Culture of Stockholm. Places to visit - old town, temples, theaters, museums and palaces

» The Nordic Museum is located on the island of Djurgården. It keeps within its walls the history and culture of the Swedish from 1520 to the present day.
»  During his life, collector Artur Hazelius (1833 - 1901) collected, bought pieces of furniture, clothes, toys from all over Sweden and other northern countries.
»  The permanent museum building was erected in 1907. This magnificent building had features of the best Danish palaces. The main hall has a huge statue of Gustav Vasa, the king of Sweden that restored the country’s independence.
»  The collection includes 1.5 million exhibits and a large series of photographs – about 6 million shots.
»  Visitors to the museum are invited to participate in role playing, for example, working on a farm or cooking food without electricity and water supply. To immerse fully in the role play, visitors can change into historical costumes.
»  The museum has its own farm and shop where visitors can buy modern and classic products, fabrics, books, jewellery, and, of course, traditional woolen gloves.

» The Royal Palace in Stockholm simultaneously performs two functions: an official government institution and a museum and historical monument of Sweden open to visitors all year round.
»  In the 13th century, a fortress was built on the site of the present-day palace. In the 16th century, it was rebuilt into a more modern palace named Tre Kronor. The palace was reconstructed again in 1690-1697, but was immediately destroyed by fire.
»  The restoration of the palace was done by architect Nicodemus Tessin. Only 63 years later (1760), the palace was finally restored. The 120-metre building has 1,430 rooms (660 with windows).
»  Apart from royal offices, the palace has a royal chapel, the Armory, the Tre Kronor museum, the Bernadotte Library, Gustav III’s Museum, a treasury with royal regalia and precious jewellery.
»  The palace is guarded by the Royal Guard. Tourists like to watch the change of the guard.

» The Nobel Prize Museum was opened in 2001 in the former stock exchange building. It was opened to mark the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize establishment by Alfred Nobel (1833-1896).
»  The prize has been awarded since 1901 in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, peace. 800 people have become prize winners since.
»  The museum is decorated in an unusual and non-standard way. There’s a kind of cableway under the ceiling running through all the halls, bearing portraits of the laureates.
»  The museum shows films, organizes conferences and exhibitions dedicated to famous laureates.
»  The museum has a cafe where you can relax and eat, and if you turn your chairs over, you can see the Nobel laureates’ autographs. It’s surely an entertaining place to visit.

» The Stockholm City Hall was built between 1911 and 1923. The building houses city government offices, conference rooms, and several luxurious ceremonial halls: Golden, Blue, Oval, and Prince Eugen’s Gallery.
»  The Golden Hall hosts an annual ball in honor of the Nobel Prize winners. It is the most magnificent hall in the city hall. Its walls are covered with mosaic gold panels.
»  The Blue Hall hosts a traditional banquet after the award ceremony on 10 December.
»  A 106-metre tower rises next to the city hall. The tower houses a museum and exhibits the copies of statues and busts found in the City Hall.
»  The most remarkable statue is the statue of St. Erik. It is 7.5 metres high. The statue was supposed to be installed on top of the tower, but the architects changed their mind and made an observation deck there instead.
»  There are 9 bells on the bell tower. One of them, weighing 3 tons, was presented by Holland and named St. Erik in honor of the patron saint of Stockholm. Three golden crowns top the tower in honor of Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

» The National Museum in Sweden houses a lot of art objects. Besides the museum, they are also kept in several Swedish royal castles and the Museum of Porcelain. The first pieces of art were collected by King Gustav Vasa in the middle of the 16th century.
»  In the middle of the 18th century, the Swedish envoy Carl Tessin bought a lot of paintings for the king’s collection in Paris. In 1792, the collection was donated to the National Museum.
»  In 1866, the German architect August Stüler completed the construction of a new museum building. The rich collection puts the museum on a par with the Louvre, the Prado Museum, or the National Gallery in London.
»  Here, you can see picturesque paintings of such Dutch, French, Italian, and English artists, as: van Gogh, Rembrandt, Rubens, El Greco, Perugino, Goya, Renoir, Gauguin, etc. They are gems of the museum collection.
»  The museum had been closed for reconstruction until 2018. When the museum was renovated, its exhibits were kept in the Academy of Fine Arts.