The southeast - The Rough Guide to Sweden - page 223

Drottninggatan
Norrköping's north-south central artery, Drottninggatan runs ruler-straight from the
train station and crosses Motala ström, the small, rushing river that attracted the Dutch
industrialist Louis De Geer (1587-1652) to the town in the early seventeenth century.
He was known as the father of Swedish industry, and his paper mill, which still
operates today, became the biggest factory in town. Many of Norrköping's buildings,
and the trams, are painted in De Geer's colour of choice - a tortilla-chip yellow
- which has become synonymous with the town.
Just a few steps down from the station, compact Carl Johans Park has 25,000 cacti,
formally arranged in thematic patterns and interspersed with brilliantly coloured flowers
and palm trees. Glance to the right from here (with the Resecentrum behind you) across
Slottsgatan, and you'll see the splendid 1906 city theatre , with its Art Nouveau curves and
double Ionic columns. Over the river, follow the tram lines up cobbled Drottninggatan
and turn right into Repslagaregatan for Gamlatorget , overlooked by a charismatic Carl
Milles sculpture of Louis De Geer with a bale of cloth slung over his shoulder.

6

Konstmuseum
June-Aug Tues-Sun noon-4pm, Wed until 8pm; Sept-May Tues-Sun 11am-5pm, Tues & Thurs until 8pm • Free • W norrkoping.se/
konstmuseet
At the southernmost tip of Drottninggatan, Norrköping's Konstmuseum holds some of
the country's best-known modernist works. Founded by a local snuff manufacturer at
the turn of the twentieth century, the galleries offer a fine, well-balanced progression
from seventeenth-century Baroque through to twentieth-century work. As you head
back north from the art museum, the bunker-like concrete building to the right at
Södra Promenaden 105 is the town library ; more user-friendly than most, it has a range
of newspapers from all over the world.

DeGeerhallen
To the west of Gamlatorget lies the modern and stylish riverside DeGeerhallen , a
concert hall surrounded by trees and providing a lovely setting for the café, Kråkholmen
(see p.228). It's worth stepping inside for a moment, as the concert hall's apparent
modernity belies the fact that this was once one of De Geer's paper factories, though
little remains now of its former incarnation.

Arbetets museum
Museum of Work • Daily 11am-5pm • Free • W arbetetsmuseum.se
West along the river on your right is the exceptionally well-presented Arbetets
museum , housed in a triangular, yellow-stuccoed factory built in 1917. Known as
Strykjärnet (“the iron”) - though its shape and colour are more reminiscent of a wedge
of cheese - the building was described by Carl Milles as Europe's most beautiful
factory. The museum has seven floors of exhibitions on living conditions, workers'
rights and day-to-day life in the mills. The most poignant (and the only permanent
exhibit) tells the story of Alva Carlsson, who worked in the building for 35 years - a
fascinating insight into working-class culture and the role of Swedish women in the
first half of the twentieth century.

Stadsmuseum
City Museum • Tues-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat & Sun noon-5pm • Free • W norrkoping.se/stadsmuseet
The excellent Stadsmuseum is set in an interconnecting (and confusing) network of old
industrial properties. The most rewarding of its permanent exhibitions is a street