Lollapalooza in Chicago

4 February 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Berlin, Paris / Île-de-France, Events Reading Time:  9 minutes

© flickr.com - Aneil Lutchman/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Aneil Lutchman/cc-by-sa-2.0

Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, but several years later, Chicago became its permanent location. Music genres include alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock, hip hop, and electronic dance music. Lollapalooza has also featured visual arts, nonprofit organizations, and political organizations. The festival, held in Grant Park, hosts an estimated 400,000 people each July and sells out annually. Lollapalooza is one of the largest music festivals in the world and one of the longest-running in the United States.   read more…

Nationalmuseum in Stockholm

24 June 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  6 minutes

© flickr.com - allen watkin/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – allen watkin/cc-by-sa-2.0

Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum’s operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manage the National Portrait gallery collection at Gripshom, Gustavsbergporclain museum, a handful of castle collections and the Swedish Institute in Paris (Institut Tessin). In the summer of 2018 Nationalmuseum Jamtli opened in Östersund as a way to show a part of the collection in the north of Sweden.   read more…

Stockholm Palace

16 March 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  9 minutes

© Brorsson/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Brorsson/cc-by-sa-3.0

Stockholm Palace or the Royal Palace is the official residence and major royal palace of the Swedish monarch (King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia use Drottningholm Palace as their usual residence). Stockholm Palace is on Stadsholmen, in Gamla stan in the capital, Stockholm. It neighbours the Riksdag building. The offices of the King, the other members of the Swedish Royal Family, and the Royal Court of Sweden are here. The palace is used for representative purposes by the King whilst performing his duties as the head of state.   read more…

Grand Hôtel in Stockholm

5 January 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hotels Reading Time:  4 minutes

Blasieholmen with the Grand Hôtel in the center © Arild Vågen/cc-by-sa-4.0

Blasieholmen with the Grand Hôtel in the center © Arild Vågen/cc-by-sa-4.0

Grand Hôtel is a five-star hotel in Stockholm. It was founded by Frenchman, Jean-François Régis Cadier, in 1872. It opened on 14 June 1874 at the same time as the Grand Hotel in Oslo; all the Scandinavian capitals have a major hotel called ‘Grand Hotel’. The Grand Hôtel is located next to the Nationalmuseum and opposite the Royal Palace and Gamla stan (the old town).   read more…

Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm

6 May 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Julian Herzog/cc-by-4.0

© Julian Herzog/cc-by-4.0

Gamla stan (The Old Town), until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna (The Town between the Bridges), is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. Officially, but not colloquially, Gamla stan includes the surrounding islets Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen, and Strömsborg. The town dates back to the 13th century, and consists of medieval alleyways, cobbled streets, and archaic architecture. North German architecture has had a strong influence in the Old Town’s construction.   read more…

The Galleon Vasa

1 January 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  14 minutes

© flickr.com - Jorge Láscar/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Jorge Láscar/cc-by-2.0

Vasa is a retired Swedish warship built between 1626 and 1628. The ship foundered after sailing about 1,300 m (1,400 yd) into its maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. It fell into obscurity after most of her valuable bronze cannons were salvaged in the 17th century until she was located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping lane just outside the Stockholm harbor. Salvaged with a largely intact hull in 1961, it was housed in a temporary museum called Wasavarvet (‘The Wasa Shipyard’) until 1988 and then moved permanently to the Vasa Museum in the Royal National City Park in Stockholm. The ship is one of Sweden’s most popular tourist attractions and has been seen by over 35 million visitors since 1961. Since her recovery, Vasa has become a widely recognised symbol of the Swedish ‘great power period‘ and is today a de facto standard in the media and among Swedes for evaluating the historical importance of shipwrecks.   read more…

Stockholm Public Library

28 November 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries Reading Time:  6 minutes

Rotunda © Andrea Serio/cc-by-sa-3.0

Rotunda © Andrea Serio/cc-by-sa-3.0

Stockholm Public Library (Swedish: Stockholms stadsbibliotek or Stadsbiblioteket) is a library building in Stockholm, designed by Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund, and one of the city’s most notable structures. The name is today used for both the main library itself as well as the municipal library system of Stockholm. Discussed by a committee of which Asplund himself was a member from 1918, a design scheme was proposed in 1922, and construction began in 1924. Partly inspired by the Barrière Saint-Martin (Rotonde de la Villette) by Claude Nicolas Ledoux, Asplund abandoned earlier ideas for a dome in favour of a rotunda whose tall cylinder gives the exterior some monumentality. In the course of its planning, he reduced elements of the classical order to their most abstract geometrical forms, for the most part eliminating architectural decor. Stockholm Public Library was Sweden’s first public library to apply the principle of open shelves where visitors could access books without the need to ask library staff for assistance, a concept Asplund studied in the United States during the construction of the library. All the furnishings in all the rooms were designed for their specific positions and purposes.   read more…

The hostel Af Chapman

1 April 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Tall ships, Hotels, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Holger.Ellgaard/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Holger.Ellgaard/cc-by-sa-3.0

The af Chapman, formerly the Dunboyne (1888–1915) and the G.D. Kennedy (−1923), is a full-rigged steel ship moored on the western shore of the islet Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, Sweden, now serving as a youth hostel.   read more…

Stockholm, the Venice of the North

12 July 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, European Union, European Capital of Culture, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

National Museum © Jonas Bergsten

National Museum © Jonas Bergsten

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 864,324 in the municipality, 1.4 million in the urban area, and around 2.1 million in the 6,519 km2 (2,517.00 sq mi) metropolitan area. As of 2010, the Stockholm metropolitan area is home to approximately 22% of Sweden’s population.   read more…

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