Grenna Museum

The extensive activities of the Grenna Museum are spread over several locations in and around Gränna. At the main location in the Grenna Kulturgård, right next to the market square, you will find the Polarcenter with exhibitions on historical polar expeditions and the Franckska Gården with various exhibitions illustrating the history of Gränna.

Other locations are the open-air museum Grännaberg on the cliff above the town and the historical village Röttle By, located about four kilometres south.

The Polarcenter of the Grenna Museum

The Polarcenter presents the country's largest collection of exhibits from historical expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica. The stories of the expeditions are told using numerous objects, notes, photographs and films. An interactive screen provides information on the course of historical expeditions, as well as the status of current expeditions.

A large part of the Polarcenter is dedicated to the unsuccessful North Pole expedition of the Gränna-born polar researcher Salomon August Andrée, whose attempt to fly over the North Pole with a gas balloon ended in 1897 with the death of the three expedition members. The expedition crew was missing for over three decades when the last camp on the island of Kvitøja with the bodies of the three men was found in 1930.

The museum shows the complete course of the expedition, starting with the extensive preparations up to the last found equipment, diaries and photographs, which could be developed after 33 years in the eternal ice.

The history of Gränna

The exhibitions at Franckska Gården, a large 17th century wooden building painted yellow, illustrate the local history of Gränna. Each of the seven small exhibition rooms deals with a different epoch in the city's history.

The "inventor" of the Polkagrisar, Amalia Eriksson, who produced the first red and white candy canes from 1859 onwards, for which Gränna is known, should not be missing. A replica of Amalia's kitchen and a chronology of the confectioners and Polkagris producersin the town as well as a documentary about the history of Gränna from the 1930s to the 1960s provide further insights.

In contrast to the Polarcenter the entry to Franckska Gården is free, the opening hours are identical.