Eskilstuna Things to Do

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This is one of the biggest buidling for a house where you can play music and listen to music in Europe. The house was a former mental hospital. This house has a café and many bands play here or practise music. They also fix a music festival in May for two days. It started 1979 and has grown for every year.

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Nice zoo with an amusement park in the same area. This is the place where I first saw a Comodo dragon as up close and personal as allowed. I wanted to visit their reptile house but it was closed when I went there...bummer.

Like other zoos they have their animal areas divided into groups: Asia, Africa, South America and Australia. For the kids there's a children's zoo called "VetaMera" (know more), which includes ZOO-lab (reptiles, amphibians, insects) and MUS-eum (a play of words in Swedish) where they can learn about rodents.

There's camping: either bring your own caravan or stay at their cottages. During the summer they have concerts as well.

Welcome to the Faktori museum! In the next few tips I would to show you around in this nice little museum in Eskilstuna. The museum is worth the visit when you are in town, and the great part is that it is for free! So don't hesitate to drop in and have a look around for yourself.

And isn't this a great start to enter a museum!? On the entrance door of the museum you will find this great and creative door handle. Hahaha, and as I love doorknockers and door handles, I had (of course) take a picture of it!

The museum is located in the city centre on a little island in the river Eskilstunaån. It is open from Tuesday till Sunday, from 11 o'clock in the morning until 4 in the afternoon.

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The museum is divided into several parts, and one of them tells you all about the steam engine. It's quite logical to have this section in the museum as Eskilstuna has a rich industrial history.

There are quite a few of these steam engines on display, and when you're lucky you can see them at work as well. They were not working on the few ocassions I was here, but I mostly visit off-season. I actually don't mind, I just find it is nice and quiet during those times :-)

The steamengines are working every first Sunday of the month from 1 o'clock to 3 o'clock (except for months of December and January).

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But there are not only 'boring' steam engines on display! How about this great fire truck! This steam powered fire-engine was manufactured in 1896 by Ludwigsbergs Verkstad in Stockholm and it was used in Eskilstuna until 1926.

In the additional picture for this you can see another firetruck. And this is not just a fire truck, this is Sweden's first motor fire-engine! This electric car was purchased by Eskilstuna in 1902 from Justus Christian Braun in Nuremberg. Originally it went 12 miles on one charge at a top speed of approximately 20 kilometres an hour.

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If you walk up the stairs in the Faktori Museum, you will leave the steam engine and industrial part of the museum behind you and now will end up in an area devoted to Eskilstuna's past. One of the things you can read, see and learn all about is the presence of the vikings in this area. A great example of that are the many rune stones still to be found in and around Eskilstuna, of which the Sigurdsristningen is the most famous (see off the beaten path tips).

There is also a whole section devoted to the order of St.John and Saint Eskil, who played an important role in the history of Eskilstuna. There are quite a few items on display which have been found at the former Johanniter (order of St.John) monastery.

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The Faktori Museum is actually a great place to 'freak' around a little bit with your camera. It is not that often that you can get so close to those old industrial machines and be able to take pictures of them. The machines at the Faktori Museum are (often) not fenced off, so you can get as close to them as you like. Now lucky me had the task to do exactly that for my jobb! A great excuse to go back here another time and now look at all the machinery, but now with different eyes. I had the museum almost to myself, which was absolutely great. Enough time just to walk around and take my time taking some photos.

Don't forget your flash, you'll need it! The light inside the museum is now perfect to take pictures and does need help with some flash.

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There are many ways that steam engines were used. Like for trains for example, like this steam train from 1874. This steam lock was manufactured in England and it has been in use until 1924. It was donated to the Eskilstuna museum in 1977 after restoration.

Second picture: You can't only admire the steam lock from the outside, you can have a look inside as well. If you click on the picture you can will see the view from the window to the front of the steam lock. Hahaha, I thought it was rather a cool effect to take a picture through the little round window of the train :-)