Photo: Hendrik Zeitler
A modern approach to cultural history Committed to showcasing Nordic lifestyle since 1523, Nordiska museet (the Nordic Museum) in Stockholm continually finds new ways to tell stories about the cultural history of Sweden and the Nordics. During almost 150 years, the museum’s collections have grown to contain more than 1.5 million different textiles, clothes, jewellery, furniture, toys, glass and ceramics. By Pia Petersson | Photos: Nordiska museet
On the lush island of Djurgården, a green oasis in Stockholm, towers a magnificent, intriguing building. With its spires, domes and sculptures, it stops many a passer-by in their steps – it certainly is a building meant to be noticed. In fact, when it was first designed, the intention was to make the museum four times as big as it is today. Still absolutely huge, 64 | Issue 134 | March 2020
after a long planning and building process, the museum opened its doors in 1907. The large main hall is 126 metres long and the ceilings are more than 20 metres high,which makes it among the largest rooms in Sweden, beaten only by a few sports arenas and churches. This big hall currently hosts an exhibition that is all about Arctic life and culture.
Arctic – while the ice is melting This exhibition, which will remain open throughout 2020, covers the many different lifestyles of the people who live in the circumpolar regions. This, of course, is a part of the world where environmental and living conditions are changing rapidly. The centrepiece of the exhibition is a model of a large ice sheet, split by a deep rift. Visitors are invited to follow the stream of melt water through the rift and further into the iceberg. Objects, films and art connect the past with the present and science with mythology. To add to the ambiance, the vast Arctic sky is projected onto the high ceilings in the main hall.