Today I will take you to discover the capital of Sweden, and I will tell you about some museums in Stockholm, the ones I decided to visit during my stay in May 2017.
Let’s start from Skansen, on the island of Djurgården. Founded in 1891 by Artur Hazelius, to preserve and show the customs of the province before the industrial era, Skansen is the first of the Swedish open-air museums and zoos. The idea of a place that wants to preserve and “show” the costumes of past eras has intrigued us, but I must admit that, after about half a day here, we were disappointed and we found it also slightly dispersed. Suitable for children, the ticket costs 180 swedish crowns and the opening hours are
from 10:00 to 18:00, but I recommend you to check the official website because the park has several entries and each has a “dedicated” schedule. If you decide to visit it, I suggest you keep at least half a day free (if not longer) and check if the banquets along the avenues are open (should be the weekend) because otherwise, the roads become very sad, in my opinion. You can get there by tram number 7, which takes you past the main entrance.
Now I bring you to the Vasamuseet or Vasa museum: it is always on the island of Djurgården, and here we find the Regalskeppet Vasa, a 17th-century Swedish galleon. This colossal vessel sank in August 1628 during the inaugural voyage because the king wanted to add a bridge, although the builder advised against the addition: a few gusts of wind were enough to tilt the galleon, which began to embed water from the mouths of the cannons. 95% of the ship that can be admired today inside the museum is original and, observing the interior; you can see very well the people involved in the restoration and maintenance of what the history
has left of this ship. The museum is built around the Vasa itself, in a literal sense, and, around, we can still see some objects recovered from the ship. Akk the models explain the work of recovery of the wreck itself, and we also find some skeletons, belonged to some of the people who were on board when the ship sank. The admission ticket costs 130 crowns and the opening hours are 10:00 – 18:00 in summer and 10:00 – 17:00 in winter. To get there, you can always take tram 7 and get off at the stop Nordiska Museet / Vasamuseet: you can not go wrong because it is right in front of the Nordiska Museet!
A place with a fascinating history, even if it is more modern than you might imagine, is the Stadshuset, which is the Stockholm city hall. The admission ticket costs 110 crowns, and it is possible to visit it only by taking part in one of the many guided tours during the day. The visits are in both Swedish and English, and the latter are much more numerous than the first ones, to satisfy the high number of tourists who come to visit it and don’t speak Swedish. The architecture is that of the beginning of 1900 in Stockholm and today is where the banquet for the Nobel prize is held! The banquet hall is called “Blue Room”, but it isn’t: the guide explained to us that the project was planned for this colour, but the builder was convinced, during the construction of the building, that it was beautiful also the “natural” colour of the red bricks used. So why not change your name? Because now it had become too famous with that name!
During the tour we walked into the room where the “government” works are carried out and also to the small room with “the vault of the 100 domes”: these represented the 100 members of the city hall and was not modified when it was added one person to avoid parity in votes. One of the last rooms to be visited, in my opinion, the most beautiful, is the Golden Hall: a mosaic cover all the walls and it’s made up of 18 million gold pieces (10 kg of 23-carat gold!!). Two small tips to keep in mind: the Civic Tower opens only from June for the summer (if you want to go up, remember that it is 106 meters high and that there is an elevator that will bring the laziest to half the long stairs). On Saturday afternoons some rooms are closed to the public because there are celebrated civil marriages.
I conclude the post with the Historiska Museet, the Swedish historical museum. It’s located in Narvavägen, admission is always free (apart from obviously temporary exhibitions, concerts or events) and there is the possibility to take the audio guide for 30 crowns (just over 3 euros). For the opening hours, I suggest you consult the official website, as they vary from season to season and in case of national holidays (or like Christmas). The museum is about the 10,000 years of Swedish history: there are exposed many archaeological finds found in the country including, in particular, the numerous objects found in the Viking archaeological site of Birka, located on the island of Björkö and included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites.
The museum is famous for the Golden Hall, Guldrummet in Swedish, where many precious objects are shown. I found the museum interesting, well structured between finds, explanations and videos and the two hours (and passes) used to visit it are flying! I recommend you go quietly, take advantage of all the benches available to visitors and also take advantage of the free wardrobe near the entrance to enjoy the visit without the weight of backpacks and bags.
What do you think of these museums? Would you visit them during a trip to Stockholm?