The National Museum of Science and Technology’s collections contain more than 55,000 objects, including everything from entire aircraft to smartphones. You can search in our collections online.
The Museum’s object collections are a rich source of material for understanding our cultural heritage and the development of technology. The Museum has been collecting objects since it was founded in 1924. These objects can be used in our exhibitions or lent to other institutions. Around 1,200 objects are usually on display at any one time, with the remainder stored in various types of storage spaces.
Images and text about many of our objects are published online and you can explore them at DigitaltMuseum.
Search in our collections at DigitaltMuseum
Questions about our object collections
If you have any questions concerning objects or you would like to study particular objects or artefacts that you believe may be found in the Museum’s collections, please don’t hesitate to contact us. If we don’t have the expertise on hand to adequately respond to your question, we will try to help you find someone who knows more. We will also try to answer your questions concerning the care and preservation of materials.
We can only receive pre-booked visits. Please contact us well in advance so that we can prepare for your visit in the best possible way.
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What do the Museum’s object collections contain?
The foundation of our collections was the many objects that had been exhibited at the Jubilee Exhibition in Gothenburg in 1923. A large number of objects and artefacts were also donated early on by the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, which had its own collection of objects of interest to the history of technology and industrial history. By 1940, 45 per cent of the Museum’s current object collections had already been formed.
Most of the objects in our collections were made during the period 1890–1930. This means that by far the biggest group of objects in our collections relates to either the manufacture of iron and steel or power supply. The National Museum of Science and Technology probably has the largest collection in Sweden of objects of this kind.
Many of our objects and artefacts also come from the metalworking and chemicals industries. Optics, instruments and means of transportation are other major groups. There is a rich variety of objects in our collections. You’ll find everything from tokens for all kinds of machines, postage stamps with industrial history motifs and commemorative pins, to locomotives, aircraft, passenger vehicles and steam engines.
We live in a world of continuous technological development and the area in which the Museum collects is also growing as the landscape of the history of technology continues to expand. Consequently, the Museum continues to work to create new spaces for its object collections in addition to today’s 5000+ square metres of warehousing space.