Nordiska museet in Stockholm - culture, design, traditions

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The Nordic Museum is a cultural history museum on Djurgården in Stockholm. The museum is housed in a beautiful and imposing building and has a wide range of interesting exhibitions, both permanent and temporary. We were curious about the exhibition "The Paris of the North".

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Nordic Museum

The Nordic Museum tells the story of Nordic culture and traditions from the 16th century onwards. The museum was founded by Artur Hazelius in 1873. At that time the exhibitions were displayed in a room on Drottninggatan, but in 1907 they moved to the current building on Djurgården.

The museum is now Sweden's largest cultural history museum, with a collection of over 1.5 million artefacts and information about the way people thought and believed in different periods. The exhibitions are displayed in a stunningly beautiful building, with the main hall being particularly impressive. The hall is 126.5 metres long and 24 metres high, making it one of the largest non-ecclesiastical rooms in Sweden.

The Nordic Museum is located on Djurgården in Stockholm. After crossing Djurgårdsbron from Strandvägen, the museum is just to the right.

Temporary exhibitions at Nordiska museet

The Nordic Museum has a number of temporary exhibitions, which are here for a long time. We think we've seen some of these before, but it was so long ago that it was definitely worth seeing them again.

Table setting

The 'Set Tables' exhibition features ten different set tables from the 16th century to the 1950s. Although the exhibition is old - it opened in 1955! - it is still exciting to check out.

Traditions

Why do we do what we do at Christmas, Easter and Midsummer, and how did we do it in the past? The 'Traditions' exhibition tells the story of the Christmas tree, the Easter basket, Fat Tuesday and Mårten Gås. Interesting!

Folkhemslägenheten

Folkhemslägenheten is a home from the late 1940s, and is an apartment built inside the museum. Here you can step right into a typical HSB apartment from the past!

Walking around the apartment offers a lot of recognition. Maybe not for the younger ones, but for most of us.

Jewellery

The "Jewellery" exhibition displays both simple and exclusive jewellery, from the 16th century to the present day. It is a fascinating collection that also reveals the uses of jewellery: for celebration, to mark status or perhaps to protect against evil forces.

The time vault

At the bottom of the museum's basement is the 'Time Vault'. This interactive exhibition, aimed at children aged 8 and up and accompanied by an adult, introduces visitors to children from different periods in history.

Because you have to buy a ticket in advance for specific time slots (and because we didn't have a suitable child to accompany us), we never saw this exhibition, but we understand from social media that it is popular with many people.

Temporary exhibitions at the Nordic Museum

The Nordic Museum is also constantly hosting various temporary exhibitions. Here we tell you about some of the ones we saw right now, in January 2022. By the way, a new exhibition is coming in March: "Come to Norden", showing Nordic travel posters through the ages.

The Arctic - while the ice is melting (extended until 2022)

The exhibition 'The Arctic - while the ice is melting' tells the story of life in the Arctic as the ice melts. You can learn about what happens to the big ice sheets, but perhaps most importantly about the people who live in Arctic environments.

British so in the Nordic region (until 1 April 2022)

The exhibition "British so into the Nordics" is about Nordic fashion and lifestyle, with influences from the UK. The story stretches from the Middle Ages to the present day, and it becomes extremely clear that we have been heavily influenced by British culture for a long time.

Sápmi (until 20 February 2022)

The Sápmi exhibition is about Sámi culture and identity. It is an exhibition where you can reflect on oppression and cultural clashes in history, but also on Sami culture in the present and future.

Paris of the North (until 18 September 2022)

The exhibition that we were most excited to see, and that you have to book an appointment for, was the one called "The Paris of the North", which is about NK's French tailor shop.

NK's Franska was the absolute northernmost outpost of Parisian fashion, where wealthy, famous and fashion-conscious Swedish women went for decades to have clothes made according to the latest styles. With each dress you can also see who wore it, perhaps someone with a surname like Bonde or von Essen.

Above all, the exhibition features lots of beautiful clothes, but also teaches you about the craft and the fashion industry throughout history.

This was an exhibition that we really enjoyed. It is fantastic that the clothes are still there, and that so much documentation about the production has been saved. It almost made us want to travel back in time and order a customised ball gown, which was then delivered in a cardboard box filled with rustling paper.

Visiting the Nordic Museum in Stockholm

Visiting the Nordic Museum in Stockholm is a nice Stockholm excursion. You can take the tram out to Djurgården or, if the weather is nice, walk along Strandvägen and then across Djurgårdsbron.

The museum is open every day, and currently the entrance fee for adults is 140 SEK. Please note that some exhibitions, such as 'The Paris of the North' and 'The Time Vault' may need to be booked in advance. If you get hungry, there is a restaurant in the main hall.

Nordic Museum's castles and courtyards

In addition to the large museum building on Djurgården, the museum owns four castles and farms around the country. We visited two of them (Julita Farm in Södermanland and Tyresö Castle south of Stockholm). The other two (Svindersvik in Nacka and Härkeberga in Uppland) remain to be discovered.

More to see and do in the neighbourhood

The Nordic Museum is located on Djurgården, which means there are many other nice and interesting museums nearby. If you are interested in culture and history, you can check out the Ethnographic Museum, Skansen, Spritmuseum or Viking Museum.

Have you visited the Nordic Museum in Stockholm? How was your experience? Please tell us!

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