Unspecified/General

Jutting into the harbour at the centre of Stockholm, the peninsula of Blasieholmen has long ranked among the most prestigious quarters of the Swedish capital, a compact wedge of land between the bustle of Norrmalm and the water facing the island of Skeppsholmen. In earlier times it was a separate island given over to shipyards, mills and naval stores, but reclamation gradually tied it to the mainland and grand building filled it during the city's expansion. The peninsula is dominated by the National Museum, the leading Swedish collection of fine and applied art, set in an imposing palace beside the water, and nearby stands the Grand Hotel, famous as the lodging of Nobel laureates, together with elegant former private mansions and cultural institutions. Quays crowded with pleasure boats run along its edges, and from its outer point the view opens across the harbour to the Royal Palace and the rooftops of the Old Town. A tree-lined square gives the area a calm, refined character despite its central position. For the visitor it makes a pleasant short walk, combining first-rate art, dignified architecture and some of the best waterfront vistas in the city within a small and easily explored space. The low-lying spit of land has a working past quite at odds with its present dignity, having served in earlier centuries as a place for rope-making, milling, shipbuilding and the storage of naval supplies, before the surrounding waters were filled in and the area rebuilt with imposing stone architecture as the city grew northward. Its centrepiece is the National Museum, the country's chief collection of art and design, housed in a monumental nineteenth-century palace on the waterfront and ranging from European old masters to celebrated examples of Swedish furniture, glass and ceramics. Beside it stands the venerable Grand Hotel, long the lodging of choice for visiting dignitaries and the laureates who come to receive the Nobel Prize, and the surrounding lanes hold a number of former noble residences now in institutional use. The quays bristle with moored boats, and the point at the peninsula's end offers one of the loveliest outlooks in the city, across the harbour and the island of Skeppsholmen to the Royal Palace and the silhouette of the Old Town. With its art, its history and its waterside views packed into a small and walkable area, Blasieholmen makes an appealing and easily managed stop for visitors exploring central Stockholm.

Type: Street

Address: Blasieholmen, Stockholm, Sweden