Our Stockholm guide was originally from Denver so she gave us an outsider’s history lesson on Sweden and Stockholm. (She was getting married to a Swede in two weeks!)
Stockholm is built on 14 islands where the Baltic Sea and lakes meet. The old town of Gamla Stan is built on three of the islands and was founded during medieval times.
Stockholm did not exist as a city until the late 1100’s. German merchants of the Hanseatic League founded the city as a defensive location to protect ships coming from the sea to the freshwater lake. Germans have played a critical part in building Sweden. In the 1300’s the Hanseatic League grew in power and influence. Stockholm traded iron. Germans made up 45% of Stockholm and were the wealthiest citizens.
The most important resource in Sweden is iron. They have the largest iron mine in the world. They could build seven Eiffel towers every day with the iron they extract.
Vikings
Vikings were never in Stockholm. Vikings lived and died out before the city was founded. Norwegian and Danish Vikings traversed west and south over the ocean. Swedish Vikings went east and down rivers all the way to Istanbul. They were descended from the Rus people.
Although Vikings did pillage and plunder, the vast majority stayed home to tend the farms.
Vikings never wore horns on their helmets. In the 18th century, Wagner used horns in the opera, Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Sweden is considered a diplomatic peacemaker. Sometimes one will hear the word, non-aligned.
In 1919 women achieved the right to vote. Today, even without a quota system, half of the parliament consists of women.
The government provides free apartments for the 349 lawmakers so that they have a place to stay close to their Stockholm offices. They provide a bedroom and bathroom. Laundry and cooking are done together. This probably allows for consensus building and meeting in the middle which tends to take longer and last longer. Swedes have the highest trust in their government of anywhere in the world.
Three crowns are indicative of Sweden. They were part of the Kalmar Union (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden) but spent a lot of time trying to get out of it.
Food
Fikka is basically a coffee break with a pastry usually a cinnamon bun often flavored with cardamon. Fikka is in the morning or afternoon or both.
Surströmming is a type of foul-smelling pickled herring. One eats this on crackers with potatoes. It is illegal to fly with a can of it lest it would explode. It is classified as a chemical weapon.
Candy bins are popular. Most Swedes only eat candy only Saturdays. Why? In the 1950’s after WWII, they had daily access to candy. Dentists noticed that there were more cavities. Studies showed that frequency of candy is the culprit. It is best to eat all candy in one day and abstain the other six days. This is still practiced today.
Swedes don’t go out much in the winter. Daylight is 9am-2:45pm in Dec, Jan, and Feb, although Taco Friday is observed all year long.
Trade
The fire insurance insignia meant that when there was a fire the firemen would come to the insured house first. There were very few firemen, and they could not save every home!!
In WWII, Sweden was invaded by the Nazis. They supplied iron and railways to transport Jews with the agreement that the Nazis would not bring war to Sweden. It is a national shame. However, some Jews escaped to Sweden especially through Finland.
Royal Family
In 1523, King Christian of Denmark got ready to crown himself king of Sweden. King Christian came to Stockholm for the coronation and parties. He invited 82 noble families. However, he locked the door and tried them with blasphemy and herersy instead of amnesty.
One nobleman did not attend. He had been in prison in Denmark so he knew that the Danes could not be trusted. When he got out of jail, he hired German mercenaries and fought to make Sweden a country. He was Gustav Vassa, the father of Sweden.
The biggest adversary was Denmark, and Swedes still carry some resentment. If you ever go into IKEA, the names of products are Swedish names. However, rugs and mats have Danish names.
If you are ever on Jeopardy and are asked the name of a important Swedish king from history, always answer “Who is Gustav?” The reputation of Gustav was “Lion of the North” so lions are found all over the city.
Gustav II had only one child, Christina. He insisted that his only daughter be king. Queen Christina was a scholar at heart. She was Protestant. It was illegal to be Catholic in the 1600’s. However, she refused to marry and have children. Christina abdicated the throne to a cousin. She fled Sweden, converted to Catholicism, and lived out her life in the Vatican. The Vatican held her up as the face of anti-reformation. She is one of few women buried in the Vatican.
City Hall.
In the 1800’s there was no obvious Royal Family. Napoleon appointed one of his generals to become king of Sweden. However, Jean Baptist needed to change his name to Carl. He was a good king and ruled for several decades.
The current king is Carl XVI, a descendant of this Frenchman. He is 79 years old. His daughter Victoria is the crown princess. In Sweden, the eldest child inherits the throne regardless of gender. Sweden is the first country in the world to adopt absolute primogeniture.
There is always pressure for who the royal marries. In 2010, the princess married her personal trainer. Victoria’s firstborn is a girl so Sweden will have two queens reigning in succession.
The King gave up power peacefully in early 1900’s to establish a social democracy. Each Swede gives two euros every year to the royal family. With such high taxes, no one seems to notice or care.
Dragon
In the 1300’s, the pink Big Cathedral was built and is one of the oldest buildings in Stockholm. Inside is a famous statue of St. George slaying the dragon. Outside in another square is a bronze copy. It also represents Gustav as St. George slaying the Dragon (Denmark).
We went to the beautiful City Hall where the Nobel Prize banquet is held each year.
In the 1900’s, Stockholm was growing rapidly. There was the need to consolidate multiple office buildings into one location. A competition was held. Ragnar Östberg won the architectural competition for the design in 1907. The winner of the competition wanted this building to be a palace for the people.
The architect originally wanted to plaster the brick walls and paint it blue. He decided that it was too beautiful to cover up. It is still called the blue room even though it isn’t blue. Their reasoning: When one goes to the Red Sea, one does not expect it to be red. Hmmm.
Sidenote: We used to have a room in our house that had green carpeting when we purchased it. When we replaced the carpet with a neutral beige after many years, we still referred to it as The Green Room!
Every other evening, the Blue Room is used for celebrations: graduations, weddings, etc. The Nobel banquet dinner honors recipients who are the best and brightest in their field. After the presentation of the prizes in the Concert Hall, they come to the City Hall for dinner. There are 1,200 in attendance. It is crowded and the Nobel Foundation brings specific rulers allowing 22 inches per attendee. At the table of honor, they are allowed 24 inches.
We were told to not touch anything. The building is not old, but they want it to become old. Each Saturday, seventy weddings take place in the City Hall.
Stockholm City Hall had no furnishings when it was completed. They decided to raise money by giving guided tours, and they have continued for 100 years.
Nobel Peace Prize Museum
In order to come full circle, we went to the Nobel Prize Museum which is housed in an 18th century building. The Peace Prize has become especially important as we have many so many wars that don’t seem to see an end. Some years they don’t award a Peace Prize. That might be the case this year. What do you think?
Today 55,000 people gathered in Japan to commemorate the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima 80 years ago.
The institutions that select the awards winners are older than the prize itself. Nobel was one of the richest men in Europe. He wanted the money that he had accumulated to benefit humankind.
The Nobel Peace Prize can only be an individual winner and not a shared prize. The other prizes can be more than one and they split the award money. In 2016 Bob Dylan won the prize in Literature as did Winston Churchill in 1953.
When Nobel was alive, Sweden and Norway were one country. The Nobel ceremony has been televised in Sweden for 50 years. They have watch parties and people dress up.
- The Nobel Prize winners receive the prize from people who have previously received the prize.
- The youngest Peace Prize recipient is Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan.
- Madame Curie received two prizes and was the first woman.
- Other descendants of Madame Curie have also received a Nobel Prize. It must run in the family.
- Some prizes are awarded to people who didn’t know each other but contributed to the research. They share the prize.
- Einstein was nominated most with nine over his lifetime.
- The winners are announced during the first week of October.
- One keeps the prize even if someone goes beyond and comes to a different conclusion.
- Mapping the genome of extinct humanoids is an interesting topic that was rewarded.
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