DN Stockholm Half Marathon, photo by Bengt Aronsson

Another busy weekend in Stockholm! To start off with... The annual DN Stockholm Half Marathon will be held on Saturday, September 14th. Over 17,000 runners from all over the world will be running a course set in the streets of the city. The race starts at 3:30pm at Gustav Adolfs Torg and will take runners on 21.1 kilometers through the western parts of Stockholm, including Södermalm where the Rival Hotel is located. In fact, the course runs along the street St Paulsgatan which is adjacent to the hotel. Nice with a little life in the neighbourhood... but this can mean some traffic troubles: no parking and hard for taxis to get to the door. Stick with walking, ferries and subways and you will be fine! This advice goes for the rest of the city as many streets will be closed off. The finish line is the same as the starting point... Gustav Adolfs Torg.

Race course from www.stockholmhalvmarathon.se 

If that wasn't enough... King Carl XVI Gustaf is celebrating 40 years on the Swedish throne this year and this weekend (September 13th to 15th) is the official jubilee celebrations. On Friday an exhibition on the king's 40 years on the throne will open in the Hall of State in the Royal Palace, located in Gamla Stan. The exhibition will run until February 2nd next year, so plenty of opportunities to visit the exhibit if you are coming to Stockholm later this year. Two official events will be held on Saturday evening. First a celebratory dinner, hosted by the government, will be held at the Nordic Museum (Nordiska Museet), located on the island of Djurgården, followed by a concert in the Concert Hall (Konserthuset) in the downtown area. What this means for visitors is that the traffic snarls caused by the half marathon in the afternoon will be followed by some minor ones in the evening. But it is not all doom and gloom for visitors... on Sunday the king and City of Stockholm invites the general public to the Royal Palace to celebrate with dance. The festivities start at 3pm and run until 11pm. Music and dancing from around the world (big band, salsa, tango, jazz, folk and more) is the theme with many performances. No entrance fee! There will be a toast for the king at 3pm from the balcony at Lejonsbacken. Click here for a schedule (there is a Google translate option). Otherwise, if you are staying at the Rival Hotel, come talk to me or the Reception for further information.

www.kungahuset.se

And finally... a political demonstration and march planned on Saturday, starting at 1:30pm. They will gather in the park Humlegården and then march to Observatorielunden. Counter demonstrations are planned as well, so it would be best to avoid that area of the city (Norrmalm) during Saturday afternoon.

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AN Gamla Stan, royal, sport, tourist information

Changing of the Guard

The changing of the guards at the Royal Palace, located in the Old Town (Gamla Stan), happens daily during the summer and is a popular event to watch. The guards actually march, accompanied by a military band, from the Army Museum or Calvary Barracks(when mounted) through the city before arriving at the Palace. At the Palace the ceremony takes approximately 40 minutes. The parade itself takes about half an hour and the ceremony at the Palace starts at 12:15 Monday through Saturday and 1:15 on Sundays and holidays. During the rest of the year the changing of the guards happens on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

After watching the changing of the guards, take advantage of being at the Palace and visit one of the many museums located there. Besides visiting the Royal Apartments, you can also visit The Treasury, Gustav III's Museum of Antiquities, and (my favorite) the Royal Armoury. Check the individual websites (linked here) for opening hours and entrance fees. The Stockholm Card gets you in all Palace museums for free.

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AN Gamla Stan, Museums, royal, stockholm card

Crown Princess' Wedding

Congratulations to Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel! I had the day off so I took my visiting parents down to see if we could spot the couple when they travelled through the streets of Stockholm after the ceremony, first by horse and carriage and then by boat. Police estimate that there were half a million people gathered on the streets to do the same thing! We finally settled in front of the National Museum where we had a view of the castle across the water... there we could see the couple leave the castle by carriage and later return by boat. The weather cooperated and people were in a festive mood. It was fun watching all of the journalists from around the world scrambling to get there pictures. The harbour was filled with ships... many military but even the Norwegian and Danish royal yachts. There was a 21 gun salute as the couple passed Kastelholmen on their boat... and finally there was a spectacular military plane fly-by in the shape of Cupid's arrow. Congratulations to Stockholm for a great party!

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Click here for a full list of this summer's festivals and events.

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AN festival, royal

Royal Wedding This Weekend!

Tomorrow, Saturday June 8th, H.R.H. Princess Madeleine will marry Chris O'Neill... and royal wedding fever is descending upon Stockholm. There are some good things to know if you are visiting Stockholm this weekend, whether you want to see the couple, join the festivities or just avoid the hooplah!

The Royal Couple. Photo by Brigitte Grenfeldt

Princess Madeleine's older sister, the Crown Princess Victoria, got married three years ago and the celebrations were huge with Stockholm throwing a week-long Love Festival in honour of the wedding. The festivities this time around will not be as grand (as Madeleine is only fourth in line to the Swedish throne), but there will still be enough to see and do to keep royalists happy. The wedding itself will take place in the Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace, located in Gamla Stan, at 4pm and televised live on Swedish TV. It is expected to last until 4:45pm upon which there will be a 21 gun salute (cannons firing from the island of Skeppsholmen). The couple will show themselves at the palace's south gate after the ceremony. Another great opportunity to see them will be during the cortège... and it looks like it will be great weather! The royal couple will be taken by horse and carriage from the Royal Palace (start at approximately 5:50pm) on a short tour around the adjacent neighbourhoods. Click here to see the cortège route. Finally, the royal couple will take a boat from Riddarholmen to the Drottningholm Palace, where a dinner (hosted by the king & queen) will be held.

Now, please keep in mind that many streets around the Royal Palace will be closed off Saturday afternoon and evening... best to stick to walking and subways. There may be additional traffic problems on Friday and Sunday as European royalty and foreign dignitaries are shuttled to different parties and events. Keep in mind also that several tourist sites will be closed on Saturday... the Royal Palace (obviously) as well as adjoining museums like Tre Kronor and the Treasury. In fact, the Treasury is closed from June 3rd to 9th. The royal regalia needs to be polished and made ready! The Royal Armoury will be open, though they will close at 4pm. The Drottningholm Palace is closed from June 4th to 11th as it will house visiting royalty... though visitors may still travel out by boat to see the beautiful parks and pavilions. However, be aware that there will be lots of security and limited access! None of the sightseeing busses will be running, neither the Panorama tour or the Hop On Hop Off busses. Hop On Hop Off boats will also not be running. However, the Under the Bridges and Royal Canal boat tours will be running! More information about these tours at Strömma's website. If you are staying at the Rival Hotel... contact me directly for further information! Here is some extra information from the local English language newspaper.

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AN Gamla Stan, royal, sightseeing, tourist information

Royal Apartments at the Palace

The Royal Palace (Kungliga Slottet) is hard to miss if you are visiting Stockholm... located on the north-east corner of Gamla Stan, this palace actually has one more room than Buckingham Palace (in other words, quite large). The palace was built in the early to mid 1700's on the site of the original castle, Tre Kronor, which was destroyed in a fire in 1697. It is the main royal palace in Sweden and where the offices of the king and other royal family members are located, though their official residence is at Drottningholm Palace.

Just about every tourist that comes to Stockholm visits the palace at some point during their trip... whether they just take a walk around and admire the facade, see the changing of the guard or visit one of the many museums inside the palace (Royal Armoury, The Treasury, Tre Kronor, Museum of Antiquities). Another option is to visit the Royal Apartments, which is part of the palace interior, including the Guest Apartments, Hall of State, banquet hall as well as exhibition on the Swedish Orders of Chivalry.

Embarrassing as it is to admit, it had been decades since I last visited the Apartments... so I took an afternoon last week and rectified this. The entrance fee is 150 SEK for adults (75 SEK for children between 7 and 18 years) and it also includes entrance to the Treasury, Tre Kronor Museum and the Gustav III Museum of Antiquities. Don't worry... the ticket is good for 7 days, so you don't have to visit all of the museums on the same day! Also included in the entrance fee are the guided tours of the Apartments and Treasury. Click here for the times for the guided tours this summer (May 15th to Sep 15th). I wandered through the Apartments on my own without guide. It is a very interesting window on Swedish history from the 1700's to today as well as the design and style of the times. I also liked the room that contained the heraldic crests of the different kings & queens of Europe and Asia (all recipients of the Swedish Order of the Seraphim).

It is very easy to get to the Royal Palace from the Rival Hotel... just a 15 minute or so walk through Gamla Stan (old town). Photography is not allowed in the Apartments, so the pictures taken by me in this blog post (above) are from the stairwells and corridors outside of the Apartments. Please be aware that this is a "working" palace and the Royal Apartments may be fully or partly closed on certain days due to official receptions of the king.

Gustav III's Bedchamber, photo by Alexis Daflos, Kungliga Hovstaterna

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AN Gamla Stan, history, museum, royal

Royal Palace Sprint (Skiing in Gamla Stan)

Photo by Henrik Trygg, Stockholm Visitors Board

One of world's most unique sporting events takes place in Stockholm tomorrow (Wednesday, March 20th)... the Royal Palace Sprint! This is a cross country sprint skiing competition. What makes it unique is that the course is in the middle of a major city, around the Royal Palace located in Gamla Stan. This isn't any amatuer event either... it is part of the World Cup series, so some of the best cross country skiers will be competing! This is the final sprint event of the season and the winner of the Sprint Cup will be announced and "crowned". Important points for the overall World Cup trophy (awarded this coming weekend in Falun, Sweden) are up for grabs as well. Apparently, there is only 15 points separating the top three in the current standings (Levkov, Northug and Cologna). So this is serious business!

Photo by Henrik Trygg, Stockholm Visitors Board

This will be the tenth time this event will be held here in Stockholm. The good news is that this is the first time I can remember that the weather has been "wintery" when the event has been held. Usually it is warm, spring weather and the fact that they truck in snow has been met with raised eyebrows by the locals. This year it is cold and snowy! The bad news is that this is apparently the last time for a few years that they will have the event in Stockholm... I read a quote from an official this morning where he said "hopefully by 2016". So, if you are in town, head down to Gamla Stan and see this unique event!

Photo by... me (from last year). Bad quality but, hey, they ski really fast! Hard to catch them!

The qualification rounds will be held between 2 and 2:45pm. The opening ceremonies with HRH Prince Carl Philip will be at 3pm followed by the semifinals and finals. The award ceremony, with His Majesty the King, will be held at 5:30pm. So plenty of chances all afternoon to see some quality skiing and spot some royals.

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AN Gamla Stan, royal, sport, winter

Royal Funeral Today

This is mainly to inform visitors about what will be going on in Stockholm today in regards to the funeral for Her Royal Highness Princess Lilian. In case you are curious about the woman, visiting dignitaries, the lines of people, happenings at the Royal Palace and such.

Photo by Claes Göran Carlsson, kungahuset.se

HRH Princess Lilian passed away this week at the age of 97. She was the aunt of our king and very beloved by the people of Sweden. Born in England, she met and fell in love with Prince Bertil of Sweden during World War II. When the current king's father died in a plane crash in 1947, Bertil had to be prepared to act as regent until the king (then less than 1 year old) came of age. Because of this, he could not marry Lilian (a commoner) as you gave up your right to the throne in those days if you married a commoner. They lived together discretely for 30 years until the king came to the throne (after the death of his grandfather) and he allowed them to marry. As the king himself had married a commoner, he could hardly deny his uncle. A romantic story!

Royal Chapel, kungahuset.se

As a visitor, it is good to know that the funeral will take place in the chapel at the Royal Palace at 1pm. There will be a lot of spectators and media, so it would probably be best to avoid the area around the Royal Palace. There will also be a cannon salute from the island of Skeppsholmen, across the water from the palace. After the services (approximately 2pm) there will be a motorcade winding through downtown Stockholm, taking the princess to her final resting place in Haga Park, north of the city. Expect roads cordoned off as well as traffic during this time.

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AN Gamla Stan, royal, tourist information