After a while, I tend to think I know Stockholm, but there’s plenty of unusual places that remain hidden, even for Stockholmers. Places worth visiting for historical or cultural reasons, that will help you better understand the city and it’s citizens.
Written by Claudia Laborda
The Devil’s Bible
This Devil’s Bible (or Codex Gigas) is the largest medieval illuminated manuscript, 3 ft large in size and 620 pages. It was handwritten (yeah, handwritten) by a monk in the Czech Republic. It’s uniqueness comes from it’s disturbing full-page illustration of the Devil.
In 1648, at the end of the Thirty Years War, the Swedish army took it as booty and returned with it to Stockholm.
Portraits of the Devil were common during the Middle Ages, but this one is special, as it takes the whole page of the book. It contains the New and Old Testament and other texts such as medical practices, penitence and exorcism, to name a few. You can find this special book at the National Library of Sweden.
Storkyrkobadet: a hidden bathhouse
At the core of the city, in Gamla stan, there’s a bathhouse where you can relax in the swiming pool, sauna and also get a massage. It has a beautiful historic architecture, with arches from the 1750’s.
It was originally part of the monastery of The Order of Dominicans. Before that, it used to be a wine cellar and a coal storage.
The bathhouse is located at the basement of the Estonian School.
The Colour-Light tower
“Colour by Numbers” is a permanent light tower installation in Telefonplan, in south Stockholm. What makes it special and unusual is that everyone can change it’s coloured lights using a smartphone (even from outside Sweden!).
It’s a project between architect Milo Lavén, the artist Erik Krikortz and the interaction designer Loove Broms.
We can create any light colour, mixing red, green and blue. The building is 72 meters high and it’s visible within a range of ten kilometres.
The world’s largest model of the planetary system
We are not aware of the immensity of our solar system, how big or small our planet is compared to others, how far away we are from the Sun despite its powerful energy and light.
This project (in English) started by Nils Brenning and Gösta Gahm represents the planetary system with a scale of 1:20 million throughout all Swedish territory, giving us a sense of dimension and distance.
Have you ever wondered what “The Globe Arena” represents? That’s right: The sun! It’s the largest hemispherical building in the world, measuring a 110m in diameter.
The Earth and the Moon are at the Natural History Museum, with 65 cm and 18 cm each. You can find the rest of the planets, moons, famous comets and asteroids spread around all Sweden.
Do you know any other unusual places worth seeing? Please share it with us!
About the Author
I’m a writer and digital media enthusiast from Barcelona. I moved to Stockholm in 2017. I love being in nature, fika and photography. Check my Instagram to see my newbie journey @kospialidosa.
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