Experience Eskilstuna throughout the ages

Experience Eskilstuna
throughout the ages
Projekt managers &
creative direction
Åsa Egeld
Susanna Pousette Blomé
Painters
Frida Alfthan
Gabriela Bohlin
Louise Hackelberg
Yennie Moberg
Susanna Pousette Blomé
Constructions
Alexander Alm
Hans Andersson
Leif Karlsson
Göran Hallgren
Texts
Elin Eriksson
Graphic design
Lotta Lindkvist
Sound & lighting
Niclas Larsson
Photographer
Ninnie Schröder
Mascots & logo
Frida Alfthan
Sandra Andersson
Yennie Moberg
Erika Nord
Map & illustrations
Frida Alfthan
Research
Anne Andersson
Tomas Carlberg
Åsa Egeld
Elin Eriksson
Susanne Granlund
Anna Götzlinger
Louise Hackelberg
Susanne Nickel
Oskar Nilsson
Susanna Pousette Blomé
Frida Sandgren
Contents
Discover Lilla stadsmuseet!........................................................ 3
The Market................................................................................. 4
Map...................................................................................... 16-17
The Waterway......................................................................... 18
Banquet at the Castle............................................................... 26
Forest and Countryside............................................................ 28
Eskilstuna Industrial City........................................................ 32
Archive
Arkiv Sörmland
Eskilstuna stadsarkiv
Nationalmuseum
Riksarkivet
Filmediting
Stefan Hedlund
Carpentry
Snickarglädjen
Tecknade bilder
Hand och Tanke
AMA snickeriet
Archive images
Cecilia Marnetoft
Animation
Eskilstuna konstmuseum
Stålforsskolan Faktoriet
Specials thanks to
Ledningsgruppen Arkiv & museer
Årbyskolan
Lilla stadsmuseet under construction.
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Eskil & Tuna
Discover Lilla Stadsmuseet!
Experience Eskilstuna throughout the ages. Cook a 17th
century meal in the castle kitchen, go fishing in the carp pond,
discover buried treasure and historical layers under the houses
on the hill. Your guides are Eskil and Tuna, two creatures that
have lived in Eskilstuna River for a very long time.
When we put together this exhibition we used our archive
material and collections in a new way. The stories we tell are
about ordinary people and places, not so much about those
in power. Our view of history is democratic: Eskilstuna’s past
belongs to each and everyone regardless of whether you are
a girl or a boy, young or old, whether you have lived in Eskilstuna for a long time or whether you have just arrived. We
are all important players in the story of Eskilstuna, a story to
which new chapters are constantly added. History happens all
around us, and even though we were not here in the past, we
are here now, and sometimes we can recognize something of
ourselves in the things that happened long ago.
The objects on display have been chosen by children of all
ages and their choices have determined the design and contents of the exhibition. Our aim is for Lilla stadsmuseet to
continue to grow and develop through new stories and objects.
Welcome to Lilla stadsmuseet!
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The Market
Welcome to the Market. Play market on Fristadstorget, sell sandwiches in the 1920s
café, discover objects among the houses on the hill and operate the lime quarry cableway.
At the end of the 1800s, a market was held every Saturday except public holidays in three
locations: Rådhustorget, Smörtorget and Fristadstorget (formerly Rinmanstorget). You could
buy firewood, cole, hay, furniture and timber, chickens, fish, crayfish, vegetables, flowers, hats,
clothes, sweets, bread and many other things.
Photo: Bror Öbrink, Eskilstuna stadsmuse-
Between 1887 and 1938 there was also a covered fish and meat market known as Sillgaraget
(the Herring Garage) on Rinmanstorget. In the 1930s, all outdoor sales of perishable foods –
meat and cheese, for example that attract flies and vermin – were banned. The markets have
all but disappeared, but you can still buy vegetables, fruit and clothes on the square.
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Fristadstorget in 1955.
Foto: Okänd, Eskilstuna stadsmuseum
1. Metal Tableware
Matilda and her staff
around 1910.
I am a chest with many names. If a girl filled me
with sheets, towels and everything else she needed
for her wedding I was called a trousseau; if a
farmhand kept his belongings in me I was called a
farmhand’s chest. But you have to agree that am a
treasure chest! Nickelplate, silverplate and gilt, the
treasure sparkles inside me.
3. Matilda Ljungberg's Café
Cafés were starting to become popular in the
1920s. Until then only wealthy people had been
drinking coffee outside the home. The picture
shows the staff at Matilda Ljungberg’s café and
sandwich shop on Rinmanstorget 6, now Fristadstorget.
Coffeepots, sugar bowls, cream jugs, trays and medals
were manufactured in the Eskilstuna workshops. In
the Mechanical Workshop exhibition you can see
what a press shop looked like 100 years ago.
2. The Clock
How do you tell the time? By looking at a small
round thing that goes tick tock, or maybe something like me, an enormous round thing that
used to hang outside Erik Norman’s clock shop
on Drottninggatan 13. Passers-by were able to
tell the time by looking at me, and everyone could
easily see that this was a shop where you could
buy clocks, or “time-pieces”.
4. Tin Coffee Caddy
How do you like your coffee? I have room for
three different roasts. Most people prefer medium
roast. Darker roasts are stronger and then there is
French roast, best enjoyed with a drop of milk.
When I was full of coffee beans I would have
been kept in a grocer’s shop or a café. Before
1920 you could almost only buy whole coffee beans, and people had to roast them and then grind
them in a coffee mill by turning a handle. Since
coffee was expensive it was often mixed with
dried chicory root, ground figs or roasted wheat.
Shop signs often depicted the items you could
buy inside: a shoe hung by the cobbler’s door or a
twisted bun outside the baker’s. I am supposed to
be a pocket watch, but I have never seen a pocket
big enough to fit me.
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Photo: Carl Söllscher, Eskilstuna stadsmuseum
5. The Town Hall
Good morning, this is the operator speaking. In 1900, Lydia
Larsson, Lotten Jernbergh
and twelve other operators
connected every call that was
made via the national telephone exchange in the town hall.
This was also where you found
the county court and jail, the
fire station, police station, two
banks, post office, alcohol outlet and the Grand Hotel with its
restaurant and function rooms.
Eskilstuna telephone exchange in 1900.
Photo: Okänd, Eskilstuna stadsmuseum
Most importantly, however, the Town Hall
housed the offices of the town administration
and the City Council meeting rooms, which were
previously located at the old town hall in the
Old Town. When the New Town Hall on Rinmanstorget (present-day Fristadstorget) was inaugurated in 1897, the square became the town
centre.
6. The Bunch of Keys
I am a very heavy bunch of Keys. I weigh seven kilos; my keys are old and new, big and small.
Some fit the locks of modern buildings, others
open old outhouses or tiny padlocks. The police found me when they entered an apartment to
look for stolen goods.
The person who lived there was a well-known
burglar; maybe he needed to be able to open
a whole lot of doors, but who wants to carry
around seven kilos of keys? I guess I was put together as a joke.
The first Fire Engine in Sweden was delivered to Eskilstuna in 1902.
7. The Fire Station
In 1902, the City of Eskilstuna bought an electrified fire engine from Germany. It was the first fire engine
in the whole of Sweden. The local newspaper wrote about the amazing “cart without horses” that could be
driven fast in the dark because it had electric headlights.
The fire station was situated in the Town Hall. There was a guards' room, stables, a tower for drying fire hoses
and the fire master’s rooms. The fire station has moved to larger premises twice since then. Today it is found
on Sundbyvägen 2.
Fire fighters were known as “fire soldiers”, and they followed a military chain of command; the officers often
had a military rank. It was an all male profession until 1971. In 2000, Susanna Cederlöf joined the Västermo
rescue services as the first female fire fighter in Eskilstuna.
8. A Fire Engine and Tin Emblems
I am an early 20th century fire engine. The tin emblems are about a hundred years old. They are from the fire
station in the town hall and were probably used to designate departments, tasks and tools around the station.
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9. The First Street Lights
11. The Dolls in Stockholm House
The lamps were lit every night and extinguished
every morning between September 6 and April
11. Lamplighters passed from street lamp to street
lamp, turning the gas on and off using a key. The
police made sure that they adhered to the timetable.
12. A Hagnesta Farmhouse
Canola oil street lighting was introduced in Eskilstuna in 1857. When the gasworks opened three
years later they were exchanged for gas-powered
lights.
The children who lived in this burgher’s home a
hundred years ago had many toys, nice dolls like
us, for example. My fabric body is filled with cork
shavings, but my head and hands are made of porcelain, so the children had to be gentle with me.
They also had wooden toys, drums and boats or
cars made of tin.
This is a typical farmhouse with a kitchen where
the family spent most of their time, a small room
next to the kitchen and a living room that was only
heated for large gatherings.
The painting shows gas lamps by Rådhusbron
Bridge and on Kungsgatan around 1900 as well as
an electric street lamp by Folkets park, now Parken
Zoo, in the 1950s.
This building was the main building belonging to
a farm in Hagnesta, east of present-day Skiftinge.
Parts of the house may go as far back as to the
17th century and the rest were added in the 18th
century. Apart from living accommodation there
is a barn, stables, storehouses, woodshed, outdoor
toilet and other outhouses. The building was moved to Djurgården in the 1920s to form part of
Sörmlandsgården.
10. Stockholm House in the Old Town
Most people living in Eskilstuna would never have
been inside Stockholm House. With its brick façade, ornamentation and forged iron balconies it was
an ultra modern building when it was completed
in 1898. The walls of the stairwell were decorated
with paintings, stucco and stained glass windows.
It was very different from the low wooden houses
along Köpmangatan.
Rådhusbron late 19th century.
Photo: Eskilstuna stadsmuseum
A number of young merchants who had arrived
with their families from other towns were the first
to move in. After a few years the residents represented a wide range of professions including a
home economics teacher, a master painter, a landowner, a major, a surveyor, a factory owner, an
engineer, a printer and a journalist.
People´s Park in 1961.
Photo: Eskilstuna stadsmuseum
Photo: Eskilstuna stadsmuseum
The names of the rooms reveal that the larger
apartments were designed for wealthy families with
servants: hall, study, drawing room, dining room,
master bedroom, nursery, maid’s room, kitchen,
pantry and bathroom.
Fristadstorget in 1915.
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13. Labourer’s Cottage at Lagersberg Manor
Four families lived in the labourer’s cottage at Lagersberg Manor. Each had the use of one room
and a kitchen. Up to 25 people lived there at the
same time. They received their payment in kind,
usually in the form of milk, flour, herring or pulses. Living accommodation and firewood were
also included.
Agricultural labourers had to be married since
both men and women were needed on the farm.
The tasks were strictly divided up between the sexes. The women milked the cows two to three times
a day. During haymaking, potato harvesting and
threshing they received piece wages. The men looked after the animals or worked on the land. The
children helped their parents and looked after their
younger siblings.
This system was in operation until 1944. From
then on the labourers received monetary payment.
14. The Doll in the Labourer's Cottage
I am lying in this old laundry basket because that
is what the children that played with me would
have done. They had to sleep in baskets, drawers
or wherever space could be found for them. The
stick was used for catching blood-sucking bugs. I
am a hundred years old and I am lucky to have
been well looked after. Few things remain from the
homes of the poor. People used their clothes and
belongings until they could no longer be mended.
Sometimes children made their own toys or played
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with cones, stones and sticks. The top is made of
wood, but I am made from celluloid, which is a
kind of plastic. It means that someone must have
bought me in a shop, so I would have been a treasured object in this family.
15. Terraced Houses at Skogsängen
“It’s time to eat!” Whose mother is calling? The
yard is full of children. Some will be getting fish
fingers, others bread and butter and hot chocolate.
Many families moved into the new housing estate at Skogsängen. There were so many children,
in fact, that the old school at Tunafors wasn’t big
enough, so Skogsängsskolan was built at one end
of the estate.
These houses were built between 1967 and 1968.
Each house is separated from the next by a smaller building, usually a garage. This house type had
only existed in Sweden for ten years, and these
homes were expensive to buy. Contrary to many
other housing estates from the same period there is
a mix of rented flats, terraced houses and detached
houses in Skogsängen.
16. Rademacher Forge with Adjoining Living Accommodation
In the 1650s, Eskilstuna was a small community situated around the castle, Köpmangatan and Tunafors.
The King then decided to move an iron industry
over from Riga, and 120 forges were planned on the
outskirts of town. The money ran out after only 20.
Nevertheless, an industry for making nails, scissors
and other household goods was started.
There were three rooms apart from the workshop
in each house, which was built for one family only,
although since there were too few houses two families often had to share. Each household consisted of
a family or a bachelor, widow or widower and their
apprentices. Sometimes a grandparent was added
and perhaps someone who rented a bed.
Six of the houses remain today. These are called the
Rademacher Houses after Reinhold Rademacher,
the first director of the iron works.
it was not possible to construct a building with an
infinite number of floors. Now it was possible to
build tall, narrow houses as well as low, wide houses.
When the City of Eskilstuna announced an architect’s competition for a new housing estate on the
grounds of Åby Manor in 1956, the winning entry
was a high-rise project. The architect, Gustaf Lettström, designed buildings that were 11 floors with
a large park in the middle. Next to the houses were
smaller yards with playgrounds. Cars were banned
on the grounds of the estate.
The first houses were built in 1962, and Årby Centrum opened three years later with food shops, two
banks, chemist’s, tobacconist’s, flower shop, drycleaner, hairdressers, library and post office. No one had
to go into town to use the services. The estate was
completed in 1967.
20. Lots of Toys
17. The Borgmästaren Block of Houses, Torshälla
Trains, dinosaurs, vehicles and merchandise based
on film and book characters were pouring into the
nurseries at the end of the 20th century. Fast food
restaurants began to produce meal boxes with gifts,
and every parent that bought hamburgers for their
children were asked if it was for a boy or a girl.
The house is situated on Järnvägsgatan in southern
Torshälla. More than half the buildings burned
down and many more were damaged during the big
fire of 1798. This building and those around it were
saved. It means that parts of this house may be over
300 years old.
In the early 2000s every child
owned an average of 500
toys. It is hard to feel special when you’re a plastic
dinosaur. Even though I
am both strong and dangerous I don’t really stand
out in the box among all
the others, there are so
many of us.
This was a home for elderly widows and unmarried
women in the 1870s, and a butcher lived there too.
It appears his helpers and maids never stayed longer
than a year.
18. The Dolls in the Borgmästaren Block
We are all dressed up for a party, wearing crinolines
under our skirts. A crinoline is a steel frame that makes the dress stand out. It was modern in the mid19th century.
The interior of this building would not have been as
nice as in here. We dolls live in a doll’s house decorated in the late 18the century style, which is called
Gustavian after King Gustav III. The furniture comes from a doll’s house.
19. Årby Housing Estate
Have you ever thought about the fact that your ceiling is someone else’s floor? And that person’s ceiling is someone else’s floor and that person’s ceiling
is someone else’s floor. Before the end of the 19th
century when stronger steel and lifts were invented
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21. The Flint Axe
The Stone Age? It was what it sounds like – a lot
of things were made of stone. I am made of flint,
a hard rock that can be cut to form a very sharp
tool. Flint is not found in this area, however. When
people wanted to make an axe like me they had
to find stone from Scania or Denmark, and it takes a while to paddle there. Luckily people moved
around a lot so they were able to meet along the
way and barter.
Imagine if I was your little knife. What would you
use me for? I have forgotten the name of the person that used to carry me around everywhere. It
could have been a girl who kept me hanging from
her belt and who used me to peel a root or prepare
a hide, or a boy who used me to shave off his first
beard. I was important, because I followed my owner to the grave about 3,000 years ago.
25. The Fire Striker
22. The Pot Sherd
Look at my lovely ornaments! Being from the Stone Age does not mean I am grey and boring. I was
a ceramic pot. I was made from clay that was formed and placed in a kiln in the ground where I
was baked. The people who lived here 4,000 years
ago would have needed something to fetch water
in, and they knew a whole lot of useful and clever
things – like how to make me.
23. The Bronze Pin
24. The Bronze Knife
I am a sharp pin made of bronze. I can be used to
hold together a cape or a shawl. The buckle next
to me was also a dress detail. We were found in the
river by Hyndevad ponds when they were dug out
to lower the water level in Lake Hjälmaren. We had
been lying there for 3,000 years when we were discovered in the 19th century. Someone must have
dropped us or put us in the water as an offering to
the gods.
I am the Fire Striker, and next to me are Flint and
Tinder. Someone made me from a piece of iron.
Before I existed people made fire by drilling a stick
against a piece of wood. You could say I made life
easier.
The first fire striker was made in Sweden about
1,600 years ago, during the early Iron Age. To make
fire with me you strike me against a piece of flint to
make sparks that light the tinder made from dried
mushrooms. Fire Striker, Flint and Tinder, we’re
simply the best.
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26. Beads
I am a glass bead with a thin layer of gold inside.
A bead like me was found in a 1,000-year-old grave
at Gårdskäl, Skiftinge, where a person was buried
together with a dog. An urn, 16 beads, parts of
a comb and two iron studs were found inside the
tomb.
All beads that have been found inside tombs are
not as colourful and highly decorated as those on
this necklace. These are rare and only found in the
graves of rich people.
27. The Tomb
Before Christianity arrived in Sweden the dead and
belongings that would be useful to them in the
next life were burned and buried together.
From the Viking Age onwards, people were given
Christian burials with their heads facing west and
their feet facing east so they would come face to
face with Christ on Judgement Day. They were buried with few or no items since everyone was equal
before God. These graves are sometimes found
next to pre-Christian burial sites.
28. The Bronze Key
29. The Eskilstuna Cist
The rune inscription says that I am the Eskilstuna
Cist and that Näsbjörn carved my five stone slabs.
Tove carved the rune animal, the ornaments and
the runes.
I marked a grave about 1,000 years ago. The person
buried beneath me would have been a powerful
man, maybe associated with the King or the Church, as Eskilstuna had recently been christened.
Eskilstuna cists have primarily been found in or
next to a church. Ordinary rune stones are usually
placed in the vicinity of grave-fields, bridges and
roads. I was found near Slottsskolan school, which
was built on the site of a former abbey.
30. The Sigtuna Coins
Coins like me have been found in three Eskilstuna Viking hoards. The letters spell out the words
“Olaf rex an ztnetei”. It means “King Olof in Sigtuna”, so I would have been minted in the 1st century when Olof Eriksson, or Skötkonung, ruled
parts of central Sweden, an area known as Svealand. We Sigtuna coins are among the oldest coins
associated with Sweden as we know it today.
A bronze key just like me was found in a grave-field at Gårdskäl, Skiftinge. It is from the Viking Age, which means it is about 1,000 years old.
Maybe it fits a chest or a box, which would have
burned up with the body at the burial. A bone
comb, some glass beads game pieces, the remains
of a bone die
and a bronze
crucifix were
also found.
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31. The Mälaren Hospital
In the early 19th century, the hospital in Eskilstuna
was situated in a small wooden house on Strandgatan. The doctor and nurses cured diseases, injuries
and mental problems with small means. Many of
their patients suffered from venereal diseases. Treatment was expensive, so many waited far too long
and most people never sought help when they fell ill.
A new hospital was built near Fors Church in 1871.
It was moved to its current location in 1914. There
were three wards, each with its own clinic, operation ward and a sanatorium for patients who suffered from venereal diseases. An untrained nurse
earned a basic salary of 300 kronor a year in 1919,
a porter earned 1,300 kronor and an orderly 240
kronor.
32.The Scalpel and the Bone Cutting
Forceps
Chip chop, if I am around you are probably
sleeping deeply. I am a bone cutting forceps used
during operations. Fortunately patients are now sedated before the operation begins. C.V. Heljestrand
who made me founded a surgical instrument industry in Eskilstuna. There were five manufacturers
of surgical instruments in the city in 1950.
Beside me is a scalpel – a surgical knife used to cut
soft tissue during operations.
The hospital has been refurbished and extensions
have been added several times over the years. The
tall landmark building was completed in 1962. Today, about 3,000 people work here. The emergency
unit operates four ambulances.
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34. The Scales
Photo: Bror Öbrink, Eskilstuna stadsmuseum
Apothecaries made much of the remedies they
sold on the premises. Not only did the chemist on
Kungsgatan have a beautifully decorated shop, there was also a large laboratory. The scales were used
for weighing ingredients.
Demolition of Kronan Pharmacy in 1963.
33. Apoteket Kronan
There has been a chemist in Eskilstuna since 1762.
The first apothecary was situated on Rådhustorget.
In 1891, Apoteket Kronan moved to new premises on the corner of Kungsgatan and Careliigatan
near where the Gallerian shopping centre is found
today.
The picture was taken in the chemist’s rinsing room
in 1941. This was where staff cleaned and disinfected, bowls, bottles, scales and other equipment.
35. The Serpent
I am the apothecary symbol – a serpent coiled around a bowl or staff. In
Greek mythology the god of medicine, Asclepius, took the shape of
a serpent. His daughter Hygieia, the goddess of health, is often
depicted with a bowl. The apothecary symbol thus symbolizes
both health and medicine.
Snakes were often kept in the temples of ancient Greece as people believed they were Asclepius in animal form. The snakes
were fed honey cakes and it was important that they ate what they
were offered or all kinds of accidents might happen. The bowl that
is part of the emblem is not a vessel used for collecting venom, but
for feeding the snakes.
36. Torshälla Church
A new nave was added to the small 12th century church when Torshälla
became a city in 1317. The tower was built about a hundred years later.
The spire can be seen from a long way out on Lake Mälaren.
Soon afterwards the artist Albertus Pictor decorated the ceilings and
walls. One of the motifs is thought to be the Biblical Abraham wearing
a pair of spectacles. This is the only known evidence that Swedes wore
glasses in the Middle Ages.
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37. Torshälla Crown Mill
There have been mills on the river in Torshälla since the Middle Ages. The large mill with five water
wheels on either side was built in 1628. The Crown,
that is to say the State, owned the mill, so everyone
who went there to make flour from their grain had
to pay a fee.
The millstones and the groats processing plant
were powered by the water wheels an operated by
millers’ hands who often lived with their families
on adjacent farms. Torshälla Crown Mill was refurbished many times until the interior was destroyed
by fire in 1947. Today, part of the mill has been
renovated and houses Torshälla library.
38. The Sports Centre
The Sports Centre is said to have been the first indoor sports facility to be built in Sweden after the
war. It was completed in 1954, and everyone who
passed Hamngatan was able to admire the impressive façade made of copper and green mosaic tiles.
Beauty was not enough to the architect, Gustaf
Lettström; however, function was equally important. The windows, for example, are made of glass
bricks that refract light to avoid glare.
The Sports Centre is used for training and competitions, concerts, etc. Best known is the Beatles
concert in 1963. Fifty years later there was a concert commemorating the original concert featuring
local artists. Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, the
Muslim month of fasting, has been celebrated here
for several years.
39. Tin Toys
Birds, roundabouts, cars, buses, airplanes; almost
anything can be made from tin. Toys made from
tin were common from the mid-19th century to
the mid-20th century. Many of us were mechanical.
When we were wound up we could spin, go forward or move.
We were quite expensive to begin with since most
of us were made in Germany, France or America.
People lost interest in us when plastic toys came on
the scene, but I was actually made in the 1960s.
40. The Lime Quarry Cableway
The 42-kilometre-long cableway was the longest in
the world when it was opened in 1941. It was used
to transport limestone from Forsby Quarry to a
new cement factory at Köping. This factory manufactures a large proportion of the cement needed
for new developments in the 1960s and ’70s in and
around Stockholm.
All the operator needed to do was to start and stop
the cableway and make sure it ran smoothly. Loading and unloading was done by a set of ingenious
mechanical devices. The cableway passed through
the Municipality of Eskilstuna at Hjälmarsund.
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MAP
Banquet at the Castle
Forest and Countryside
Eskilstuna
Industrial City
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The Waterw
ay
The Market
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The Waterway
Welcome to the Waterway. Drive a steamboat, load and unload goods, catch eel and
fish for carp in the pond, discover Eskilstuna River and take a look inside Eskil’s and
Tuna’s house.
Eskilstuna River has run from Lake Hjälmaren in the south to Lake Mälaren in the north for
over a thousand years. People who lived from gathering, fishing and hunting settled along
the river, started to till the fertile soil and formed villages and farms. Travelling was best done
on the water, so eventually trading centres developed on the riverbanks and mills, and hydro-powered hammers were built in the rapids. Part of the electricity for the local grid is still
generated by turbines powered by the gushing water.
The rapids and waterfalls were useful, but they also caused trouble. You could not pass them
in a boat, so everything that was transported on the river had to be unloaded and reloaded on
to carts that were pulled by horses on land. Canals and sluices solved this problem, and from
the 1860s onwards, Eskilstuna was a harbour city. In the 1960s low flyovers for vehicle traffic
were built, so the river was again closed to boat traffic.
Olga Östberg was the last lock keeper. She lived in the yellow lockkeeper‘s cottage by the gun
factory. Eskilstuna stadsmuseum has been housed in the former premises of Gevärsfaktoriet
since 1969 – this is where you are right now.
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The Wa
terway
48
49
45
46 47
50
44
43
52
42
51
41
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A map showing Hyndevad watercourse in 1641.
The letter M shows Åleta´s Eel-trap and R shows her farmstead.
--- 20 ---
41. Edebron
Majstigen is an ancient road that runs from Eskilstuna to Julita. It used to be the main thoroughfare through Näshulta parish. It is now referred to as ”the old road” since it was replaced by
Road 214 to Katrineholm.
Every road in the county was given an overhaul
in the 1750s, and a stone bridge, Edebron, was
constructed at the point where Majstigen crosses Näshultaån River. Stone bridges were expensive to build, so all the farmers in the area
were expected to contribute. The bridge is made
from large boulders and must have taken a long
time to construct.
42. The Carp Pond
Photo: Anna Götzlinger
I am one of Eskilstuna’s carp ponds, a pond
constructed specifically for carp farming. In the
monasteries, ponds like me provided food for
lent when the monks were not allowed to eat
meat.
I may have been constructed by monks from
the St. John’s Monastery in the Middle Ages. It
was situated where Slottsskolan is today. I was
later part of the castle grounds. Many princes
and princesses, kings and queens have dug their
teeth into the plump carps that were cultivated
in me, fished by a farmhand, delivered to the
royal kitchen and prepared by a cook.
Ruddammsgatan was named after me. I was situated between Ruddammsgatan and Strandgatan. There was another pond where Stadshotellet is now situated.
ÅLETA´S MAP
Edebron by the Näshulta River.
43. Åleta’s Eel-trap
I am an eel-trap. I was placed where the running
stream discharged into a lake or other watercourse.
People put dead fish or some other bait inside. The
eels swam around at night, smelled the bait, swam
in through the grid and were trapped. I could catch
up to 300 eels in one night.
In the 1640s, Åleta Kortzdotter had a deal with the
Crown that gave her the right to me, a mill and a
tilt hammer. She and her children also had a farm.
Everything was situated at Hyndevad. Åleta was
entitled to own a farm and run a business because
she was a widow.
--- 21 ---
Photo: Okänd, Eskilstuna stadsmuseum
Steamship in Eskilstuna harbour in the early 20th century.
44. The Ship
46. The Celt
The quay buzzed with life when the ships came
in. Housewives and maids, carpenters, errand
boys and the odd factory owner came to pick
up and dispatch parcels and boxes, buy sacks of
potatoes and flour, load their handcarts and horse-drawn carts. There was a lot of banging and
crying, the clatter of horses and clogs and the
smell of hessian, river water and horse manure.
Eskilstuna River was trafficked between the
1860s and the 1960s. The steamships Vulcanus, Eskil and Tuna carried goods to and
from Stockholm. Anyone who wanted to see
the world could buy a ticket to one of the passenger ships.Twenty-three cargo and passenger
ships were registered in Eskilstuna. Eskilstuna
I, II, II, Sven Rinman and Eskilstuna Express
were but a few. There was also a small steam
barge, Lärkan that trafficked Torshälla.
45. The Bronze Sword
The plough cuts through the soil on a cultivated
peat bog. Suddenly, the blade hits something
deep down. It’s me!
I am a two-edged sword made in Hungary or
southern Germany during the early Bronze
Age; that is almost 4,000 years ago. I wonder
how I ended up in Skiringstorp near Katrineholm. Perhaps I was sacrificed to the water by
someone who was travelling north, or maybe
I was bought and paid for by someone who
lived there.
I am a bronze celt. I have a sharp
edge, I can cut and hack and at my
rear is a hole where a brand new helve
has been fitted. The old broke and rotted away. I am still nice and hard even
though I have spent 3,000 years in the
ground. Someone dropped me in the water near Tunavallen as a sacrifice. There
was of course no football pitch there at
the time, only islands separated the land
from the sea.
I am sometimes referred to as a Lake Mälaren Valley celt. Similar items have also been
discovered in Russia where they are known as
Akozinsko-melarskie. Akozinsko means axe and
melarskie sounds like Mälaren, but no one knows
what came first. People may have been trading axes
and other tools or maybe they were simply inspired
by each others’ designs.
47. The Bottle
I am a few hundred years old. When I was made
there were several potters in Eskilstuna. They made
earthenware bottles, bowls and plates. One of them
made me. Both the poor and the rich hade use for
us at home. Then there were the inns and the pubs,
so the potters were always busy.
I was found in Eskilstuna River. Someone must have
thrown me away after I was broken. A diver found
many objects while searching the river floor; there
was a great deal of pottery and a whole lot of junk.
--- 22 ---
48. Yellow Water Lilies
In 1932 there were 1,500 water closets in Eskilstuna that emptied straight into the river. The water
was cloudy and smelt foul with sewage floating on
top. In the summer when the smell was worse than
ever, the local newspaper wrote that the river bath
house ought to be moved, that laundry should not
be rinsed in the river and that it should be forbidden to cut ice in the winter if it was to be used to
preserve food.
The newspaper also wrote that a sewage plant
would be necessary as the population increased
and that new industries would add to the pollution.
But there was no immediate danger, for as long as
the yellow water lilies signalled “all clear” in the
murky water everything was fine, because yellow
water lilies don’t grow in contaminated water.
49. Eskil’s and Tuna’s house
Eskil and Tuna are two benign water creatures that
live on the bottom of Eskilstuna River. They turn
up here and there to show you round Lilla stadsmuseet. This is where they live. Take a look inside.
50. Kloster Church
Kloster Church is 70 metres long, 20 metres wide
and the tower is over 60 metres tall, no wonder it
has been called Sweden’s last cathedral. In 1867,
the great donor Jeanette Zetterberg bequeathed a
large sum of money to the city, among other things
for a new church. The final decision was not made
until 1908. Kloster Church was inaugurated in 1929
after three and a half years of construction work.
The work of a brick carrier was heavy and dangerous. They climbed up the scaffolding with buckets of mortar and bricks on their backs. The church
consists of 1.4 million bricks and no brick carrier
ever fell off the scaffolding. The construction site
attracted people from near and far on Sundays.
--- 23 ---
Eskilstuna konstmuseum
Washerwomen in 1885. Painting by Olof Hermelin.
The name of this painting is Washerwomen on Eskilstuna River. It was painted by Olof Hermelin in
1884. These women made a living from washing
other people’s clothes and bed sheets. At the end
of the 19th century 21 women were listed as washerwomen in the town’s directory, but there were
probably many more.
Washing laundry was a strenuous job. After a few
years the women usually suffered from aching arms
and calloused hands. The women on the painting
have taken their laundry out on the ice to rinse it in
the river. You can imagine how numb their hands
must have felt in the cold water. Some of the buildings still exist. From left to right they are: a wash
house, the old hospital and a warehouse.
Photo: Susanna Pousette Blomé
51. The Washerwomen
The same view 130 years later.
--- 24 ---
52. The Skate
I am a skate manufactured at B.&O. Liberg Rosenfors in about 1900. Eskilstuna was a major skating
town. In 1893, the skating society had 140 members,
both men and women. There were skating tracks by
Nybron and Rådhusbron, and in 1907 several societies collected money for a new rink near Munktells
mekaniska verkstad.
The track was used for bandy games, figure skating
and pleasure skating. It cost 10 öre for adults and 5
öre for children, except on musical evenings when
the fee was 25 öre. Children were free of charge
during school holidays.
Children on the ice, early 20th century.
--- 25 ---
Photo: Eskilstuna stadsmuseum
Ice skating by Fors Church in 1905.
Photo: Per G Åkerblom, Eskilstuna stadsmuseum
Skates are gliding across the ice. It is extremely cold.
Ladies dressed in neat woollen gowns are keeping
their hands warm inside large muffs. The working
class children have wound their scarves many times
around their necks and ears. Electric arc lamps light
up ploughed up skating area and an orchestra is
playing.
e
l
t
s
a
C
e
quet at th
Ban
53
55
54
Anna Vasa,
daughter of Duke John
Duke John, later
John III of Sweden.
(cropped image Nationalmuseum)
(cropped image Nationalmuseum)
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Banquet at the Castle
Welcome to attend a banquet at Eskilstuna Castle. Use the kitchen, dress up for the
banquet, lay the banqueting table and experience what it is like to be a prisoner in
the tower.
A great deal of preparation was needed when a banquet was given at the castle. Fish, meat
and vegetables were bought locally. Beer and wine were brought out. Spices and exotic fruits
were sent for. Maids and boys brought in firewood and lit the open fires. The housekeeper
gave her orders, the kitchen range was heated and then the food was prepared.
Eskilstuna Hus was one of many royal palaces. The royal family resided there occasionally, but
even when they were not in residence a large staff took care of the castle and grounds. Stables,
gardens, hop garden, all outbuildings and many other buildings were part of the royal estate.
53. The Rise and Fall of Eskilstuna Hus
Eskilstuna Hus was constructed on the grounds
of a simple state demesne from the 1550s that had
been converted from the ruins of a monastery
belonging to the Knights Hospitaller into a magnificent stone castle with two turrets. The interior
stone walls were decorated with Flemish tapestries
and the palace was surrounded by ornamental gardens, vegetable gardens and hop garden.
Most of the staff worked with husbandry, the production of food and in the household. We do not
know the names of any of them. The names of a
gardener, Adam Alfeldt, and Master Weaver Jören
van der Heijde were written down, however, and
are now found as street names around Eskilstuna.
The palace was ravaged by fire in 1680 and almost
burned to the ground. Parts of one of the turrets
was spared and was used, among other things, as
a prison
54. Prisoner in the Tower
Please God forgive me for what I have done. I
have cast a spell to make the wolf attack the sheep,
I have consorted with the devil and I made farmer
Nils Jonsson ill. I will accept my punishment and
beg forgiveness. Anna Ersdotter is almost 80 years
old. She eventually believed the accusations of
sorcery that were made against her and admitted
to a series of fanciful crimes.
Anna Ersdotter was a ”wise woman”
who helped sick people and animals
back to health. People believed that
illness was caused by evil spirits, so
--- 27 ---
magic spells and rituals were important to the healing process. These wise folk were respected, but
also feared as they could turn their magic on someone they wanted to hurt.
By 1702, the witch-hunts were almost over and the
Supreme Court decided to re-evaluate Anna Ersdotter’s death sentence, but in the end the King decided that she was to be beheaded. Anna Ersdotter
was the last person in Sweden to be sentenced to
death for alleged witchcraft.
55. A Princess is Born
Princess Anna Vasa was born at Eskilstuna Castle
on May 1, 1568. Her parents were Duke John and
Catherine Jagiellon. They had recently been released
after four years’ imprisonment at Gripsholm Castle.
John’s brother, King Eric XIV, had accused Duke
John of treason, among other things because he
had married Catherine, a Polish princess.
Anna Vasa grew up in different castles around
Sweden. After her younger brother Sigismund became King of Poland in 1587, she moved back and
forth between Sweden and Poland. Leaders of the
Catholic Church in Poland resented the fact that
Anna, a protestant, offered political advice to Sigismund. She died in 1625 and was not buried until
eleven years later in Torún, Poland.
Forest an
Countr ys d
ide
56
57
58
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Forest and Countryside
Welcome to the forest and countryside. Here you can wash clothes, discover animals
and creatures of the forest, and look after the farm animals.
A few hundred years ago nine out of ten people lived in the countryside. Cities were few and
small, and even those who lived and worked in the city partly lived off their farms, pastures
and allotments outside town.
The Mälardalen Valley is fertile and highly suitable for agriculture, so people have been settling there for thousands of years. As time went on, large farms and country estates were
built. The nobility and wealthy industrialists purchased large parcels of land and employed
crofters and labourers in the profitable agricultural business.
Much of the forest around Eskilstuna was felled to make charcoal used to power iron works
and tilthammers. Further away from the city lay deep forests where you could easily get lost,
and you had to watch out for trolls and gnomes, the siren of the woods. The water sprite and
the elves were as real as all the wild animals.
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56. The Magic Bag
I am a magic bag from early 20th century. I contain a piece of paper with Arabic script written
in red ink that says, ”Allah and only Allah is almighty”. The words were thought to have magic
powers and protect from evil. The letters look as
if they have been written by someone who is not
very good at Arabic.
I was found in the foundations of a house when
it was pulled down. It was common to put magical objects in house foundations in Sweden and in
other countries. Magic bags and knots protected
against evil. A magic knot might contain sulphur,
thorns from a gooseberry bush, needle points,
hooks and eyes, garlic, arsenic, coffin nails, earth
from a grave, cock’s feet or snake skins.
seum
tadsmu
s
a
n
u
t
Eskils
Magic objects could also be used for evil purposes.
Someone who hid a magic bag or knot in someone else’s house hoped to take power over those
who lived there.
Paper from the Magic Bag.
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58. Sheep
Eskilstuna stadsarkiv, Sergelska släktarkivet. Överste Karl Sergel, volym F6:1
Baa, baa grey and brown lambs have you any
wool? The native sheep provided wool for durable
clothes, carpets and blankets.
Agreement between the parishes in
Rekarne district, 1836.
57. Wolves and Lynx
You could hear the wolves howling in the forests
around Eskilstuna at night. Wolves and lynx prowled near the stables. Grazing sheep and goats were
easy prey in summer.
In 1836, all parishes in the Rekarne district advertised a reward for the killing of wolf and lynx. Every landowner contributed to a kitty from which
10 riksdaler banco were paid out for every animal
killed. It corresponds to approximately SEK 1,100
today.
People believed that animals had magic properties.
A lynx with an unusually fair coat was called a ”cat
lynx”. The skins were precious and were said to
glow so brightly that you could use them to light
your way. If you saw a cat lynx run past like a flame it meant you would get rich. In some parts of
the country their magic was so powerful that only
a silver bullet would kill them. It is still a mysterious creature because of its shyness.
--- 31 ---
In the 16th century, the Crown began to set up
big sheep farms all over the country including on
Fårkätteholmen (present-day Strömsholmen) in
central Eskilstuna. Nordic races were banned because their wool was too coarse. Instead, fine wool
sheep were imported from England and Germany. Their wool was used to make fine broadcloth
for clothes and tapestries.
Most people kept sheep, cows, pigs and chickens;
oxen or horses were used for transport and ploughing. If you did not own a draught animal you
could borrow one or pull the plough yourself.
59
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Eskilstuna Industrial City
Welcome to Eskilstuna Industrial City where you can climb the factory chimneystacks, drive a bus, operate a digger and take a peek at Parken Zoo.
There were many factories in Eskilstuna. Around the turn of the last century there were more factories
than in any other city equal in size. All were steam operated and chimneystacks dotted the landscape.
The factories were efficient, but also dark and unhealthy. Children worked there too, but only if they
were over the age of twelve.
Several of these factories were metal works. It was not considered suitable for women to work with
metal, which meant that there were fewer women workers in Eskilstuna than in other industrial cities.
The playing card manufacturer Bok-Öbergs, on the other hand, employed mostly women.
If you did not work in one of the factories you could find employment in trade or in a food store, or
you could work as a housekeeper, artisan, errand boy or coachman. Later on new professions such as
photographer, switchboard operator and elementary-school teacher were added.
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59. Parken Zoo
61. Tin Toys
Today, Parken Zoo is a major destination in Eskilstuna, but when it was opened in 1898 it was a
recreational ground for the union movement with
an open-air dance floor, a shooting range, restaurants and candy stalls. People who were working
and living in confined spaces, breathing polluted
air, needed to relax with their families outdoors.
There were musical performances, demonstrations and speeches, and in summer travelling theatre companies.
We were quite expensive to begin with since most
of us were made in Germany, France or America.
People lost interest in us when plastic toys came
on the scene, but I was actually made in the 1960s.
The bus is not made of tin. It was made from
cast iron in the 1930s. Some landlords hated cast
iron toys because they were heavy and marked the
floors.
The zoo was opened in 1951. The first animal to
arrive was an abandoned moose calf, but it was
soon surrounded by more exotic fauna. In 1966
the newspapers were full of reports about Higgins the camel calf. He was the second camel to be
born in Sweden.
In the chimneystacks there are
logotypes from C.E. Johansson, Bok-Öbergs and Jernbolaget. C.E. Johansson made the
famous gauge blocks that were
used for precision measurements. These were important
for all types of industrial production. Bok-Öbergs, established in the early 20th century,
are best known for their playing-cards. Jernbolaget made
almost every type of kitchen
utensil: scales, cutlery, corkscrews etc.
The Caterpillar is set in motion the moment the
safety bar snaps into place. It goes up the hill,
through the big apple and then down again, and
everyone screams before it comes to a standstill.
Tens of thousands of children have passed through
the apple at the Parken Zoo amusement park.
Birds, roundabouts, cars, buses, airplanes; almost
anything can be made from tin. Toys made from
tin were common from the mid-19th century to
the mid-20th century. Many of us were mechanical. When we were wound up we could spin, go
forward or move.
62. The Chimneystacks
Only C.E. Johansson still operates in Eskilstuna.
60. The Bus
Buses were pulled by horses in the 1800s. The first
public buses in Eskilstuna started in Nedre hamn
and Rinmanstorget (now Fristadstorget). In 1922,
twenty-two-year-old Knut Oskar Gustavson opened four bus routes from Eskilstuna to Strängnäs,
Torshälla, Hällbybrunn and Skogstorp. His vehicles were small, motor-powered Ford buses with
wooden coaches that took 12–14 passengers. The
conductors, or ”bus boys”, sold tickets on board
the bus.
63. Sveabryggaren
There was soon competition for passengers and
ticket prices went down. Buses were frequent
and cheap, so it became easier to travel to work
or school even if you did not live close to town.
If they did not travel on the bus, people generally
walked since a bicycle cost several months’ salary.
The percolator was invented in 1827, but I was
made in the 1950s by Gottfrid Carlsson’s nickel factory in Eskilstuna. They manufactured a
number of different models, which they called
”Sveabryggare”. Modern percolators are plugged
into a wall socket instead of being heated on a stove.
Two coffees and a cream cake, please. Cafés were
popular meeting places, but they were expensive,
and half a cake is better than no cake …
I am a percolator. I was the one that made the coffee. You can heat me up on a wood-fired stove, gas
ring or on an electrical hob. Inside my aluminium
body is a perforated coffee holder. When the water comes to a boil it rises above the holder and
seeps through the coffee.
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64. The Crescent Moon and the File
A moon with eyes, nose and mouth, that’s me. I
symbolize the CO Öberg and Co, or Fil-Öbergs,
the file factory. It was opened in 1850 and became
one of Eskilstuna’s biggest employers.
The workers sat on stools, cutting files by hand.
The apprentices learned the trade through constant
practice. There was another department for sharpening the tools too and a great many women were
described as ”scourers” maybe the factory needed
to be cleaned from all the file dust.
This file is very fine. It is used to add a final sheen
to the tools.
c o Öberg & Co:s arkiv, Arkiv Sörmland
FilÖberg logo 1962.
66. The Iron
I am a very heavy iron from the end of the 19th
century. I can iron fabric, make pleats and press
hems. The small funnel is there so the smoke from
the embers that keep me hot can escape.
Låsfabriks ABs arkiv, Arkiv Sörmland
In 1877, seventeen women ironers worked in
Eskilstuna. Four of them specialized in starched
shirtfronts, collars and cuffs. It was a more difficult
and better paid job.
I was made at Husqvarna vapenfabrik, the arms
factory. Other factories in Eskilstuna made irons
too, for example B&O Liberg in Rosenfors, Oscar
Svalling, W. Lundh and Eskilstuna Jernmanufaktur.
67. The Digger
Låsbolaget logo 1898.
65. The Owl
I am wise and enigmatic. I am awake at night and I
can see in the dark, maybe I know something you
don’t. I am an all-observant owl. Maybe that is why
the lock-makers, Låsbolaget, chose me as their emblem for locks that were made to make people feel
safe and secure. As you can see from the padlock I
am depicted perched on a key.
Låsbolaget was established in 1894. Its full name
is Låsbolaget AB, but most people just say Låsbolaget.
I am the smallest in the Digger family. Parts for
me and my big sisters and brothers were manufactured at Volvo CE in Eskilstuna. Most of us are
yellow, and many of us are a lot bigger than me.
Johan Theofron Munktell established a mechanical workshop in Eskilstuna in 1832. They built
Sweden’s first steam locomotive in 1854 and the
first tractor in 1910.
We diggers have been very busy in Eskilstuna as old
parts of town were refurbished and new housing
built at, for example, Årby, Lagersberg-Råbergstorp, Skogsängen and Skiftinge. We are still busy
construction new housing in central Eskilstuna.
--- 35 ---
This is a directory of the exhibition Lilla stadsmuseet
which you can find at Eskilstuna Town Museum.
2014