Drottningholm Palace • Sigtuna • Uppsala
At Stockholm’s doorstep is a variety of fine side-trip options—all within an hour of the capital. Drottningholm Palace, on the city’s outskirts, was the summer residence—and most opulent castle—of the Swedish royal family, and has a uniquely well-preserved Baroque theater, to boot. The adorable town of Sigtuna is a cutesy, cobbled escape from the big city, studded with history and rune stones. Uppsala is Sweden’s answer to Oxford, offering stately university facilities and museums, the home and garden of scientist Carl Linnaeus, as well as a grand cathedral and the enigmatic burial mounds of Gamla Uppsala on the outskirts of town. Note that another side-trip option is to visit a few of the islands in Stockholm’s archipelago (described in the next chapter).
The queen’s 17th-century summer castle and current royal residence has been called “Sweden’s Versailles.” While that’s a bit of a stretch, Drottningholm Palace (Drottningholms Slott) is worth ▲▲. It’s enjoyable to explore the place where the Swedish royals bunk and to stroll their expansive gardens. Just as worthwhile is touring the nearby Baroque-era theater (also rated ▲▲), which preserves 18th-century stage sets and special-effects machinery. You can likely squeeze everything in with half a day here, or linger for an entire day.
The castle is an easy boat or subway-plus-bus ride from downtown Stockholm. Consider approaching by water (as the royals traditionally did) and then returning by bus and subway (as a commoner).
Boats depart regularly from near City Hall for the relaxing hour-long trip (145 kr one-way, 195 kr round-trip, discount with Stockholm Card, departs from Stadshusbron across from City Hall on the hour through the day, likely additional departures at :30 past the hour on weekends or any day in July-Aug, fewer departures Sept-April, tel. 08/1200-4000, www.stromma.se). It can be faster (30-45 minutes total) to take public transit: Ride the T-bana about 20 minutes to Brommaplan, where you can catch any #300-series bus for the five-minute ride to Drottningholm (as you leave the Brommaplan Station, check monitors to see which bus is leaving next—usually from platform A, E, or F; 54 kr one-way).
Cost and Hours: 120 kr, May-Aug daily 10:00-16:30, Sept daily 11:00-15:30, Oct and April Fri-Sun only 11:00-15:30, Nov-March Sat-Sun only 12:00-15:30, closed last two weeks of Dec, tel. 08/402-6280, www.royalcourt.se.
Tours: You can explore the palace on your own, but with sparse posted explanations and no audioguide, it’s worth the 20 kr extra for the 30-minute English guided tour, which brings the rooms to life. Tours are offered June-Aug usually at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, and 16:00 (fewer tours off-season). Alternatively, you could buy the inexpensive palace guidebook.
Services: The gift shop/café at the entrance to the grounds (near the boat dock and bus stop) acts as a visitors center; Drottningholm’s only WCs are in the adjacent building. The café serves light meals. A handy Pressbyrån convenience store is also nearby (snacks, drinks, and transit tickets), and taxis are usually standing by.
“Drottningholm” means “Queen’s Island.” When the original castle mysteriously burned down in 1661 immediately after a visit from Queen Hedvig Eleonora, she (quite conveniently) had already commissioned plans for a bigger, better palace.
Built over 40 years—with various rooms redecorated by centuries of later monarchs—Drottningholm has the air of overcompensating for an inferiority complex. While rarely absolute rulers, Sweden’s royals long struggled with stubborn parliaments. Perhaps this made the propaganda value of the palace decor even more important. Touring the palace, you’ll see art that makes the point that Sweden’s royalty is divine and belongs with the gods. Portraits and prominently displayed gifts from fellow monarchs attempt to legitimize the royal family by connecting the Swedish blue bloods with Roman emperors, medieval kings, and Europe’s great royal families. The portraits you’ll see of France’s Louis XVI and Russia’s Catherine the Great are reminders that Sweden’s royalty was related to or tightly networked with the European dynasties.
Of course, today’s monarchs are figureheads ruled by a constitution. The royal family makes a point to be as accessible and as “normal” as royalty can be. King Carl XVI Gustaf (b. 1946)—whose main job is handing out Nobel Prizes once a year—is a car nut who talks openly about his dyslexia. He was the first Swedish king not to be crowned “by the grace of God.” The popular Queen Silvia is a businessman’s daughter. At their 1976 wedding festivities, ABBA serenaded her with “Dancing Queen.” Their daughter and heir to the throne, Crown Princess Victoria, studied political science at Yale and interned with Sweden’s European Union delegation. In 2010, she married gym owner Daniel Westling—the first royal wedding in Sweden since her parents’ marriage. Victoria and Daniel’s first child, Princess Estelle, was born on February 23, 2012—and instantly became the next heir to the throne. The king and queen still live in one wing of Drottningholm, while other members of the royal family attempt to live more “normal” lives elsewhere.
While not the finest palace interior in Europe (or even in Scandinavia), Drottningholm offers a chance to stroll through a place where a monarch still lives. You’ll see two floors of lavish rooms, where Sweden’s royalty did their best to live in the style of Europe’s divine monarchs.
Ascend the grand staircase (decorated with faux marble and relief-illusion paintings) and buy your ticket on the first floor. Entering the state rooms on the first floor, admire the craftsmanship of the walls, with gold leaf shimmering on expertly tooled leather. Then pass through the Green Cabinet and hook right into Hedvig Eleonora’s State Bed Chambers. The richly colored Baroque decor here, with gold embellishments, is representative of what the entire interior once looked like. Hedvig Eleonora was a “dowager queen,” meaning that she was the widow of a king—her husband, King Karl X, died young at age 24—after they had been married just six years. Looking around the room, you’ll see symbolism of this tragic separation. For example, in the ceiling painting, Hedvig Eleonora rides a cloud, with hands joined below her—suggesting that she will be reunited with her beloved in heaven.
This room was also the residence of a later monarch, Gustav III. That’s why it looks like (and was) more of a theater than a place for sleeping. In the style of the French monarchs, this is where the ceremonial tucking-in and dressing of the king would take place.
Backtrack into the golden room, then continue down the other hallway. You’ll pass through a room of royal portraits with very consistent characteristics: pale skin with red cheeks; a high forehead with gray hair (suggesting wisdom); and big eyes (windows to the soul). At the end of the hall is a grand library, which once held some 7,000 books. The small adjoining room is filled by a large model of a temple in Pompeii; Gustav III—who ordered this built—was fascinated by archaeology, and still today, there’s a museum of antiquities named for him at the Royal Palace in Stockholm.
On the second floor, as you enter the first room, notice the faux doors, painted on the walls to create symmetry, and the hidden doors for servants (who would scurry—unseen and unheard—through the walls to attend to the royal family). In the Blue Drawing Room is a bust of the then-king’s cousin, Catherine the Great. This Russian monarch gave him—in the next room, the Chinese Drawing Room—the (made-in-Russia) faux “Chinese” stove. This dates from a time when exotic imports from China (tea, silk, ivory, Kung Pao chicken) were exciting and new. (Around the same time, in the mid-18th century, the royals built the Chinese Pavilion on Drottningholm’s grounds.) The Gobelins tapestries in this room were also a gift, from France’s King Louis XVI. In the next room, the darker Oskar Room, are more tapestries—these a gift from England’s King Charles I. (Sensing a trend?) You’ll pass through Karl XI’s Gallery (overlooking the grand staircase)—which is still used for royal functions—and into the largest room on this floor, the Hall of State. The site of royal weddings and receptions, this room boasts life-size paintings of very important Swedes in golden frames and a bombastically painted ceiling.
Drottningholm Palace Park: Like so many European “summer palaces,” the Drottningholm grounds are graced with sprawling gardens. Directly behind the palace is the rigid and geometrical Baroque Garden, with angular hedges, tidy rows of trees, fountains, and outdoor “rooms” at the far end. To the right is the English Garden, which has rugged, naturalistic plantings and is speckled with statues. And at the far end of the grounds, surrounding the Chinese Pavilion, are the Rococo Gardens. While charming, these gardens aren’t grand on a European scale—but they are a pretty place for a stroll.
This 18th-century theater (Drottningholms Slottsteater) has miraculously survived the ages—complete with its instruments, hand-operated sound-effects machines for wind, thunder, and clouds; and original stage sets. Visit it on a 40-minute guided tour, which some find more enjoyable than the palace tour.
Cost and Hours: 100 kr for guided tour, English tours about hourly May-Aug 11:00-16:30, Sept 12:00-15:30—these are first and last tour times, shop open before and after, may be limited tours on weekends in April and Oct-Dec, no tours Jan-March, tel. 08/759-0406, www.dtm.se.
Performances: Check their schedule for the rare opportunity to see perfectly authentic operas (about 25 performances each summer). Tickets for this popular time-travel musical and theatrical experience cost 300-1,000 kr and go on sale each March; purchase online (www.ticnet.se), at the theater shop, or by phone (from the US, call +46-77-170-7070; see www.dtm.se for details).
Background: Built by a Swedish king to impress his Prussian wife—who found Sweden dreadfully provincial—this is one of two such historic theaters remaining in Europe (the other is in the town of Český Krumlov, in the Czech Republic). Their son, King Gustav III, loved the theater (some say more than he loved ruling Sweden): Besides ordering Stockholm’s Royal Opera to be built, he also wrote, directed, and acted in several theatrical presentations (including the first-ever production in the Swedish language, rather than French). He even died in a theater, assassinated at a masquerade ball in the very opera house he had built. When he died, so too did this flourishing of culture—the theater became a warehouse until it was rediscovered in 1921. Soon thereafter, it began producing plays once again.
Visiting the Theater: On the tour, you’ll see the bedrooms where famous actors would sleep while performing here, then enter the theater itself, lit only with (now simulated) candles. You’ll see the extremely deep stage (with scenery peeking in from the edges), the royal boxes where the king and queen entered, and doors and curtains that were painted onto walls to achieve perfect symmetry. Be ready to volunteer to try out the old equipment used to make thunder and wind noises. It’s fascinating to think that the system of pulleys, trap doors, and actors floating in from the sky isn’t so different from the techniques employed on stages today.
Sigtuna, the oldest town in Sweden (established in the 970s), is the country’s cutest town as well. Worth ▲, it sits sugary sweet on Lake Mälaren, about 30 miles inland from Stockholm (reachable by train/bus or sightseeing boat). A visit here affords a relaxed look at an open-air folk museum of a town, with ruined churches, ancient rune stones, and a cobbled lane of 18th-century buildings—all with English info posts. It also offers plenty of shopping and eating options in a park-like lakeside setting. If you’re looking for stereotypical Sweden and a break from the big city, Sigtuna is a fun side-trip.
Getting There: By public transport from Stockholm, it’s a one-hour trip out (take the pendeltåg suburban train from Stockholm to Märsta and then change to bus #570). Guided two-hour sightseeing cruises run to Sigtuna in summer (350 kr round-trip, Wed-Sun morning departures from Stockholm’s Stadshusbron dock, www.stromma.se). If traveling by car to Uppsala or Oslo, Sigtuna is a short detour.
Tourist Information: The helpful TI is on the main street and eager to equip you with a town map and info (daily 10:00-18:00, Storagatan 33, tel. 08/5948-0650).
Sigtuna’s main street provides the town’s spine. Along it, besides the TI, you’ll find the town hall from 1744, with a nicely preserved interior (free, daily 12:00-16:00), and the Sigtuna History Museum, with archaeological finds from the Viking culture here (may be closed for renovation). As you stroll the street, read the historical signs posted along the way and poke into shops and cafés. The most charming place for lunch, a snack, or a drink is Tant Brun (“Auntie Brown’s”) Café, tucked away just around the corner from the TI in a super-characteristic 17th-century home with a cozy garden.
Before the Reformation came along, Sigtuna was an important political and religious center, and the site of the country’s archbishopric. Along with powerful monastic communities, the town had seven churches. When the Reformation hit, that was the end of the monasteries, and there was a need for only one church—the Gothic Mariakyrkan. It survived, and the rest fell into ruins. Mariakyrkan, or Mary’s Church, built by the Dominicans in the 13th century, is decorated with pre-Reformation murals and is worth a look (free, daily 9:00-17:00).
The stony remains of St. Olaf’s Church stand in the Mary’s Church cemetery. This 12th-century ruin is evocative, with stout vaults and towering walls that served the community as a place of last refuge when under attack.
Sigtuna is dotted with a dozen rune stones. Literally “word stones,” these memorial stones are carved with messages in an Iron Age runic language. Sigtuna has more of these than any other Swedish town. Those here generally have a cross, indicating that they are from the Christian era (11th century). Each is described in English. I like Anund’s stone, which says, “Anund had this stone erected in memory of himself in his lifetime.” His rune carver showed a glimpse of personality and that perhaps Anund had no friends. (It worked. Now he’s in an American guidebook, and 10 centuries later, he’s still remembered.)
Uppsala, Sweden’s fourth-largest city, is a rather small town with a big history. A few blocks in front of its train station, an inviting commercial center bustles around the main square and along a scenic riverfront. Towering across the river are its historic cathedral and a venerable university. For visitors, the university features a rare 17th-century anatomical theater, an exhibit of its prestigious academic accomplishments, and a library with literary treasures on display. Uppsala is home to the father of modern botany, Carl Linnaeus, whose garden and house—now a museum—make for a fascinating visit. And, just outside town stands Gamla Uppsala, the site of a series of majestic burial mounds where Sweden buried its royalty back in the 6th century. While Gamla Uppsala is a short bus ride away, everything else is within delightful walking distance. If you’re not traveling anywhere else in Sweden other than Stockholm, Uppsala (less than an hour away) makes a pleasant day trip. While buzzing during the school year, this university town is sleepy during summer vacations.
Take the train from Stockholm’s central station (4/hour, 40 minutes, 85 kr; also possible on slower suburban pendeltåg—2/hour, 55 minutes, covered by local transit pass plus small supplement). Since the Uppsala station has lockers and is in the same direction from Stockholm as the airport, you could combine a quick visit here with an early arrival or late departure.
The helpful TI, across the street from the train station, has the informative What’s On Uppsala magazine, which includes the best map of the center and a list of all sights (Mon-Fri 10:00-18:00, Sat 10:00-15:00, Sun July-Aug only 11:00-15:00, Kungsgatan 59, tel. 018/727-4800, www.destinationuppsala.se). They sell the Uppsala Card (150 kr, covers all attractions in the city plus bus fare and admission to Gamla Uppsala).
From the train station (pay lockers), cross the busy street and find the TI on the right (pick up the What’s On magazine). Walk two blocks to Kungsängsgatan, turn right, and walk to the main square, Stora Torget. The spires of the cathedral mark two of the top three sights (the cathedral itself and the adjacent university buildings). The Linnaeus Garden and Museum is a few blocks up the river, and the bus to Gamla Uppsala is a couple of blocks away (see map, above).
One of Scandinavia’s largest, most historic cathedrals feels as vital as it does impressive. While the building was completed in 1453, the spires and interior decorations are from the late 19th century. The cathedral—with a fine Gothic interior, the relics of St. Erik, memories of countless Swedish coronations, and the tomb of King Gustav Vasa—is well worth a visit.
Cost and Hours: Free, daily 8:00-18:00; guided 45-minute English tours go 1-2 times/day in season (mid-June-mid-Aug Mon-Sat at 11:00 and 14:00, Sun at 15:00), or pick up brochure from gift shop; tel. 018/187-177, www.uppsaladomkyrka.se.
Visiting the Cathedral: Grab a seat in a pew and take in the graceful Gothic lines of the longest nave in Scandinavia (130 yards). The gorgeously carved, gold-slathered Baroque pulpit is a reminder of the Protestant (post-Reformation) focus on preaching the word of God in the people’s language. Look high above in the choir area to enjoy fine murals, restored in the 1970s. For ages, pilgrims have come here to see the relics of St. Erik. All around you are important side chapels, tombs, and memorials (each with an English description).
Near the entrance is the tomb and memorial to scientist Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern botany, who spent his career at the university here (for more on him, see the Linnaeus Garden and Museum listing, later).
In the chapel at the far east end of the church is the tomb of King Gustav Vasa and his family. This chapel was originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary. But Gustav Vasa brought the Reformation to Sweden in 1527 and usurped this prized space for his own tomb. In good Swedish style, the decision was affirmed by a vote in parliament, and bam—the country was Lutheran. (A few years later, England’s King Henry VIII tried a similar religious revolution—and had a much tougher time.) Notice that in the tomb sculpture, Gustav is shown flanked by two wives—his first wife died after suffering a fall; his second wife bore him 10 children. High above are murals of Gustav’s illustrious life.
Speaking of Mary, notice the modern statue of a common-rather-than-regal Protestant Mary outside the chapel looking in. This eerily lifelike statue from 2005, called Mary (The Return), captures Jesus’ mother wearing a scarf and timeless garb. In keeping with the Protestant spirit here, this new version of Mary is shown not as an exalted queen, but as an everywoman, saddened by the loss of her child and seeking solace—or answers—in the church.
Cathedral Treasury: By the gift shop, you can pay to ride the elevator up to the treasury collection. Here (with the help of a loaner flashlight and English translations), you’ll find medieval textiles (tapestries and vestments), swords and crowns found in Gustav’s grave, and the Nobel Peace Prize won by Nathan Söderblom, an early-20th-century archbishop here (40 kr, daily 10:00-17:00, until 16:00 in off-season). In this same narthex area, notice the debit-card machine for offerings.
Scandinavia’s first university was founded in Uppsala in 1477. Two famous grads are Carl Linnaeus (the famous botanist) and Anders Celsius (the scientist who developed the temperature scale that bears his name). The campus is scattered around the cathedral part of town, and two university buildings are particularly interesting and welcoming to visitors: the Gustavianum and the library.
Facing the cathedral is the university’s oldest surviving building, with a bulbous dome that doubles as a sundial (notice the gold numbers). Today it houses a well-presented museum that features an anatomical theater, a cabinet filled with miniature curiosities, and Celsius’ thermometer. The collection is curiously engaging for the glimpse it gives into the mind-set of 17th-century Europe.
Cost and Hours: 50 kr, June-Aug Tue-Sun 10:00-16:00, Sept-May Tue-Sun 11:00-16:00, closed Mon, Akademigatan 3, tel. 018/471-7571, www.gustavianum.uu.se.
Visiting the Gustavianum: Ride the elevator (near the gift shop/ticket desk) up to the fourth floor. Then, see the exhibits as you walk back down.
Up top is a collection of Viking artifacts discovered at Valsgärde, a prehistoric site near Uppsala used for burials for more than 700 years. Archaeologists have uncovered 15 boat graves here (dating from A.D. 600-1050—roughly one per generation), providing insight on the Viking Age. The recovered artifacts on display here show fine Viking workmanship and a society more refined than many might expect.
Next you’ll find the anatomical theater (accessible from the fourth and third floors). This theater’s only show was human dissection. In the mid-1600s, as the enlightened ideas of the Renaissance swept far into the north of Europe, scholars began to consider dissection of the human body the ultimate scientific education. Corpses of hanged criminals were carefully sliced and diced here, under a dome in an almost temple-like atmosphere, demonstrating the lofty heights to which science had risen in society. Imagine 200 students standing tall all around and leaning in to peer intently at the teacher’s scalpel. Notice the plaster death masks of the dissected in a case at the entry.
On the second floor is a fascinating exhibit on the history of the university. The Physics Chamber features a collection of instruments from the 18th and 19th centuries that were used by university teachers. The Augsburg Art Cabinet takes center stage here with a dizzying array of nearly a thousand miniscule works of art and other tidbits held in an ornately decorated oak cabinet. Built in the 1620s for a bigwig who wanted to impress his friends, the cabinet once held the items shown in display cases all around. Find the interactive video screen, where you can control a virtual tour of the collection. Just beyond the cabinet is a thermometer that once belonged to Celsius (in his handwriting, notice how 0 and 100 were originally flip-flopped, with water boiling at 0 degrees Celsius rather than 100).
On the first floor is the university’s classical antiquities collection from the Mediterranean. These ancient Greek and Roman artifacts and Egyptian sarcophagi were used to bring classical culture and art to students unable to travel abroad.
Uppsala University’s library, housed in a 19th-century building called the Carolina Rediviva, is a block uphill from the cathedral and Gustavianum. Off the entry hall (to the right) is a small but exquisite exhibit of treasured old books. Well-displayed and well-described in English, the carefully selected collection is surprisingly captivating.
Cost and Hours: Free, daily 9:00-18:00, Dag Hammarskjölds väg 1, tel. 018/471-3941, www.ub.uu.se.
Visiting the Library: With precious items like Mozart scores in the composer’s own hand and a map of Mexico City dating from 1555, the display cases here feel like the Treasures room at the British Library.
The most valuable item is the Silver Bible, a translation from Greek of the four Gospels into the now-extinct Gothic language. Written in Ravenna in the 6th century, Sweden’s single most precious book is so named for its silver-ink writing on purple-colored calfskin vellum. Booty from a 1648 Swedish victory in Prague, it ended up at Uppsala University in 1669.
Another rarity is the Carta Marina, the first more-or-less accurate map of Scandinavia, printed in Venice in 1539 from nine woodblocks. Compare this 16th-century understanding of the region with your own travels.
Carl Linnaeus, famous for creating the formal system for naming different species of plants and animals, spent his career in Uppsala as a professor. This home, office, greenhouse, and garden is the ultimate Linnaeus sight, providing a vivid look at this amazing scientist and his work.
Cost and Hours: 60 kr for museum and garden; May-Sept Tue-Sun 11:00-17:00, garden open until 20:00, closed Mon and off-season; daily 45-minute English tour at 14:30; after 17:00, when the museum closes, the garden becomes a free public space—enter on Svartbäcksgatan at #27; tel. 018/471-2874, www.linnaeus.uu.se.
Visiting the Garden and Museum: While Linnaeus (whose noble name was Carl von Linné) was professor of medicine and botany at the University of Uppsala, he lived and studied here. From 1743 until 1778, he ran this botanical garden and lived on site to study the plant action—day and night, year-round—of about 3,000 different species. When he moved in, the university’s department of medicine and botany moved in as well.
It was in this garden (the first in Sweden, originally set up in 1655) that Linnaeus developed a way to classify the plant kingdom. Wandering the garden where the most famous of all botanists did his work, you can pop into the orangery, built so temperate plants could survive the Nordic winters.
The museum, in Linnaeus’ home (which he shared with his wife and seven children), is filled with the family’s personal possessions and his professional gear. You’ll see his insect cabinet, herbs cabinet, desk, botany tools, and notes. An included audioguide helps bring the exhibit to life.
Uppsala has a range of lesser sights, all within walking distance of the cathedral. The Uppland Museum (Upplandsmuseet), a regional history museum with prehistoric bits and folk-art scraps, is on the river by the waterfall, near the TI (free, Tue-Sun 12:00-17:00, closed Mon). Uphill from the university library is the 16th-century Uppsala Castle, which houses an art museum and runs slice-of-castle-life tours (required 80-kr tour, offered in English only a few weeks each summer Tue-Sun at 13:00 and 15:00, tel. 018/727-2485).
This site on the outskirts of town gives historians goose bumps. Gamla Uppsala—literally, “Old Uppsala”—includes nine large royal burial mounds circled by a walking path. Fifteen hundred years ago, when the Baltic Sea was higher and it was easy to sail all the way to Uppsala, the pagan Swedish kings had their capital here. Old Uppsala is where the petty Swedish kingdoms came together and a nation coalesced.
Cost and Hours: The mounds are free and always open. The museum is 70 kr and open April-Aug daily 11:00-17:00; shorter hours in off-season (generally 12:00-15:00 and closed Tue and Fri); closed in Dec. In summer your museum admission includes a 40-minute guided English tour of the mounds (July-Aug daily at 15:00, tel. 018/239-300, www.raa.se/gamlauppsala). The church is free and open daily April-Aug 9:00-18:00, Sept-March 9:00-16:00 (tiny church museum across the lane is free and open Sat-Sun only 12:00-15:00).
Getting There: A direct city bus stops right at the site. From the Uppsala train station, go to the bus stop at Vaksalagatan 7-13 (a block and a half away) and take bus #2, marked Gamla Uppsala, to the last stop (30 kr, buy ticket at nearby Pressbyrån kiosk, 2-4/hour, 15-minute trip). All the Gamla Uppsala sights are within 200 yards of each other, making it an easy visit.
Eating: Gamla Uppsala is great for picnics, or you can drop by the rustic and half-timbered Odinsborg café, which serves sandwiches, mead, and daily plates (daily 10:00-18:00, tel. 018/323-525).
Visiting Gamla Uppsala: The highlight of a visit is to climb the evocative mounds, which you’re welcome to wander. Also at the site is a small but interesting museum and a 12th-century church.
The Mounds: The focus of ritual and religious activities from the 6th through 13th centuries, the mounds are made meaningful with the help of English info boards posted around.
Imagine the scene over a thousand years ago, when the democratic tradition of this country helped bring the many small Swedish kingdoms together into one nation. A ting was a political assembly where people dealt with the issues of the day. Communities would gather here at the rock that marked their place, and then the leader, standing atop the flat mound (nearest today’s café), would address the crowd as if in a natural amphitheater. It was here that Sweden became Christianized a thousand years ago. In 1989 Pope John Paul II gave a Mass right here to celebrate the triumph of Christianity over paganism in Sweden. (These days, this is a pretty secular society and relatively few Swedes go to church.)
Museum: Gamla Uppsala’s museum gives a good overview of early Swedish history and displays items found in the mounds. While humble, it is instructive, with plenty of excavated artifacts.
Church: Likely standing upon a pagan holy site, the church dates from the 12th century and was the residence of the first Swedish archbishop. An 11th-century rune stone is embedded in the external wall. In the entryway, an iron-clad oak trunk with seven locks on it served as the church treasury back in the 12th century. In the nave, a few Catholic frescoes, whitewashed over in the 16th century with the Reformation, have been restored.
(See “Uppsala” map, here.)
Survey the many eateries on or near the main square or along the river below the cathedral. The Cathedral Café (a few steps to the right as you exit the cathedral) is charming, reasonable, and handy—and your money supports the city’s mission of helping the local homeless population (100-kr lunch specials, soup and sandwich menus, Mon-Fri 10:00-17:00, Sat-Sun 11:00-16:00).