#54 Moderna Museet & Arkitektur Museet

Today I visited 'Free Friday' at two of Stockholm's museums, the Modern Art and Architecture museums, both located in the same building on Skeppsholmen. They were good to fill in a few hours, but otherwise unless you have a special interest in modern art I wouldn't recommend a visit.

The Architecture museum is usually 60kr, and it is really small, so I would strongly advise against visiting here unless it's free. There is one temporary exhibition and another two small rooms of permanent exhibitions with  scale models of some of Swedens well known buildings and areas. It took me under an hour to see the whole place.

 Temporary risk exhibit

 Fake home

 Drawings by children

 A video on risk in the home!

Model of katarina hissen

The Modern Art Museum is usually 120kr, and on Fridays is only free for some parts of it (I think the temporary exhibitions). I have no interest in modern art, so the artists I saw on display were boring for me. There were some audio and video exhibits which were more interesting for me though. The artists and work you see will probably depend on when you go, but unless you love art it's probably not worth your time.

 How this is art I have no idea

 This is cool

 Modern poetry?

Not sure what this was

Arkitektur is free on Fridays from 4pm until 6pm, and Moderna is free from 6pm until 8pm, so you can do both.
You can get to the museums by taking bus 65 from central station to the Stockholm Arkitekt/Moderna stop. It is also possible to walk from the t-bana at Kungstradgarden (10 minutes) or to get the Djurgarden ferry from either Slussen or Grona Lund.
Also interesting to know, connecting the island to the mainland is the Skeppsholmen bridge, which has the famous crown you often see on postcards etc of Stockholm.

#52 Stockholm Sports Museum

Riksidrottsmuseet (aka the Sports Museum) is another of Stockholm's finest free offerings! Situated directly beside the Maritime Museum (which is also free) combined they fill in a few hours without costing you a penny!

Once again, I don't think I learned that much during my visit, but I had a lot of fun! They have a sports lab, which has a climbing wall, a little running track, a strength tester, some gymnastics equipment and something to test your balance. Upstairs, they show short films, as well as having two mini ice-hockey tables and a foosball table too!

 Mindball (it was out of order though)

 Table ice hockey (it's difficult!)

Small screening area

The Sports Museum is located at MuseiParken on the bus 69 route, near the tall TV tower. It is beside the Maritime Museum (Sjohistoriska) which also has free entrance.

#51 Tekniska Museet

Tekniska Museet (aka the Museum of Science and Technology) is another museum free on Wednesday evenings from 5pm (the other being the Nordic Museum).  If you are in Stockholm and like fun things, this place should be high on your list for things to do! 

It's a great place to bring children, and teenagers will enjoy it too. There are lots of interactive things, including a games room for younger children, and also another room aimed for teenagers and adults that includes testing your strength, rowing machines, lift your own weight, dance off, tight rope walking etc. There is also a realistic recreation of a mine which makes you feel a little like you're lining up for a roller-coaster in Disneyland. There are things here with buttons to make things light up or explode, there are places to smell things, there is a room of mirrors, there is a fake little TV studio, and there is a great game called "brainball" that puts two people against each other with a special headband one staring at a ball trying to make it come closer. Really interesting and great fun!! I'm not sure if we learned much about science or technology during our visit, but we all had a really fun time here.

 This lights up!

 The mine!

 TV studio

Brain ball!

The museum is conveniently located on the bus 69 route not far from the city centre in a little group of museums, the most notable being the Maritime Museum (Sjohistoriska) and the Sports Museum (RiksidrotsMuseet) which are always free, but only open until 5pm (so if you plan your Wednesday carefully, you could visit these two museums first and then at 5pm go to Tekniska)!

#48 Nordic Museum

The Nordic Museum (Nordiska Museet) is free every Wednesday evening from 5pm until closing at 8pm. So naturally I decided it was time for a visit. It seems living in Stockholm has its benefits!

The most surprising thing about Nordiska is perhaps that it's not as Nordic as you might expect. . .it was agreed by my international group of friends that we had expected much older exhibits and something more to do with Vikings and the such. However, it is pretty big and they have some interesting items on display.

The outside

The main hall

This large statue is the first thing you see as you enter

Part of the special Jewellery exhibit

Fashion exhibit

Christmas scene

Underwear made from HUMAN hair!!

Sami things made from reindeer (I think)

A woman being tortured...the only thing not signposted in English!

Unlike most places, you can rent audio guides for free here, which is nice. Almost everything is signposted in English, and I think there are guided tours in English too.

Some of the exhibits included jewellery, clothing, table settings, small items, toys and Sami items. There are also some strange exhibits, including one to do with hair which included a fake salon setting and clothes made from human hair, as well as information about different types of personal grooming through the ages.

Finally, there was a little ornament in the "small things" section that I would like to highlight:

A frog on a toilet. . .inspirational

#47 Maritime Museum Stockholm

The best thing about the Maritime Museum in Stockholm is that it is totally FREE for everyone, all the time. Most of the other museums in Stockholm will set you back at least 100kr, which really adds up if you're planning to go to more than one.

 Anyway, back to the Museum. Considering its totally free price, it was excellent. It is suitable for both adults and children and the exhibits were interesting, even if you have no knowledge or interest in anything nautical. The highlight for is the end part of a ship once owned by the King of Sweden years and years ago. (It's like a mini-Vasa for free!). From there, you enter a room full of model ships, as well as costumes, weapons, sailing equipment etc. For children, there is a great modern exhibit about shipping and where different goods come from. There is also an interesting tattoo exhibit about sailors tattoos that will be running for the next few months. The museum has good English information signposted on everything - except for the tattoo exhibit, which was a little disappointing.

 Part of the boat

The thing that goes on the front of a ship. . .it's pretty big

This was on a ship

Lots and lots of detailed model boats

Costumes

The shipping exhibit

This was the floor

The temporary tattoo exhibit

The Maritime Museum is located on the no.69 bus route a short distance from the city, near a TV tower with a viewing point of Stockholm. It is also located beside other unusual museums , such as the Ethnography museum and the Police Museum. These other ones aren't free, but they are cheaper than the usual 100kr. Finally, it's called 'Sjöhistoriska' in Swedish.