Monday, July 31, 2006

AROUND STOCKHOLM - JUNE 1981

ARTS AND SUBURBS


"MUSEUM OF MODERN ART - In May 1958, the Moderna Museet opened for the first time in the navy's former drill-house on the island of Skeppsholmen (the building which now houses the Museum of Architecture)"


"MUSEUM OF MODERN ART - The collection is a treasure of modern and contemporary art, one of the best collections in Europe of 20th century art"


"DROTTNINGHOLM - A former Royal summer residence on an island in Lake Mälar, in a suburb of Stockholm, the Drottningholm Palace is today the home of the Royal family. With its castle (built in the 17th century), its perfectly preserved theatre (built in 1766), the Chinese pavilion and its gardens, it is the finest example of a north European royal residence. The Drottningholm Palace is also on UNESCO's World Heritage list"


"DROTTNINGHOLM - There was even a beach there"


"MILLESGARDEN - Carl Milles is Sweden's most famous sculptor. He was born in Laga (near Uppsala) on June 23, 1875, and died in Lindingo on September 19, 1955. Carl Milles lived in Paris from 1897 to 1904 and worked as an assitant to Rodin"


"CARL MILLES SCULPTURE PARK - Fountains are glittering in the sun at the most spectacular museum in Stockholm, the Millesgården Sculpture Park Museum. It's built on terraces carved into the cliffs of the island Lidingö. The sculptures, stairways, columns and fountains made by Carl Milles rival the magnificent view over the city"


"FLYING - Everybody and everything flies in Milles' sculptures"-


"HAND OF GOD - The man standing on a hand sculpture was made for the UN building in New York, but it was never placed there"


"LOWER TERRACE - There are three large fountain sculptures on the lower terrace: Poseidon, Europa and Jonah and the Whale, that Carl Milles installed there in the early 1950's"


"VASA MUSEUM - On August 10, 1628, the Vasa fired a salute and set sail for the first time. A few minutes later, a sudden gust of wind caused her to list so that water poured in through the lowest tier of open gun ports. The ship which was supposed to have been the mightiest of its time, sank ridiculously quickly in 100 feet of water. Salvaged in 1961, it is now the world's only surviving 17th-century ship!"


"SKANSEN - Founded in 1891, and located on the island of Djurgården, a royal park near the centre of Stockholm, it is the oldest open-air museum in the world. Skansen has some 150 houses and farmsteads assembled from all over Sweden"


"TV TOWER - The building became a tourist attraction, mainly because it towers over Stockholm, and from the top you can see for miles on a clear day; and there is also a restaurant!"


GRÖNA LUND - Gröna Lund is Stockholm's Luna Park since 1883: a funny place to enjoy!"


"SUNSET"

4 comments:

Andrea Gerák said...

Thanks Gil for posting these photos with the descritpions!
Myself, although living in Stockholm since a while, haven't seen all these places yet...

Anonymous said...

Andrea, thanks for the comment. You'll have enough time to see it all... and the days are so long in summer!

Anonymous said...

How fun to see photos from my hometown here - and from 1981 too. It's always fun to see how it looked like back then :-)

Only place I've not been to of those is Millesgården. I might have to visit it some day.

We were married in the Drottningholm's church, giving me some very good memories!

Anonymous said...

Lifecruiser,
You see how young and handsome we were... ;)
Can't believe that you live in Stockholm and have never been to the Milesgarden...
Drottningholm is a quite nice experience!