Gotland Museum, Visby, Sweden

The fine Gotlands Fornsal Museum provides comprehensive coverage of Visby's past. Housed in an 18th century distillery and a medieval warehouse, it holds five storeys of exhibition halls covering eight thousand years of history, as well as a good courtyard café and bookshop.

Among the most impressive sections are the Hall of Picture Stones, a collection of richly carved stones dating mostly from the 5th to 11th centuries, and the display of the Spillings Hoard – the richest of Gotland's seven hundred hoards. Found in 1999, this treasure, mostly from the Arab world, England and Germany, weighs 85 kilos. The Hall of Prehistoric Graves is equally fascinating, its glass cases displaying skeletons dating back six thousand years.

Other rooms trace the history of medieval Visby, with exhibits including a trading booth, where the burghers of Visby and foreign merchants dealt in commodities – furs, lime, wax, honey and tar – brought from all over Northern Europe. A series of tableaux brings the exhibition up to 1900, starting with Erik of Pomerania, the first resident of Visborg Castle, and leading on through the years of Danish rule, up to the island's 16th-century trading boom.

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User Reviews

David Cha (8 months ago)
Very well laid out, interesting museum, and it felt much bigger than it looks from the outside. There is quite a variety of exhibitions, especially interesting were the picture stones and the Danish invasion of Gotland, we were here until closing time to be able to see everything. Also there is a discount for those attending the medieval fest, we didn't know but the staff noticed we had the pass bracelets on, was a nice surprise.

Matthew Johnson (9 months ago)
Wow, this museum is great. Runestones. Viking treasure. Fossils with Geological history. Flute Woman and Hedgehog Girl. Weapons, armour and skeletons from the slaughter of 1,800 farmers after their betrayal by the merchants of Visby, secretly in league with the Danish King.

S (10 months ago)
A must-see museum in Visby. It contains three parts, picture stones, medieval history of Gotland and silver treasures. It also has a small exhibition for modern art. I spent 3 hours here and wish I spared more time. It's definitely a good place to learn the history of this island.

Dustin Smith (11 months ago)
Loved that this collection is so local. Especially enjoyed the ancient artifacts and the Danish invasion. Highly recommend

Vishal Kulkarni (11 months ago)
It was nice experience. We can experience the history of Gotland here. also they have Innovation room and Kids play room. So kids also can have good time here. They have small shop too. You can buy Gotland souvenirs from here.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Mark1792

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Rosenborg Castle

Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.

The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.

Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.

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