In the seventeenth century Sweden ruled the Baltic, defeated emperors and marched across the frozen sea. In little more than twenty years it lost almost everything. Twelve stops: the Södermalm viewpoint, the square of the bloodbath, the cathedral of the dragon, the palace born from a fire, the house of the nobility, the church of the warrior kings, the statue pointing at Russia, the Army Museum, the ship that sank on its maiden voyage, Skansen, the ABBA Museum and the hall of the Nobel banquet. Approximate audio duration: 24 minutes.
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Estocolmo: ABBA, Nobel y el imperio que nadie recuerda
En el siglo diecisiete Suecia dominaba el Báltico, derrotaba a emperadores y marchaba sobre el mar helado. En poco más de veinte años lo perdió casi todo. Doce paradas: el mirador de Södermalm, la plaza del baño de sangre, la catedral del dragón, el palacio que nació de un incendio, la casa de la nobleza, la iglesia de los reyes guerreros, la estatua que apunta a Rusia, el Museo del Ejército, el barco que se hundió en su primer viaje, Skansen, el Museo de ABBA y la sala del banquete Nobel. Duración aproximada de audio: 24 minutos.
Tour stops
12 stops · ~24 min of audio · 8 km on foot (~2 h walking) · about 2 h 30 min in total
You are on Fjällgatan, on the heights of Södermalm. Look north: below, the island of Gamla Stan with its towers and spires; to the right, green Djurgården; in the distance, the water opening out towards the archipelago and the Baltic Sea. Stockholm is built on fourteen islands.
From here you can see why this city was the capital of a maritime empire. Lake Mälaren, on your left, reaches inland towards Sweden's iron and copper mines. The Baltic, on your right, connects to Finland, Russia, Germany and the ports of Poland.
Today Sweden is associated with neutrality, welfare, design, pop music an…
2
The Bloodbath
You are in Stortorget, the main square of Gamla Stan. Look at the narrow houses painted red, ochre and yellow, with their stepped gables. It is one of Stockholm's most famous postcards. And it was the scene of a massacre.
In November 1520, Sweden was part of the Kalmar Union, a union of the Scandinavian kingdoms dominated by Denmark. The Danish king Christian II had just taken Stockholm and was crowned. He invited the Swedish nobility to several days of celebrations.
On the third day the palace doors were shut. The guests were accused of heresy and, on 8 and 9 November, some eighty or ninety…
3
Saint George and the Dragon
You are in Storkyrkan, Stockholm Cathedral. Go in and look, to the left of the altar, for an enormous sculpture of painted wood: a knight on horseback spears a dragon covered with real elk antlers. It is Saint George and the Dragon, from 1489, by the sculptor Bernt Notke.
It was commissioned by Sten Sture, regent of Sweden, to celebrate a victory over the Danes at the battle of Brunkeberg in 1471. The dragon was Denmark; the princess Saint George rescues, to one side, was Sweden. It is medieval propaganda carved in wood.
Now look for a painting with a strange sky: several suns and circles ab…
4
The Palace Born from a Fire
You are in front of Stockholm's Royal Palace. Look at its shape: a sober square block in Italian Baroque style, with more than six hundred rooms. It is one of the largest royal palaces in Europe and is still the king's official seat.
On this very spot there used to be a medieval castle called Three Crowns, Tre Kronor. It was the centre of Swedish power in the days of the empire. On 7 May 1697 it caught fire and was almost completely destroyed.
The timing could not have been worse. A month earlier King Charles XI had died, and his body lay in the castle awaiting the funeral. It had to be resc…
5
Two Thousand Coats of Arms
You are in front of Riddarhuset, the House of Nobility. Look at the building: Baroque, elegant, with a curved copper roof that has turned green over time. It was built between 1641 and 1674, at the height of the empire.
Inside, in the great hall, hang more than two thousand coats of arms of Swedish noble families. It is a painted catalogue of the country's aristocracy. The nobility met here as one of the four estates of Parliament, alongside the clergy, the burghers and the peasants.
The empire multiplied the nobility. Kings rewarded soldiers and officials with titles and land, much of it in…
6
The Kings Who Died in Battle
You are in front of Riddarholmen Church. Look at the openwork iron spire, like black lace against the sky. This former Franciscan friary church has been the burial place of Sweden's kings since the seventeenth century.
Inside, in the side chapels, are the sarcophagi of the kings of the empire. And on the walls hang the coats of arms of the knights of the Order of the Seraphim. It is a silent place, more museum than church: regular services are no longer held.
Look for Gustavus Adolphus's chapel. That king made Sweden a great power. In 1630 he landed in Germany and entered the Thirty Years' W…
7
The King Pointing at Russia
You are in Karl XII's square, in front of his bronze statue from 1868. Look at the gesture: the king, standing, sword in one hand, points with the other to the east. Towards Russia.
Charles XII inherited the throne at fifteen, in 1697. In 1700, Denmark, Saxony-Poland and Russia allied to attack Sweden, convinced that a teenage king was easy prey. The Great Northern War began.
They were wrong, at first. Charles defeated Denmark within weeks and, in November 1700, with an army far smaller in number, crushed Peter the Great's Russians at Narva, in the middle of a snowstorm. He seemed invincible…
8
Across the Frozen Sea
You are in front of the Armémuseum, the Army Museum, housed in a seventeenth-century artillery arsenal. Inside are life-size scenes, uniforms, cannon and captured flags. It is the best place in Stockholm to understand the military machine of the empire.
One of the feats remembered here is that of 1658. King Charles X Gustav was at war with Denmark, and the winter was so cold that the straits between the Danish islands froze. He had his army cross on foot, with horses and cannon, over the frozen sea. In some stretches the ice broke and soldiers drowned.
He reached the gates of Copenhagen. Den…
9
Thirteen Hundred Metres of Glory
You are in the Vasa Museum. Go into the great dimly lit hall and look up: the warship Vasa, from 1628, fills the whole space, with its masts, its gunports and a stern covered in sculptures. More than ninety-five per cent of what you see is original.
King Gustavus Adolphus commissioned it to be the pride of his fleet in the war against Poland. It had sixty-four guns on two decks and hundreds of sculptures: lions, Roman emperors, mermaids, warriors. It was a warship and, at the same time, an advertisement of power.
On 10 August 1628 it left this very harbour on its maiden voyage, in front of a…
10
The Country That Left for America
You are at Skansen, the world's first open-air museum, founded in 1891 by Artur Hazelius. Walk around: wooden houses painted red, farms, a church, craft workshops, brought from every region of Sweden. It is Sweden in miniature.
Hazelius created it because he could see traditional rural life disappearing. The country was industrialising, and millions of peasants were leaving their villages. He wanted to preserve how they lived, dressed and worked before it was forgotten.
Behind that disappearance lies a story that is rarely told. After losing its empire, Sweden was a poor, rural country durin…
11
Waterloo
You are in front of the ABBA Museum, opened in 2013. Inside are the glittering costumes, the gold records, the instruments, and you can even get up on stage and sing with holograms of the group. It is one of the most visited museums in the city.
ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest in April 1974, in Brighton, England, with a song called Waterloo. The lyrics compare falling in love to Napoleon's surrender. It was the start of one of the greatest successes in pop history.
But the song has an irony few people know. After losing Finland in 1809, Sweden was looking for an heir for a childless kin…
12
The Merchant of Death
You are in front of Stockholm City Hall, Stadshuset, inaugurated in 1923. Look at the red-brick tower more than a hundred metres high, topped by three golden crowns, the old symbol of the kingdom. Behind it is Lake Mälaren and, opposite, the island of Riddarholmen, where the kings of the empire are buried.
Inside is the Blue Hall, which is not blue: the architect intended to paint it, but he liked the exposed brick so much that he left it, and the name stuck. Every 10 December the Nobel Prize banquet is held there, with more than a thousand guests.
Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist and industr…
How long does the "Stockholm: ABBA, Nobel and the Empire Nobody Remembers" audio tour take?
It has about 24 minutes of audio across 12 stops and a 8 km walking route (~2 h on foot). Plan roughly 2 h 30 min in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "A City on Fourteen Islands" (coordinates 59.3162, 18.081). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open Stockholm and pick "Stockholm: ABBA, Nobel and the Empire Nobody Remembers". No account required to start.
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No wifi needed · Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian
