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 (9 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 (10 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 (11 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 (12 months ago)
Loved that this collection is so local. Especially enjoyed the ancient artifacts and the Danish invasion. Highly recommend

Vishal Kulkarni (12 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 Andy Hay

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The ancient Argos Theater was built in 320 BC. and is located in Argos, Greece against Larissa Hill. Nearby from this site is Agora, Roman Odeon, and the Baths of Argos. The theater is one of the largest architectural developments in Greece and was renovated in ca 120 AD.

The Hellenistic theater at Argos is cut into the hillside of the Larisa, with 90 steps up a steep incline, forming a narrow rectilinear cavea. Among the largest theaters in Greece, it held about 20,000 spectators and is divided by two landings into three horizontal sections. Staircases further divide the cavea into four cunei, corresponding to the tribes of Argos A high wall was erected to prevent unauthorized access into the theatron and may have helped the acoustics, but it is said the sound quality is still very good today.

Around 120 CE, both theaters were renovated in the Roman style.

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