Welcome to our grandest exhibition ever. Explore life and people in the Nordic region over 500 years, set against its stunning nature, changing seasons and real-life stories from the Nordiska museet collections and archives.
The exhibition Nordic Life, allows you to explore how culture and life in the Nordic region have been shaped and reshaped through interactions between people, nature, and climate. What does nature mean to the people? What do families and homes look like? What do Nordic people believe in, dream about, fear, and find solace in?
We recommend that you view the exhibition with our audio guide, which can be downloaded to your own phone.
You can read all the exhibition texts and screens directly on your phone.
The most beautiful exhibition I have seen in Sweden
Swedish Radio
As you enter the exhibition, it’s the early 1500s and cold midwinter in the forest. Continue to villages and towns through spring and summer, encountering individuals from various times, places, and of different ages and social classes whose life stories leave traces in our collections and archives.
As you approach the end of the exhibition, it’s late autumn. You’ve reached present day and can witness how contemporary Nordic people think and live. And finally, you stand at the edge of a future forest.
Magnificent
Svenska Dagbladet
You can actively participate in history through the interactive parts of the exhibition. Play a role in a bustling 17th-century city, become a voice in the 18th-century freedom of the press, experience 19th-century coffee culture, and leave your mark in the future forest.
Take a guided tour through the exhibition with our audioguide, blending storytelling with dramatized scenes directly on your phone. We have two versions of the audioguide:
You can read all the exhibition texts and screens directly on your phone. During the visit, anywhere, anytime.
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1
Tens of thousands of Finnish-speaking slash-and-burn farmers leave Savonia. On the Swedish, they eventually come to be referred to as Forest Finns. The Forest Finns are skilled in birch bark craft. Marvel at a large collection of utilitarian objects
Foto: Hendrik Zeitler / Nordiska museet
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2
The nobility is growing. Through the wars, ennobled officers come into contact with the luxury and splendor of Europe’s princely houses. They want to live like the European princes. Discover war trophies, art, and modern valuables that the Swedish nobility use to showcase their power and status.
Foto: Hendrik Zeitler / Nordiska museet
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3
Goods are shipped across the world’s seas to the Nordic countries. Those who can afford it can enjoy exotic tastes, fashions, and materials. The bourgeoisie develop a new lifestyle with comfortable furniture, board games, reading aloud, and tea drinking. Get a sense of their everyday life here.
Foto: Hendrik Zeitler / Nordiska museet
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4
Handicrafts are ongoing in the agrarian society. It is essential to be able to produce textiles, tools, and furniture for household needs. In many households, handicrafts are vital for sustenance. Discover the work of maids and farmhands.
Foto: Hendrik Zeitler / Nordiska museet
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5
Between 1965 and 1975, one million apartments were built in Sweden, featuring modern kitchens and bathrooms, living rooms, bedrooms, and children’s rooms. Take a peek into Three Rooms and a Kitchen.
Foto: Hendrik Zeitler / Nordiska museet
A pure feast for the eyes
/ Utställningskritik
Nordic Life is Nordiska museet’s largest exhibition ever. An epic and visual presentation of Nordic cultural history built on the real objects and stories collected by the museum during 150 years.
Nordic Life is produced by Nordiska museet in collaboration with experts from universities and museums in Sweden and the Nordic region, and designed by MUSEEA.
Take a guided tour through the exhibition with our audio guide, blending storytelling with dramatized scenes directly on your phone. (Available in English and Swedish, approximately 50 minutes). We recommend bringing your own head phones.
You can read all the exhibition texts and screens directly on your phone.
Download our Audio guide to your phone. Available in English or Swedish. We recommend bringing your own head phones.
Watch the film sequences where you get to encounter 22 real life-stories documented in the museum’s collections. You’ll encounter individuals who live or have lived in the Nordic region in reality.
You can read all the exhibition texts and screens directly on your phone.
Have a coffee in the restaurant or the café in our back yard.
