Sigtuna980All about Sweden's oldest townSweden's oldest town
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The red buildings of Sigtuna museum on the small square in autumn sun.

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Museum and historic places in Sigtuna

The town is its own museum. Under Stora gatan lie a thousand years of street levels, and what has been dug up can be seen at a museum that is small, and free for everyone under 20.

Photo: Arild Vågen

Stora gatan

The oldest street in Sweden still in use, on the same line as in the 970s. Two metres below the tarmac lie the street levels of the Viking age and the Middle Ages, layer on layer. On top stand low wooden houses from the 18th and 19th centuries with cafés, shops and a couple of restaurants. Walk it from the bus station to the main square and back along the water. That is half an hour at an easy pace. Look at the foundations: the lower and closer to the ground, the older the house.

Stora gatan in Sigtuna, lined with low wooden houses in yellow, red and green.
Stora gatan. The houses are 18th and 19th century, the street is 10th century. Photo: Brorsson

Sigtuna museum

Sigtuna museum is on the small square at Stora gatan 55, on the plot where the royal estate stood when the town was founded. It holds the finds from the excavations: the coins struck here in the 990s, the rune-inscribed bones, combs, jewellery, and everything that makes Sigtuna one of the most excavated places in Sweden. Since 2016 it is called Sigtuna Museum & Art and also runs an art programme with exhibitions in Sigtuna and at ValstaKonst in Märsta. Free for everyone under 20, adults pay 60 kronor. Allow an hour. The tourist office is inside the museum, open Tuesday to Sunday 12 to 16. The museum shop has books on the town's history.

The museum runs guided town walks in summer and for groups all year, and a rune stone hunt for children, with a map from the museum.

The Town Hall

The Town Hall on the main square was inaugurated in 1744 on the initiative of the mayor, Eric Kyhlman, and is the smallest surviving town hall in Sweden. The town court sat here until 1947. It is now a museum and a wedding venue, open from July to mid-August 12 to 16, free entry. A visit takes ten minutes. Many get married here.

Sigtuna town hall seen from the main square on a summer day.
The Town Hall from 1744, Sweden's smallest. Photo: Bysmon

Lundströmska gården, the Mayor's House and Drakegården

  • Lundströmska gården, Stora gatan. A preserved merchant's home from around 1900 with the 1873 general store still on the ground floor, goods on the shelves and coffee beans on the table. The Lundström family lived here and donated the house to the town. Open for booked tours.
  • The Mayor's House (Borgmästargården), next to the Town Hall. An outdoor exhibition in the garden that is always open. The house itself opens for events and booked tours.
  • Drakegården, Stora gatan. An 18th-century house named after the district doctor Knut Drake af Hagelsrum. It holds the municipality's contact centre, a reading room and part of the museum's Sigtunahistorier exhibition. Walk through to the back garden: allotments, beehives, a yellow stage facing the water and picnic grass.

Olof Skötkonung's mint

Around 995 Olof Skötkonung, Sweden's first Christian king, had the first Swedish coins struck here. The moneyers were brought from England and the coins copied English models. The mint house was excavated in 1990 and 1991. The site is marked in the block by Stora gatan. See the coins at the museum.

The site of Olof Skötkonung's mint in Sigtuna with an information sign.
The site of the mint. Sweden's first coins were struck here in the 990s. Photo: Raphael Saulus

The rune stones

Sigtuna has 35 rune stones, more than any other Swedish town, and the finest stand in the museum together with the rune-inscribed bones from the excavations. The rest stand where they were found, in churchyard walls, by the ruins and along the streets. The map of the rune stone trail is at the museum. More about the stones on Churches and ruins.

Sigtuna museum's entrance on Stora gatan.
Sigtuna museum, Stora gatan 55. Photo: Arild Vågen

Klockbacken and the bell tower

Klockbacken is the hill above Prästgatan, west of St Lawrence. The bell tower that stood here from 1608 burned down in 2016 and has been rebuilt to the original drawings. From here you look out over the town and the bay.

Gröna Ladan

The town cinema at Gröna gränd 6 has shown films since 1926 and still does, with 80 armchairs and five screening days a week. It is run by an association and belongs to the Folkets Hus & Parker network, so opera and concerts are shown on screen too. Programme and tickets on bio.se.

Outside town

  • The factory museum at Steninge, in the old pottery works at Steninge slottsby, where Steninge Brygga also is.
  • Viby village next to Wenngarn, an unreformed 18th-century village with red houses, wooden fences and a café that opens on certain Saturdays. See Farms and countryside.
  • The country churches: Haga, Husby-Ärlinghundra, Norrsunda, Skånela, Odensala, Skepptuna, Vidbo and Lunda, all medieval, all open in summer. The Church of Sweden in Märsta has addresses and times.

Updated 2026-10-22