Southern Sweden´s largest museum is located on Malmöhusvägen in the heart of Malmö in a beautiful park-like setting surrounded by canals.
At Malmö Museer you can see everything from the Nordic region´s oldest surviving Renaissance castle to a real submarine, live Gotland sheep and meat-eating piranhas. The museum´s permanent exhibitions focus on history, natural history, technology and seafaring. There are also about a dozen temporary exhibitions every year.
Malmö Museer is responsible for archaeology and preservation of the cultural environment and has extensive collections, including those of textiles and photography.
Malmöhus was originally a minor citadel whose construction was ordered in 1434 by Erik of Pomerania, king of the Kalmar Union which brought Norway, Sweden and Denmark together under a single monarch. In the 16th century King Christian III of Denmark and Norway rebuilt the citadel to create a modern defensive fortress, an imposing castle and the home of the Governors of Malmöhus County.
This is where Denmark´s money was coined in the Middle Ages, where Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark held wild parties in the 16th century and where prisoners were decapitated in the castle courtyard during the 19th century when the castle served as a prison. Today Malmöhus has been restored in the spirit of the 16th century and forms part of Malmö Museer. The castle is part of Sweden´s cultural heritage and is managed by the National Property Board
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The castle presents historical exhibitions. By Order of the King is an exhibition about the 17th-century wars over Skåne and how Skåne became Swedish in 1658. Power over People depicts the history of Malmöhus Castle over the past 300 years.
Antiquity and the Middle Ages
Malmö Museer has a large archaeological collection which reflects the region´s development from the Ice Age up to the Renaissance. In the exhibitions about antiquity and the Middle Ages, interesting everyday objects and exciting and splendid finds give the visitor insights into people´s life stories.
The aquarium is a popular department and features everything from southern Swedish fish and frogs to green python snakes and electric eels.
The exhibition Colour, Form, and Function presents the ingenuity of nature and animals. Set off an earthquake and see a life-sized reconstructed dinosaur in The Making of Skåne, an exhibition about Skåne´s geology and the background of the present-day landscape.
The exhibition The City of All Times describes Malmö´s development from the 1850s to today. For a long time Malmö was one of Sweden´s biggest industrial cities. But the city was not only factories and work. There was also room for nostalgia, a delight in making discoveries, and visions for the future. In the Spegeln film viewing room visitors can watch films about Malmö from different eras. MP3 guided tours with themes such as industrial history, bird life and political events bring the city´s history to life — even outside the museum walls.
Impressions — Linnaeus, Science and Print provides glimpses of the 18th century´s thirst for knowledge and order, but above all the awe that people felt for nature. From Muscle Power to Motor Power describes the era when hand- and horse-powered machines were replaced by engines driven by steam, electricity, gas, oil and petrol. The exhibition presents the museum´s largest and most spectacular objects.
The building also presents exhibitions on maritime history, aviation and engines. Here you can go inside a real submarine! If you like to experiment the Science Centre is an obvious favourite.
The Governor´s House contains The Room for Photography, Malmö Museer´s permanent exhibition room for photography. Here, photography is exhibited and discussed in exhibitions, seminars and workshops.
