Tuija Kuusela: The city of museums

I can't stop admiring the museums here. The buildings themselves, the diverseness and uniqueness of collections, the exhibition architecture... Undoubtedly Drottningholms Slott (Drottningholm Palace), Nationalmuseum, Vasamuseet (Vasa Museum) and Moderna Museet (The Museum of Modern Art) are gorgeous, but my own favorites are smaller scale places with some curious specialities.

Almgren sidenväveri museum (Silk Weaving Museum) is the last silk mill in Northern Europe (founded in 1833), and nowadays the same Almgren family is running the mill as a museum. It's a place with wistful atmosphere as if the workers had only gone for lunch. Millesgården is the home museum of sculptor Carl Milles. The unique house with a studio (built 1908-13) is surrouded by a park full of Milles' sculptures set on terraces and in fountains thus creating an imaginative entity. Livrustkammaren (The Royal Armoury) is exhibiting items once in the possession of Swedish monarchs and their families: for example, the costume worn by Gustav III at the fateful masked ball and the blood-stained shirts worn by Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle of Lützen. Here is the sigh of history's wings.

Absolutely wonderful everyday treasury is also Nordiska museet (Nordic Museum). Its innovative exhibitions uncover daily culture — home, fashion, traditions — from Gustaf Vasa's time to the present day. I hadn't have vigour to visit it in my earlier visits to Stockholm because it looks hopelessly gigant — now I've been there three times. I also happened to see a TV show where one of the museum's employees — while exhibiting a punk's clothes and accessories (donated to the museum about 20 years ago) with silk gloves on — told that they have 1,5 million artifacts in their collections!

Another treasury in this city is the endless flea markets and antique stores — three months isn't enough to survey them! My favorite is the Salvation Army's flea market chain called Myrorna (The Ants). It's cheap and full of surprises. In fact, I have to return by boat because my luggage has become too heavy for a flight...

So, I'm already looking forward to the day I'm back here. And having a cup of tea in Café Valand, a coffee house gem that has remained unchanged since 1954.

Hjärtligt tack, Bonnierförlagen! Hej då, vi ses!