07 Jul Skansen
Right in the center of Stockholm is an island called Djurgården. Djurgården as a whole belongs to the National City Park under the jurisdiction of the Royal Court. The island, rich with green spaces, is home to historical buildings, an amusement park, a small residential area, and the open air museum Skansen. It is a very popular recreation and tourist destination. Here is a 2 1/2 hour walking tour.
A photograph taken by Herman Allen of gardens in Skansen ~ Stockholm, Sweden on September 29, 1944
A tram, built in the years 1920 – 1950, or a bus will take you there. I imagine that Herman and Hedy would have just walked along the waterfront and crossed the bridge from Strandvägen.
In 1891 a Swedish scholar named Artur Hazelius traveled throughout Sweden and could see how the traditional farming society was changing. With the creation of factories and new industries, more and more of Sweden was being transformed to urban lifestyles. Hazelius was afraid that the time-honored ways of life would soon be gone forever.
Hazelius began to collect clothing, tools, furniture and other artifacts and put them in a museum. He showed collections at the world exhibition in Paris in 1878. Over the years, he met people who added to his collections, and then he persuaded the crown to make land available on Djurgården for a large museum. He brought houses from all over the country where they were rebuilt and fully furnished to show what Swedish life had been like in years gone by. This open-air museum is known as Skansen.
Our parents went to Skansen the day that my Dad proposed to my Mother. The date was September 29, 1944. World War II was raging in Europe and in the Pacific but in Stockholm, Sweden Herman and Hedy were having a beautiful day.
View Djurgården in a larger map
Related Posts:
Siblings in Skansen
The Proposal Garden
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