| Brief Guide to the Top Ten Things to do in Stockholm |
| 1. Gamla Stan |
| Standing on the Riddarfjärden (Knight Fjord), where Lake Mälaren drains into the Baltic Sea, Stockholm is a city of water - and a city of islands, bridges and boats. Its history began in the 13th century on an island called Stadsholmen, and the neighbouring smaller islands of Riddarholmen and Helgeandsholmen, and together these form the Gamla Stan ('old town'). This is linked to the northern part of the city, Norrmalm, and the southern part, Södermalm, by bridges. Gamla Stan remains a charming historic town, with cobbled lanes and medieval alleyways - as well as cafés and restaurants, and shops selling crafts, antiques and souvenirs to cater for the large numbers of tourists. Gamla Stan also possesses some key historic sights, including two churches of note. The Storkyrkan ('Great Church') is Stockholm's cathedral, built originally in the 13th century, but remodelled in Baroque style in the 18th century. The greatest treasure of its warm, brick interior is the magnificent wooden sculpture of St George and the Dragon, which dates from about 1489. The Riddarholmskyrkan ('Church of Riddarholmen'), dating also from the 13th century, has a beautiful Gothic interior of stone, and contains the tombs of the Swedish royal family from Gustavus Adolphus (died 1632) on. This royal connection relates to the fact that the northern part of Gamla Stan is the site of the massive Royal Palace, the Kungliga Slottet. |
| 2. Kungliga Slottet (Royal Palace) |
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This colossal building is still the official residence of the Swedish royal family, although they live mainly at Drottningholm Palace (see below). One can see why: built in Gamla Stan over 57 years (from 1697 to 1754) in ambitious, monumental Baroque style, it is the world's largest royal palace still in use, and not exactly cosy or dainty. Visitors can see some of the most impressive of the 600 rooms. This includes the magnificent Royal Apartments (used for royal receptions), the Hall of State, and Gustav III's state bedchamber. There are also three museums in the palace. The Tre Kronor Palace Museum traces the history of the fortress and palace that previously stood on this site, the Tre Kronor (Three Crowns), built originally in the 13th century to protect the entrance to Lake Mälaren; the Treasury Museum contains historic crown jewels and regalia; and the Museum of Antiquities of Gustav III is a collection of sculpture, collected in Italy the 18th century. The Changing of the Guard takes place at around lunchtime, sometimes accompanied by a parade.
www.royalcourt.se |
| 3. Skansen |
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This is the museum that the whole family will love: a large, first-rate open-air museum displaying more that 150 traditional, historic buildings from all over Sweden, and located in the old royal hunting grounds on the island of Djurgården. Indeed it is the world's oldest open-air museum, founded in 1891. Its collection includes farmhouses, shops, dwellings, inns, a church, a schoolhouse, an artist's studio, and a full-scale replica of a 19th-century town centre. Staff dressed in costume give demonstrations of traditional crafts, such as tanning, shoemaking, weaving, glass-blowing and pottery. Special events take place throughout the year, including music, dance, and the celebration of seasonal festivals. The park also has an open-air zoo specializing in Nordic animals (reindeer, bears, wolves, lynxes, wolverines, seals), plus an aquarium/terrarium featuring tropical fish, reptiles and mammals. There are plenty of places to eat: traditional taverns, restaurants and cafés, and picnic benches. Skansen is accessible from central Stockholm by tram and bus, and by ferry, and even by foot.
www.skansen.se |
| 4. Vasa Museum |
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In 1628 a beautiful and mighty warship called the Vasa sailed proudly out of Stockholm harbour on its maiden voyage, caught a breeze and promptly capsized and sank, with the loss of 30-50 of the crew. The weight of its 64 cannons on the upper decks was probably to blame. In 1961 the Vasa was raised, and found to be remarkably well preserved after 333 years on the seabed. Today, the Vasa is on show on the island of Djurgården, in its own museum, the Vasamuseet, where walkways allow visitors to view it at close hand. Also on display are replicas of its interior spaces, many of its original contents, the intricately carved and painted woodwork that once decorated the ship, and exhibitions about contemporary shipbuilding, naval warfare and life as a crew member. In summer you can also clamber around a steam-powered icebreaker built in 1915, and a lightship built in 1903, which are moored at a nearby quay.
www.vasamuseet.se |
| 5. National Museum |
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This sober 19th-century building on the waterfront contains a good range of Western art, including paintings by Cranach, Rembrandt, Rubens, Boucher, Goya, Renoir, Degas and Gauguin. It is also a good place to see excellent work by notable Swedish artists such as Carl Larsson, Ernst Josephson, Carl Fredrik Hill and Anders Zorn. In addition, the museum has a fine collection of decorative arts and industrial design (glass, ceramics, textiles, jewellery, furniture, housewares) - which are, of course, a strong and highly influential feature of modern Swedish culture.
www.nationalmuseum.se |
| 6. Moderna Museet |
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This is a modern art gallery of high prestige, which, since 2002, has been under the direction of Lars Nittve, the first director of the Tate Modern in London. It's on the island of Skeppsholmen, in central Stockholm, accessible by boat, bus, and on foot. The museum runs regular high-profile temporary exhibitions, but also has a good permanent collection, with work by Picasso, Kirchner, Kandinsky, Dali, Brancusi, Warhol, Oldenburg and many others. Its most famous piece is Robert Rauschenberg's notorious 'Monogram' (1955-59), a paint-daubed, stuffed angora goat with a rubber tyre around its middle - but this will be on a world tour until 2008. It also has an excellent collection of photographs, dating right back to the pioneering 1840s. All this has been housed since 1998 in a startling building designed by the Spanish architect Rafael Moneo. For those interested in architecture, the Swedish Museum of Architecture (Arkitekturmuseet), housed in a former military drill hall, forms parts of the complex.
www.modernamuseet.se www.arkitekturmuseet.se |
| 7. Stadshuset (City Hall) |
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The City Hall of Stockholm is a very striking building, designed by Ragnar Östberg and completed in 1923. Consisting of, apparently, 8 million bricks, it stands on the eastern tip of Kungsholmen island, and its high bell tower - rising to 106m (348ft) and accessible in summer - affords wonderful views across the city and its web of waterways. Its impressive interior, which can be visited by guided tour, includes the Blue Hall (in fact red, after a change-of-mind by the architect) and the Golden Hall (decorated with 19 million pieces of gilt mosaic), which are used for the banquet and festivities at which the Nobel Prizes are awarded in December each year.
www2.stockholm.se/cityhall/index.htm |
| 8. Kungsträdgården |
| Once the site of the royal kitchen garden, this public square in Lower Norrmalm, just to the north of Gamla Stan, is considered by many to be the spiritual heart of Stockholm. It's a multi-purpose space: a public park with ponds, fountains and gardens, as well as an events and sports venue and general meeting point. The Kungsträdgården is a good place to get a feel for life in Stockholm, and perhaps to enjoy one of the many outdoor concerts that take place here throughout the year. In winter it provides the setting for a popular, artificially frozen skating rink. The distinguished Wetterling modern art gallery is in the square, and close by there are restaurants and cafés, shops and department stores, and the Royal Opera House. The National Museum is a couple of blocks away to the east. |
| 9. Drottningholm |
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The royal palace of Drottningholm - nicknamed the 'Nordic Versailles' - stands on Lovö island in Lake Mälaren, 10 km (6 miles) to the west of Stockholm. It is accessible by road, but also in summer by boats from the city centre. Built originally in the 1600s in a broadly French style, it has an elegant and relaxed charm, and is the royal family's permanent residence. They occupy the southern wing, but the rest of the palace and the grounds are open to the public. Highlights among the sumptuous apartments are Queen Hedvig Eleonora's state bedchamber and the Chinese salon designed for King Gustav III. The beautiful gardens of the Royal Domain contain the Chinese Pavilion, and the Court Theatre, unchanged since 1766 and still in use for opera and ballet during the summer months.
www.royalcourt.se www.dtm.se (Drottningholm Court Theatre) |
| 10. The Archipelago |
| Ferry boats and excursion boats ply the waterways around the islands of Stockholm and its surrounds. But to place the city in its true natural context, you should take a trip into the Archipelago - the startlingly beautiful collection of 24,000 islands that stretch out eastwards some 80km (50 miles) along the coast that rims the Baltic Sea. Many are uninhabited; some have small settlements on them, or just isolated hotels and restaurants, or a few holiday homes - perfect for walking, fishing, swimming, cycling, looking at wildlife, relaxing. They are cherished by the people of Stockholm as a hinterland of almost spiritual significance. You can begin to see what the Archipelago entails by taking an hour-long ferry-boat trip to the historic town of Vaxholm, but for a true flavour of the islands you need to take an all-day trip, or an excursion lasting several days. |
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