Celebrate Skansen's 135th birthday!

Skansen opened its gates for the first time on 11 October 1891 and is celebrating its 135th anniversary as an open-air museum this year. Skansen’s founder, Artur Hazelius, loved chocolate, which is why sweets and fika of all kinds are the focus of this year’s celebrations!

The Swedish tradition of ‘fika’ stretches back several hundred years, and today it is an given part of life in Sweden. From 19th-century gatherings centred around coffee and cakes and the tradition of serving seven different kinds of biscuits, to today’s coffee breaks at work and fika as an essential part of celebrations. Come along and join the celebration!

Skansen’s History

Skansen was founded by the linguist and teacher Artur Hazelius in 1891 and opened to the public on 11 October of the same year. Hazelius was one of the leading figures in public education of his time, and his motto was ‘know thyself’. For Hazelius, these words meant that by understanding our history, we can come to know ourselves.

With this as his starting point, he created Skansen and the Nordic Museum, two places designed to showcase and bring to life people’s lives and stories. Artur had a dream of creating a Sweden in miniature that would bring nature and culture to life by gathering buildings, plants and animals from all over Sweden and showing how people lived and worked in different parts of the country. The result was Skansen – which is now the world’s oldest open-air museum.

Hazelius was able to purchase a plot of land on Skansenberget, and immediately began constructing houses from all over the country. Initially, the houses were filled with dolls dressed in traditional costume, but these were quickly replaced by real ‘kullor’. Hazelius wanted Skansen to be just that: a living open-air museum, with spinning wheels whirring and looms clacking.

Domestic animals were a natural part of life in the old farming community, and wild Nordic animals living in the forests and mountains were also part of everyday life. Hazelius received several animals as gifts, some of which were exotic. This did not fit with the aim of presenting a Sweden in miniature, but Hazelius assumed that his visitors would pay to see the exotic animals and therefore allowed them to stay.

Artur Hazelius moved into Skansen in 1892 and lived there until his death in 1901; he was buried at Skansen that same year.

Over the years, Skansen’s offering has grown and been refined. Today it is open all year round and the visitor experience offers everything from sing-alongs to crafts, gardens and houses. Always based on Hazelius’s thoughts and ideas.