Aaron S.
Yelp
Stockholms Stadsmuseum which translates in English to Stockholm City Museum is one of my favourite museums I've visited - located a short walk away from the Old Town, Gamla Stam or one stop on the metro, being right outside Slussen metro station - which was convenient for me as I was staying nearby at the Hilton Stockholm Slussen, it is in a good location.
The museum re-opened after a long refurbishment process in April 2019 - it is obviously in an old building with modern features - I do like the glass lift going down from street level as when you go through it, it's like you're going into the unknown as it isn't a typical museum entrance - I personally only went into the lift when I was bored just to see where it went - and I'm glad I did!
The museum is over three floors and at times it can be difficult to follow around as obviously it is laid out in chronological order but with so many different rooms and an old fashioned building - the limited signs didn't seem to help. It even had a terrible lift for disabled access which meant you had to open the door yourself (surprisingly common during my time in Stockholm), there was another button you could use however to press the button you had to go right outside the lift, leaving no time to move out of the way - this worked out especially dangerous on the top floor with the lift right next to the staircase and the way the lift works would make an accident/injury highly likely to the point I can't believe how health and safety approved this as a modern 2019 renovation.
I did enjoy watching the video at the start which went through hundreds of years of the history of Gamla Stam and Stockholm - not to reveal too much as you'll find out at the museum but it talked about how the country planned to rebel against the installation of a Danish king, so a swede, Gustav was appointed instead who turned out to be like a tyrant - defunding and taking the money from the Catholic Church for political gain without improving living conditions - and making Sweden a protestant country and then of course talking about the deaths of one in three people through disease, a major fire and other cool factors.
The video at the start gave the museum more meaning - so I would say it's best to wait to watch it from the start before going round the museum, perhaps looking around the small store until it starts as it gives it more understanding and meaning - even though there is information in the museum in Swedish and English (not all exhibits have English writing it is just whenever possible), it gives everything more meaning and explanation.
The actor in the video was actually designed to be the Patron Saint of Sweden, Eric - but I just feel it made him look bad in a negative light as he'd go up to children and families as if to steal their items and he'd make a joke "this will be in a city museum one day" winking at the camera - it made him look like a bit of a dick, stealing from the poor families and could have been run better on that front.
I was a little disappointed with the higher floors, maybe the third floor and I found as you move on in time and discover the building, the displays become smaller and less vivid with many empty rooms on the top floor, the one which had the strange layout and was probably the most difficult to follow.
Transport nerds or just history lovers of the city can enjoy a metro exhibit, where they ended up filming from the front of a metro train on all three lines - red, green and blue.
Overall, this is a fantastic museum and a real must-see while in Stockholm, after all, it is in a great location in the centre in Slussen and was recently refurbished, it is a real shame there are some access issues mainly on the higher floors and with the lift and the fact the higher floors again don't match the lower ones - the fact they're closed on Monday's too is also pretty strange so if you only have a limited amount of time in the city - be sure to plan ahead for what is otherwise a great attraction and the best museum I visited in Stockholm. 4*
