The Swedish Museum of Natural History ( sv, Naturhistoriska riksmuseet, literally, the National Museum of Natural History), in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, is one of two major museums of natural history in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, the other one being located in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. The museum was founded in 1819 by the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

, but goes back to the collections acquired mostly through donations by the academy since its foundation in 1739. These collections had first been made available to the public in 1786. The museum was separated from the Academy in 1965. One of the keepers of the collections of the academy during its earlier history was

Anders Sparrman Anders Sparrman (27 February 1748, Tensta, Uppland – 9 August 1820) was a Swedish naturalist, abolitionist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Biography left, Miniature of Sparrman at the time of his travels with James Cook. By unknown artis ...

, a student of

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

and participant in the voyages of Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

. Another important name in the history of the museum is the zoologist, paleontologist and archaeologist Sven Nilsson, who brought the previously disorganised zoological collections of the museum into order during his time as keeper (1828–1831) before returning to

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...

as professor. The present buildings for the museum in Frescati, Stockholm, was designed by the architect

Axel Anderberg Axel Johan Anderberg (November 27, 1860 – March 27, 1937) was a Swedish architect. He was active from the 1880s to the early 1930s. Biography Anderberg was born in Kristianstad in Skåne County, Sweden. Anderberg received his education ...

and completed in 1916, topped with a

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

. it is the largest museum building in Sweden. The main campus of

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

was later built next to the museum. NaturhistoriskaRiksmuseet

The museum has Sweden's first purpose-built

IMAX Dome IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

cinema called

Cosmonova Cosmonova is an IMAX Dome cinema and planetarium located in an annex of the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, Sweden. Cosmonova opened in 1993 and was the first ever dedicated IMAX installation in Sweden (and third in the Nordic co ...

, which opened in a dedicated annex of the museum in 1993. The cinema is also the largest planetarium in Sweden. The '' Index Herbariorum'' code assigned to this museum is S and it is used when citing housed specimens.

References

External links

* {{authority control 1819 establishments in Sweden Museums established in 1916 Natural history museums in Sweden Museums in Stockholm Natural history of Sweden Science and technology in Sweden Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Domes National museums of Sweden Museums established in 1819 Art Nouveau architecture in Stockholm Art Nouveau museum buildings

See also

References

External links