Malmö and the Swedish Southwest

Even if you don’t know much about Sweden, you’ve probably heard of its three largest cities – Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. The latter is the center of the southwestern region of the country, a stone’s throw from Denmark. They even built a bridge to connect Malmö with Copenhagen. The bridge has its own name – Øresund, named after the strait between the two countries, and is about 16 km long, 4 of which are in a tunnel. It can be crossed by car or train. They consider it one of the local tourist attractions and have made a special viewing platform for photos of it.

Another major attraction of Malmö is the 15th century castle, called Malmöhus. It began its life as a defensive structure, later expanded with royal apartments and a residence for the local sheriff. All of Danish origin, it should be noted, since at that time these geographical parts were part of Denmark. After becoming Swedish in the 17th century, the castle first had to instill fear in its previous owners, and then in everyone else, as it was transformed into a prison.

In 1937, the Malmö Museum was established here, which has a prehistoric section, a prison section, art section, a place for temporary exhibitions and even a natural history section. As is my habit, I choose various curiosities to show you from museums. Here I present to you the showcase with miniatures. From the 17th century to the 20th, miniature portraits became a great fashion, an expensive pleasure, but an irreplaceable expression of love and passion as a gift. Along with them, you will see a collection of miniature boxes and other vessels, also a lavish token and an expression of social status.

In fact, the top attraction in Malmö is the Museum of Disgusting Food, if you’re into that kind of thing. I personally decided in favor of neighboring attractions like the city of Lund. An archiepiscopal seat since the 12th century, it was an important part of the medieval Skåne-Blekinge Pilgrimage Route. In 1145, the magnificent Lund Cathedral was completed, and in 1387, Queen Margareta buried there the heart of her 17-year-old son, who died suddenly during their trip to Skåne. Perhaps a little ominous by our modern standards.

The area around the Cathedral is called Lundagård – the seat of the archbishop between the 12th and 16th centuries. After the annexation of the entire Skåne region to Sweden in the 17th century, Lundagård became the seat of the newly established University of Lund, which is still one of the most beloved in the country. Around the Cathedral, old university buildings are scattered throughout a park which is also a botanical garden. Every year, when the magnolia blossoms, the student choir comes out to the park to welcome spring with a special concert.

Another very special university building is located a little further away from Lundagården – the university library. In 1698, King Charles XII decreed that one copy of everything printed in Sweden should be sent to the library. This continues to this day. Perhaps this is the reason why, at the beginning of the 20th century, this institution outgrew its central student campus and moved to a new building on Helgonabaken Hill. It should be noted that this building also outgrew its campus in the 1930s, and today the collection is kept in several different locations.

Southeast of Malmö is the town of Ystad, which for fans of Nordic crime fiction is perhaps best known in connection with Inspector Wallander, the novels of Henning Mankell and the film adaptation with Kenneth Branagh. However, the town has a great medieval center with cobblestone streets and colorful houses. Some of them are in the red-brown of decorative bricks and tiles, but others are plastered in bright yellow, green, white, pink, and more. Extremely beautiful, especially if you get there in the warm season, when the flowers also help.

Near Ystad you can find several older sites such as Ales Stenar. It dates back to the 5th-10th century AD and is a “stone ship”. These are places with a likely ritual purpose, typical of the Vikings. They consist of groups of upright stones, outlining the silhouettes of boats. Ales Stenar is the largest site of its kind in Sweden. The “stone ship” is 70 meters long and 19 meters wide, outlined by 59 stones. To this day, it is not known for sure why and how it was made, but the location on the high seashore is dramatic.

South of Malmö are some of Sweden’s most famous beaches – Sandhammaren and the beaches of the Falsterbo peninsula. The southern coast of the country tends to be sandy like the more famous European seaside destinations, unlike the line north of Stockholm, which is mainly covered with peat mud. The paradox is that I managed to swim in the peat this summer, while the wonderful southern sandy beaches remained unused due to cold and low temperatures at the end of August. That’s how it goes.