Sweden - Becky Ohlsen [43]
Love them or loathe them, it’s impossible not to admire Sweden’s most successful musical export, their sales of over 370 million records upstaged only by Elvis and the Beatles. Benny and Björn penned many an ABBA hit on the archipelago island of Viggsö, and the group’s final three albums were recorded at No 58 St Eriksgatan on Kungsholmen (Map), former home of Polar Studios. In fact, the studio interiors feature in the music clip for their 1979 hit ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’. Other ABBA sites around Stockholm include the rustic Julius Kronberg’s Atelje at Skansen, backdrop for The Visitors album cover, and the royal gardens at Drottningholms Slott, backdrop for the ‘What’s The Name Of The Game?’ single sleeve.
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OTHER SIGHTS
Livrustkammaren (Royal Armoury; Map; 51 95 55 44; www.livrustkammaren.se; Slottsbacken 3; adult/under 19yr Skr60/free; 10am-5pm Jun-Aug, 11am-5pm Tue-Sun, to 8pm Thu Sep-May) is part of the palace complex, but can be visited separately. It’s a royal attic of sorts, crammed with engrossing memorabilia spanning over 500 years of royal childhoods, coronations, weddings and murders. Meet Gustav II Adolf’s stuffed battle steed, Streiff; see the masquerade costume worn by Gustav III’s on the night he was shot; or go ga-ga over Carl XVI’s baby booties. There’s a fairy-tale collection of coronation coaches in the basement, including the outrageously rococo number used for the crowning of Adolf Fredrik and Ulrika Eleonora in 1751. The audioguide (Skr20) is a worthy companion.
Across the plaza from the Royal Palace, Kungliga Myntkabinettet (Royal Coin Cabinet; Map; 51 95 53 04; Slottsbacken 6; adult/child Skr50/free, Mon admission free; 10am-4pm) gleams with a priceless collection of currency spanning 2600 years. Treasures include Viking silver, the world’s oldest coin (from 625 BC), the world’s largest coin (a Swedish copper plate weighing 19.7kg) and the planet’s first banknote (issued in Sweden in 1661).
The one-time venue for royal weddings and coronations, Storkyrkan (Map; 723 30 09; adult/under 17yr Skr25/free; 9am-6pm mid-May–Oct, 9am-4pm rest of year) is both Stockholm’s oldest building (consecrated in 1306) and its cathedral. Behind a baroque facade, the Gothic-cum-baroque interior includes extravagant royal-box pews designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, as well as German Berndt Notke’s dramatic sculpture St George and the Dragon, commissioned by Sten Sture the Elder to commemorate his victory over the Danes in 1471. Keep an eye out for posters and handbills advertising music performances here.
Riddarholmskyrkan (Map; 402 61 30; adult/child Skr30/10; 10am-4pm mid-May–late May & early Sep–mid-Sep, 10am-5pm Jun-Aug), on the nearby island Riddarholmen, was built by Franciscan monks in the late 13th century. It no longer functions as a church but has been the royal necropolis since the burial of Magnus Ladulås in 1290, and is home to the armourial glory of the Seraphim knightly order. Look for the marble sarcophagus of Gustav II, Sweden’s mightiest monarch, and the massed wall plates displaying the coats-of-arms of the knights. There’s a guided tour in English at 2pm and 4pm.
Examining almost four centuries of Swedish postal history, the Postmuseum (Map; 781 17 55; Lilla Nygatan 6; adult/under 19yr Skr50/free; 11am-4pm Tue-Sun May-Aug, 11am-4pm Tue-Sun & 11am-7pm Wed Sep-Apr) is not as mind-numbing as it sounds. It’s actually rather evocative, featuring old mail carriages, kitsch postcards and a cute children’s post office for budding postal workers. There’s also a great cafe and a philatelic library with 51,000 books on stamps and postal history.
Nobelmuseet (Map; 53 48 18 00; Stortorget; adult/7-18yr Skr60/20; 10am-5pm Wed-Mon, to 8pm Tue mid-May–mid-Sep; 11am-5pm Wed-Sun, to 8pm Tue mid-Sep–mid-May; to 8pm Tue year-round), in the Börsen building (the old Stock Exchange), presents the history of the both the Nobel Prizes and their recipients. It is a slick space with some fascinating short films on the theme of ‘creativity’, an audio archive of acceptance