Description of the attraction
The National Museum of Fine Arts is located on the Blasicholmen Peninsula in central Stockholm. Since its opening, the museum has acquired an impressive collection of works of art thanks to its main patrons - King Gustav III and Carl Gustav Tessin. The museum was founded in 1792 as the "Royal Museum", but when the modern building was built in 1866, it was renamed the National Museum.
The museum is home to half a million drawings from the Middle Ages to 1900, works by Rembrandt and a 17th-century Dutch collection, as well as a collection of porcelain, paintings, sculptures and modern art. The museum also has an art library available to both scholars and the general public.
The current building was built in 1844-1866 in the style of the North Italian Renaissance by the German architect Friedrich August Stuler, who also designed the New Museum in Berlin. The relatively closed exterior, with the exception of the central entrance, does not give us the slightest hint that there is a spacious interior inside the building, dominated by a huge staircase leading to the uppermost galleries. Over the decades, the building has been continuously expanded and adapted to meet the growing demands of the museum. For example, in 1961 it was enlarged in order to create museum workshops. Thus, one layer of modifications was superimposed on another. However, the building was never completely renovated, so it failed to meet international standards for safety, climate control, industrial fire safety and logistics.
The museum building is currently closed for reconstruction pending the completion of renovations, so you can see the museum's collection by visiting the temporary exhibition area ten minutes' walk from the National Museum, at the Royal Academy of Liberal Arts in Stockholm.
