Gustavianum, Uppsala, Sweden

Gustavianum is the former main building of Uppsala University, built 1622–1625 and named after King Gustavus Adolphus. Under the cupola is the theatrum anatomicum, the second oldest in the world added to the building in the mid 17th century by Olaus Rudbeck, professor of medicine and amateur architect, among other things.

Although still used for lectures and conferences, most of Gustavianum functions as a museum, including exhibitions of objects from the university collections of Classical, Egyptian and Nordic antiquities, as well as an exhibition on the history of science and the history of Uppsala University. The Augsburg art cabinet, the best preserved of the Kunstschränke made by Philipp Hainhofer, which was given to Gustavus Adolphus in 1632 by the City of Augsburg, is on display in the Gustavianum.

The Museum has an excellent science collection of very old telescopes of Celsius and other astronomers, the oldest achromatic telescope, a book with Copernicus notes on solar eclipses, an important Lineus exhibition and currently an exhibition of the oldest known astronomical instrument and computer, the Antikythera Mechanism.

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User Reviews

Goran A. (3 years ago)
The oldest building in Uppsala, with a very unique exterior.

Sharulatha Ravisankar (5 years ago)
Vintage is preserved. Nice place to visit. It's very peaceful.

Magnus Ryner (5 years ago)
Gustavianum is a famous university museum. Its claim to uniqueness is its collection of Vendel-Age burial artefacts, which are interesting to compare with Sutton Ho. I have long wanted to see the originals. I thought the collection was well curated. I was particularly happy that the finds were contextualised with reference to developments in the Roman and Frankish empires. A special insight I learned was that even the last 12th century Valsgärde graves were not Christian.

Omkar Joshi (5 years ago)
If you are interested in archaeological artifacts and the processes, there's aplenty to experience. Personally, I enjoyed the History of Uppsala university where they have established a timeline of various botanists, mathematicians, physicists, Chemistry experts, scientific explorers etc. There are aplenty scientific instruments on display. The entry fee is minimal. I found the prices of the items in the boutique a bit on the higher side.

starry sky (5 years ago)
Historical...being a med stud, it was amazing to see how exciting anatomy classes would hv been those days

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