We began our next day with a visit to the Royal Armoury, or Livrustkammaren, found in a lower level of the Royal Palace, near the palace’s southeast corner (via a relatively unassuming entrance, a short distance from the waterfront). The Armoury is the oldest museum in Sweden – it was first established in 1628 by King Gustavus Adolphus, who wanted to preserve the clothing he wore during his Polish campaign (1626-29). Over the years, the museum expanded, acquiring more clothing and some actual armor and weaponry. Most of the clothing and armor was ceremonial in nature, and actual ceremonial carriages were added to the collection toward the end of the 19th Century. The museum was moved to its present location in the 1970s.

We started by looking at the carriage collection, which is kept in the basement. All of the following carriages were built in the 18th Century and saw their last use in the 19th Century:


This being Scandinavia, there are certain months of the year when wheeled vehicles become impractical. A few snow vehicles are on display, but not many.

There was some clothing on display amongst the carriages, but this didn’t strike our interest too much at the time, so we don’t have much in the way of pictures. However, we did take notice of a saber in a jewel-encrusted scabbard which was a gift from Shah Soleiman I to Charles XI, presented in 1687.

Heading back upstairs, we found the armor collection. The collection included protective garb for horses, such as actual armor and caparisons. A caparison is a sort of horse blanket that can serve as both protection and decoration. For the horse.


Also in the collection is weaponry, some of which can be stopped by well-designed armor, and some of which can’t.


And of course, there’s an appreciable amount of armor. Not as much as we’ve seen in other armouries (like this one), though.


On the other hand, this armoury is bigger on clothing than other armouries, making for a welcome amount of variety. Yes, that’s a 20-inch waist on Sofia Magdalena’s wedding gown, made wearable by evil undergarments.


Adding to the variety, a decent amount of jewelry is on display.

Having seen the items on display, we departed the museum, passing a Swedish coat of arms on the way out.

On exiting the building, we discovered it was time for the changing of the guard at the other end of the palace. This was made evident by the band and new guard marching up Slottsbacken (the street that borders the palace on the south), right in front of us. But this time, they were wearing different uniforms from the ones we’d seen a few days earlier, with shiny spiked helmets. And there were horses underneath them.


This looked like a changing of the guard we would have to see for ourselves. We followed the guard up the hill, but took a short cut into the courtyard where all the guard-changing takes place. We were in time to see the new guard enter the courtyard on horseback (the band had already entered and dismounted). The new guard also dismounted, but they took their time about it (with every move choreographed), and handlers led the horses out of the courtyard, presumably back to some cushy horse habitation.


At this point we left the courtyard. We’d already seen one changing of the guard, and once the horse hijinks were over, we figured this one would be pretty similar. And there were other things we wanted to do, this being our last day in Sweden. The first place we wanted to visit was Stockholm’s Cathedral, known as Storkyrkan. Fortunately, it was right next door.