Stockholm Part Nio

Torsdag 3/26/15

On Thursday morning we had a tour of The Royal Armory by the curator. It is held in the old cellars the palace. The armory is one of the oldest museums in Sweden but has only been in its current location since 1978. All of the artifacts in the collection were donated by previous kings and queens for the purpose of displaying.

There was children's section in the armory so obviously we dressed up! Here is Pat knighting Zach. 

Kenzie on her valiant stead. 

Kenzie, Laura, Me, Pat, Paget, Sidney

Me and Thumper. One thing that makes this armory unique in Europe is its huge collection of clothes and costumes. Sweden royalty and nobility loved luxury and France was the capital of clothing. Therefore this armory has one of the best collections of French clothing from this time period. 

This is the actual stuffed horse of Gustavus Adolphus, which he rode during the battle he died from. His death was a tragedy to his country. The living nobility stuffed and displayed his horse as a propaganda tool. Sweden was fighting Poland for control of all the Baltic Sea. Men were suppose to go to the palace, see the horse minus its rider and be inspired to donate to the war cause. 

Here are two outfits of Gustavus Adolphus. The left has a bullet hole in the trouser where Gustavus was shot in the butt cheek. The right has a blood on the front from where he was shot in the shoulder. Gustavus sent these back home from Poland to be displayed. The idea was that his friends and enemies would see these outfits as proof that Gustavus was shot twice and still survived. He must be protected by God. 

Sid with a replica sword

The curator was showing Signey, my professor's daughter, how to long thrust with the sword. I caught the exact moment he jabbed next to Sidney's, the enemy's, face. Her expression is priceless. 

Next we went to the Royal Coin cabinet. There were so many coins and bills! Below are some Roman and Greek coins found in southern Sweden.

Sweden made the first banknote, pictured above.

Lastly, we went to the Nobel Museum. Below is a picture of Alfred Nobel's will. He gave most of his estate in to a foundation to reward exceptional individuals in Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Peace and Literature. Alfred Nobel made his money from stabilizing dynamite. Now there is a sixth prize handed out at the same time. It is the Economics prize in honor of Alfred Nobel with money from the Swedish Bank. 

We had a fancy dinner with the president, Tom Young and other special guests. We ate delicious Swedish meatball. Pat was laughing to hard to smile for this picture. We think it looks like he is ugly crying :)