The best museums Svealand

Here, just a stone's throw from Gustav Adolf Square, you can see the remains of several ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures, with collections of objects dating back to 5,000 B.C. Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, the Roman and Greek empires, the Maghreb... The museum takes you into a fascinating past. The most striking points of the visit are undoubtedly the two Egyptian rooms with their magnificent sarcophagi and their human and animal mummies.

Located on the island of Skeppsholmen, ArkDes takes you on a journey of discovery of Swedish architecture and design through the ages. This place hosts a great permanent collection of many models, projections and plans of buildings of all kinds, built in Sweden or abroad by Swedish architects. The visit is not very long but is of real interest for the lovers of Scandinavian architecture, design and urbanism.

On the ground floor of the House of Culture (at the level of the large Sergels Torg fountain), a huge model of the city can be seen, on a scale of 1:10, which allows the visitor to see the amazing topography of the city and to better find his way around the city. The visitor can move around this very realistic, colourful and freely accessible reproduction. Illuminated displays point out the key places in Stockholm.

Some Viking archaeological remains are on display in this beautiful museum. There is the famous Viking of Sigtuna, a Viking's head of a few centimeters, remarkably carved in an elk horn and whose origin and function remain mysterious, as well as coins of this time. Sigtuna is also home to the largest concentration of rune stones (stones engraved with the Viking script, the runes) in the world. In short, a nice visit for those who want to know more about the famous Vikings!

The Vasaloppet race, launched in 1922, follows the route taken in 1521 by Gustav Eriksson, the future Gustav Vasa and first king of Sweden. On the run from the Danish king, he stopped in Sälen before returning to Mora to lead the uprising against the occupying forces. Since its inception, more than 1.7 million people have taken part in the race. The museum is located in front of the Vasaloppets Hus and tells the story of the famous ski race as well as the history of the country.

This large area is a 25-minute walk from the centre (or by bus 5 from Stortorget) and is at the same time an open-air museum, a nature reserve and a farm. At the beginning of the century, the owner of the forest bequeathed his land to the city with the demand that it be preserved. The result is brilliant: just a stone's throw from the city is a centuries-old coniferous forest and a vast wetland where thousands of birds gather.

Named after Gustav Adolphe, this remarkable building is the oldest in Uppsala. The museum presents an exhibition on the history of Uppsala University since 1477, as well as archaeological collections. The highlight of the visit is the Theatrum Anatomicum, an astonishing little wooden amphitheatre built according to the wishes of Professor Olof Rudbeck, where dissections of dead criminals were performed in front of assemblies of surgical students until 1766.

Different graphic arts exhibitions from the th century to the present. Regional paintings and permanent ceramics expo of the famous Uppsala-Ekeby factory.

Inaugurated in 1965, this curious gray and white totem pole was created by the Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar, based on a model by Picasso, who expressly approved the project. This monumental sculpture, which is one of the largest works of its kind in the world, is 15 m high. The pillar has a diameter of 1.65 m and has two "wings", one of which weighs 8 tons! The statue was made of natural concrete, which means that liquid white cement was injected into a mold filled with a mixture of stones. The surface is so hard that it should last 2,000 years!

The Örebro County Museum is a meeting place for all ages. Exhibitions are held in the castle, but the museum also organizes cultural events throughout Örebro County. The museum also offers guided tours for children, workshops, lectures and much more. The museum has extensive collections of photographs and art objects that can be seen at the exhibitions, but also on their website.

The Vallby Open Air Museum aims to recreate and show the environments in which people once lived and worked. Here have been rebuilt houses, farms, mining districts and towns of the region through the ages. You can visit an old grocery store, an old school and see many sheep, chickens or pigs walking among the visitors. Animations during the holidays and during the summer. Cafés and souvenir stores.

Housed in the house where Linnaeus lived from 1744, the museum reconstructs the library and study of the great Swedish naturalist and displays many of his personal objects. The museum's garden contains some 1,300 different plant species. For guided tours, visit the website.

Of note : Carl von Linné's birthday is celebrated here every May 23 (free admission).

On August 16, cultural night with the garden illuminated by candles.

Voted best museum in Sweden in 2006 and not by chance! This museum is a small marvel of scenography, presenting through the ages the culture and the heritage of the region. The historical objects are highlighted as rarely in a museum. We go from the Middle Ages to the mass emigration to the United States, then to the ^20th century and its inventions in a whirlwind of objects, films and delightfully realistic settings. The new feature is the science and technology discovery room, where you can learn a lot about movement, light, materials... You can do your own experiments, go through a heat detector, and even create your own paper! Museum of Modern Art in the second building with some good, and some not so good. There are works by artists such as Uno Troili and Gunvor Nelson, as well as information on how the works were made and the context of their creation. There are also temporary exhibitions featuring local and national artists, some of them very contemporary! Moreover, children are not left out since special exhibitions are dedicated to them, both interactive and original, and always colorful! In short, it is without doubt a place not to be missed if you stop in the city, and you will not be disappointed to have passed there. If you are hungry, there is also a restaurant and a café in the museum.

The small museum of Birka is built on a protrusion which, in Viking times, was covered by the sea. The rest of the island is protected. In this small museum, whose visit is quite quick, a film allows to understand how archaeologists retrace, year after year, the outlines of what was the life in Birka, its organization, its history... Several models, including those of the port, a district of the city and the royal domain, are presented here.

Drottningatan 85 was the last home of Sweden's most famous author. He moved there in 1908. He also rented a room on the seventh floor of the same building where he installed his library, which contained about 6,800 volumes. It was in the Blue Tower, so called because of the color of the staircase, that he wrote his last play The Great Road in 1909. 1910 and 1911 were the years of the "Strindberg quarrel", a quarrel over some 500 political articles in which he sided with the working class. And it was here that he received, on his 60th birthday, his first massive tribute from the working classes. Later, when it became clear that he would not receive the Nobel Prize, a collection was organized, which raised 45,000 SEK, and constituted a kind of anti-Nobel Prize of the people. This money was given to him on his ^63rd birthday, and on the evening of January 22, 1912, the workers of Stockholm formed a torchlight march from Odenplan to Tegnérslunden, with 20,000 people in attendance. Strindberg appeared on his balcony, lifted his top hat and gave thanks. He died a few months later, on May 14, and 60,000 people accompanied him to his final resting place. Strindberg's apartment has been reconstructed from eyewitness accounts and photographs of the time. For the sake of preservation, a visit to the apartment requires that you put on slippers to protect the original parquet floor.

Several of the royal properties are open to the public, including the stables. You will find horses, carriages, the history of the stables, and a café for a fika break in summer. The museum can be visited on a guided tour which lasts between 45 minutes and one hour. The first royal stables were built in 1535 by Gustav Vasa, serving the king's needs for daily and ceremonial transport. Today, there are fewer horses as the majority of transportation is by car, but this tradition remains important.

Discover this brand new museum, opening in June 2023, dedicated to the history of the Holocaust through the lives of seven survivors who came to live in Sweden during the Second World War. The exhibition features a wealth of personal objects, such as suitcases and identity cards. You'll be able to interact with a Holocaust survivor thanks to artificial intelligence, although answers are currently only available in Swedish. By visiting this museum, you will be contributing to the duty of remembrance, by passing on the story of the Holocaust.

In the northern part of Stockholm, hidden in a park, lies the studio of Carl Eldhs, a major sculptor of the first half of the ^20th century. In this singular wooden building, you'll find several hundred sculptures by Carl Eldhs in a bright, peaceful studio that has been kept virtually intact. The museum also houses personal objects. A visit to the museum is a pleasant escape from the city center. You can enjoy the tranquility and meditative contemplation of the art of sculpture.

This house with typical Swedish woodwork, painted in turquoise blue, charms everyone! Both the interior and exterior of this small, friendly museum enchant visitors. The history of the artist Olle Olsson Hagalund is linked to the development and cultural heritage of the neighborhood. Indeed, this artist was so proud of his origins that he added Hagalund to the end of his name, and he lived in this traditional house built in 1891. The museum offers a café, ceramics, handicraft and bicycle repair classes.

Visit the fascinating home of Count and Countess Hallwyl, now one of Stockholm's most eccentric museums. Built in 1898 and occupied until 1930, prepare to take a trip back in time. Not just because of the décor, but because absolutely everything in the house has been preserved as it was. Among the objects are personal items such as a piece of the Earl's beard and even a slice of their wedding cake. A museum like no other, well worth a visit!

500 years of weapons and armor, as well as sumptuous royal carriages and period clothing. In this museum, you'll discover the history of Sweden through the monarchy and the people associated with it, from Gustav Vasa to the present day. The permanent exhibition includes interactive approaches with scents, materials and sounds that make you want to immerse yourself in this captivating era. Divided into several sections, you have the Vasa era, the era of Swedish expansion, the wars and more.

Housed in the city's oldest preserved industrial building, which in turn housed the Crown's great bakery, an arms store and then a wood store, you'll find one of Europe's leading museums dedicated to artistic creation in all its forms. The Museum of Performing Arts (Scenkonstmuseet) introduces you to the world of theater, dance and music, both on stage and behind the scenes. The museum holds a vast collection of 50,000 objects, the oldest dating back to the ^16th century, all on three floors. The collection includes musical instruments, stage models, costumes, objets d'art, theatrical props and puppets. The exhibition space extends over three floors and includes a large area for performances, as well as a studio and showroom. As well as offering a glimpse into the world of the performing arts, the museum's interactive exhibits allow visitors to become part of the experience by taking to the stage with a virtual dance band, trying on imaginative theatrical masks or mixing their own music. There's also a café-restaurant with a pleasant terrace running the length of the building, as well as inside. A living, innovative and interactive museum, a must-see. A moving tribute to one of the most remarkable human characteristics: artistic creativity.

The museum is of sophisticated, modern architecture, right next to Vasaparken. It features three temporary exhibition halls and a rooftop terrace with sculptures and a beautiful view of Vasastan. The museum is also an exact copy of the ^18th-century manor house residence of collector Sven-Harry Karlsson, housing one of the world's largest collections of Nordic art. The museum has a café and terrace open in summer.

Entering this museum is like stepping into a magical cave, where an extraordinary world awaits you. Some 40,000 objects make up its collection, including toys, comic books... The museum has been designed so that nostalgic grandparents and grandchildren can share their memories and common passions for toys. Guided tours are available on site, but advance booking is essential. Bring the whole family to explore the incredible world of toys!

The Museum of Technology is a very modern and innovative museum, offering instructive exhibits on human technological evolution, in a format that is accessible and understandable to all. Contrary to the idea of a generic museum, this one is not visited by passively absorbing the information presented, but rather by pondering a question posed. What would life on Mars be like? What is the Anthropocene and what is its impact on our civilization? What happens when technology allows us to conceive our children using genome editing? These are just some of the questions posed by some of their exhibitions. More often than not, the experience offered at these exhibitions is an interactive one, where the more you discover about the subject, the more you develop your own questions, your sensations and reactions becoming part of the exhibition. By presenting it in this way, the museum ensures that dialogue is not the preserve of specialists or politicians, but of a wider public, inviting the world's citizens to take part in future decisions. You also have the opportunity to discover some of Sweden's inventions and their inventors. Who are the men and women behind the techniques that have changed the world? The best-known is, of course, Alfred Nobel. Then there's Anders Celsius, inventor of the degrees Celsius, a system used universally today.

Of all the things you discover in Sweden, snus seems to be one of the strangest Swedish practices, which may explain why they've turned it into a museum. Why not learn more about this way of consuming nicotine, banned everywhere else. One area is devoted to snus, another to matches, and another to the founders of snus. Exhibits include objects and photographs. You'll be done in less than an hour!

During your visit to Gamla Stan, take the time to stop off at the museum, which features exhibitions on democracy, human rights and equality for all. Each of them will encourage you to reflect and make connections between past and present. There are both permanent and temporary exhibitions. The only drawback is that everything is in Swedish. A library with a few books in English is available for consultation.

The Shipwreck Museum is a truly innovative museum! Featuring rusty objects through interactive technologies, you can dive to the bottom of the Baltic Sea to discover the remains of our civilization, swallowed by water and time. Between immersion and curiosity, we can lie on our backs facing the ceiling, as if we were also at the bottom of the Baltic. At the same time, we are invited to study the objects found, or to enter a virtual reality simulation of the skeleton of a ship dating from the eighteenth century ...

It may seem surprising to find a museum dedicated to spirits in a country where alcohol has been a state monopoly since 1955. This unique venue offers an immersive and educational experience on the history, production and influence of alcohol through time. Through its permanent and temporary exhibitions, let yourself be transported by the scent of hops and discover the traditions of spirits production. You can also take advantage of the bar, which offers tastings of artisanal beverages. Skål!

The Wooden Horse Museum is a small museum with the feel of a souvenir store, where you can contemplate a gigantic collection of small wooden horses originally known as dala horses. Dala horses were children's toys originating in the Dalarna region of Sweden. This typically Swedish object can be found everywhere: on Christmas trees, as a table decoration, printed on a pillow, etc. Take this opportunity to bring one of these horses home as a souvenir!

In 1795, the Jewish congregation moved into a former auction house at Själagårdsgatan 19, where the museum has been renovated today. The building was the center of Jewish life in Sweden for almost a century. The museum invites everyone to discover the Swedish-Jewish heritage and the place of Jewish culture in Sweden. A large part of the exhibition highlights Sweden's role as protector of Norwegian and Danish Jews during the Second World War.

Have you always dreamed of being a DJ? This is the place for you! This Avicii tribute museum takes you to the heart of music, revealing the fascinating life of this iconic artist. Go behind the scenes of his career and immerse yourself in the creative world of the musicians and producers who have been part of his career. Imagine yourself on stage, in front of an audience, ready to set the dance floor alight. An immersive experience where you can sing, dance and mix in front of thousands of fans! It's as if you were there!