Judiska Museet

The Jewish Museum of Sweden, built on the site of Stockholm’s first synagogue

Entrance to Judiska Museet in Gamla Stan, Stockholm, with a black sign reading Judiska Museet above an open wooden door in a pale stone facade.
The entrance on Själagårdsgatan, a narrow street in Gamla Stan. Photo: Zayera Khan
  • Why visitYou stand inside Stockholm’s first synagogue and see wall paintings from the 1800s, found again during a renovation.
  • Best forHistory lovers, and anyone curious about Jewish life in Sweden or the hidden layers of Gamla Stan.
  • AddressSjälagårdsgatan 19, Gamla Stan, 111 28 Stockholm
  • Opening hoursTue–Wed 11:00–17:00. Thu 11:00–20:00. Fri 11:00–16:00. Sat–Sun 11:00–17:00. Closed Monday.
  • AdmissionAdult 120 kr. Reduced (students, pensioners) 100 kr. Free up to age 19. Free entry every Saturday, 11:00–12:00.
  • Guided toursIncluded with a ticket, about 30 minutes, weekends only. Private group and school tours can be booked.
  • AccessibilityStep-free entrance from Själagårdsgatan 19. A lift runs between the entrance and the main hall. The former women’s gallery is reached by stairs only. Companions and guide dogs enter free.
  • Official websitejudiskamuseet.se

About the museum

Judiska Museet stands in one of the narrowest streets of Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s old town. The building is not new to the museum’s story. From 1795 to 1870, this address held Stockholm’s first synagogue. The Jewish congregation built it soon after Sweden first allowed Jews to settle and worship here. After 1870, the congregation moved to a larger synagogue nearby, and this building changed hands many times – it served as a police station from 1890 to 1972.

The museum itself is younger. Viola and Aron Neuman founded it in 1987, first in an old rug warehouse in Frihamnen. In 1992, it moved to Hälsingegatan in Vasastan. In 2019, it moved a third time – back to this address in Gamla Stan, back to the site of the old synagogue itself.

Blue historical plaque on the museum's facade, in Swedish and English, marking the site of the Old Synagogue used from 1795 to 1870.
A plaque on the outside wall tells the short version: the building held Stockholm’s synagogue from 1795 to 1870, then a police station from 1890 to 1972. Photo: Zayera Khan

When the museum’s architects opened up the old synagogue hall for the 2019 move, they found something they did not expect. Under later layers of paint and wallpaper were the original wall paintings from the 1800s – floral borders, gold trim, soft pink panels. Workers used a diagram from 1811 to guide the restoration and bring the patterns back.

The wall paintings

These paintings matter beyond their beauty. Most synagogue art in this German-influenced style did not survive the Second World War. What stands in this small room in Gamla Stan is rare: an interior that shows how a Swedish synagogue actually looked, two centuries ago, still on its original walls.

Inside the museum

The permanent exhibition, The Jews & Sweden, traces Jewish history in the country from the 18th century onward: early immigration, daily life, and the founding of the first congregation. Other current exhibitions include Shul! The Old Town’s Synagogue, which tells the story of the building itself, The Cloud of Unknowing, a new installation inside the old synagogue room, and Det judiska Värmland, on Jewish heritage in the Värmland region.

One object holds the room: a wooden Torah ark, saved from an older synagogue and topped with a gilded relief of the Ten Commandments. It once held the community’s Torah scrolls, and it now stands as the clearest link between the museum and the working synagogue this building used to be.

Original 19th-century wall paintings in soft pink, gold, and cream, with floral and bird motifs along the top border, lit by daylight from a window.
Original wall paintings from the synagogue, uncovered during the museum’s 2019 renovation. Photo: Zayera Khan
Wooden Torah ark from a synagogue, painted in soft pink and gold, topped with a gilded relief of the Ten Commandments tablets and Hebrew text, on display inside the museum.
The Torah ark, topped with the Ten Commandments in Hebrew. Photo: Zayera Khan
Narrow cobblestone alley in Gamla Stan, Stockholm, with pale stone buildings on either side and the Judiska Museet sign visible ahead.
Själagårdsgatan, the narrow street that leads to the museum door. Photo: Zayera Khan

All photographs on this page were taken by Zayera Khan during a visit to the museum, and are her own property. Please do not reuse them without permission.

Sources: Judiska museet – official site; Judiska museet – Kontakt; Judiska museet – Priser; Judiska museet – Visningar; Judiska museet – Tillgänglighet; Wikipedia – Jewish Museum of Sweden.