Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
for more than four hundred years. To the south of the town hall, have a look inside
Apoteket Lejonet
(Lion Pharmacy - Swedish pharmacies are always named after
creatures of strength): the outside is gargoyled and balconied, the inside a busy mix of
inlaid woods, carvings and etched glass. From here,
Södergatan
, Malmö's main
pedestrianized shopping street, leads down towards the canal. At the Stortorget end,
there's a jaunty troupe of sculptured bronze musicians. On the opposite side of the
square, the crumbling, step-gabled red-brick building was once the home of the
sixteenth-century mayor and master of the Danish mint, Jörgen Kock. Danish coins
were struck in Malmö on the site of the present Malmöhus castle (see p.174), until
irate local Swedes stormed the building and destroyed it in 1534. The cellars of Jörgen's
pretty home contain the
Årstiderna
restaurant (see p.178), the only entry point for
visitors today. In the centre of the square, a statue of Karl X, high on his charger,
presides over the city he liberated from centuries of Danish rule.
5
St Petri kyrka
Göran Olsgatan • Daily 10am-6pm
A block east of Stortorget, behind the Rådhus, the dark, forbidding exterior of the
Gothic
St Petri kyrka
belies a light and airy interior. The church, which is effectively
Malmö's cathedral, has its roots in the fourteenth century, and, although Baltic in
inspiration, has ended up owing much to German influences, for it was beneath its
unusually lofty and elegantly vaulted roof that the German community came to pray
- probably for the continuation of the “sea silver”, the herrings that brought them to
Malmö in the first place. The ecclesiastical vandalism, brought by the Reformation, of
whitewashing over medieval roof murals started early at St Petri; almost the whole
interior turned white in 1553. Consequently, your eyes are drawn not to the roof but
to the pulpit and a four-tiered altarpiece, both of striking workmanship and elaborate
embellishment. The only part of the church left with its original artwork was a
side-chapel, the
Krämare
(merchant's).
Lilla torg
Despite the size of Stortorget, it still proved too small to suffice as the town's sole main
square, so in the sixteenth century
Lilla torg
was tacked onto its southwest corner, over
a patch of marshland. With its half-timbered houses, flowerpots and cobbles, this is
where most locals and tourists congregate. During the day, people come to take a
leisurely drink in one of the many bars and wander around the summer jewellery stalls.
At night, Lilla torg explodes in a frenzy of activity, the venues all merging into a mass
of bodies who converge from all over the city and beyond.
Form/Design Center
Lilla torg 9 • Tues-Sat 11am-5pm, Sun noon-4pm • Free •
W
formdesigncenter.com
Head under the arch on Lilla torg to get to the
Form/Design Center
. Built into a
seventeenth-century grain store, it concentrates on Swedish contemporary design in
textiles, ceramics and furniture. It's all well presented, if a little pretentious. The
courtyard entrance contains several small trendy boutiques and there's a simple café.
Moderna Muséet
Modern Museum • Gasverksgatan 22 • Tues-Sun 11am-6pm • 50kr •
W
modernamuseet.se
A few streets removed from the other sights of the old town,
Moderna Muséet
is well
worth a visit if you're interested in contemporary art. This new museum is housed in an
elaborately designed building, the Rooseum, dating from 1900 and originally the home
of Malmö electricity company's steam turbines. The structure has been turned into
