Photo: Mikael Ejdemyr · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Borås Museum

Open-air museum in Ramnaparken with relocated houses from the Sjuhärad area, showing rural life in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Opening hours unknownFree admission Café

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About the museum

Borås Museum was started in 1914 by De Sju Häradernas Kulturhistoriska Förening (the Seven Hundreds Cultural-History Association). The collecting of buildings was a reaction to the rapid change of society brought about by industrialisation: the traditional farm buildings were seen as threatened, and open-air museums became a way of preserving them for the future. Today the museum is run by Borås municipality, while most of the buildings are still owned by the association.

All the houses in Ramnaparken have been moved here from different parts of the Sjuhärad area. The open-air museum mainly tells of life in the countryside in the 18th and 19th centuries, and here there are, among others, a förläggargård (putting-out farm), a village shop (handelsbod), a parish cottage (sockenstuga) and several dwelling houses. Among the most popular buildings is Ramnakyrkan (Ramna Church), built in the 1690s in Kinnarumma and moved to the park in 1912. Its ceiling paintings from the 1750s, by Detleff Ross, show both heaven and hell, and the church also displays medieval sculptures from other churches in Sjuhärad.

In the old coaching inn (gästgivargården) is Café Gästis. In addition to the open-air museum, Borås Museum has an indoor exhibition on Borås and Sjuhärad and a newer exhibition on the Dannikekvinnan (the Dannike Woman), a bog find from 1942. The museum is open seasonally in summer and, together with Textilmuseet (the Textile Museum), forms the cultural-history museums of Borås.

Highlights

Ramnakyrkan from the 1690s with ceiling paintings by Detleff Ross
Nymanska gården, one of the 18th-century farms that survived the town fires
The home of a home weaver and older dwelling houses from the 17th to the 19th century
Exhibition on the Dannike Woman, a bog find from the late Age of Greatness
Café Gästis in the old coaching inn

Permanent exhibitions

Liv, lust och längtan – Basic exhibition on Borås and Sjuhärad, where visitors meet people’s destinies and events from history.
Dannikekvinnan – livet, tiden, mossen – The exhibition is about the young peasant woman who was buried in Rydets mosse in Dannike during the late Age of Greatness and was found in 1942. It tells of her time, the latest research and possible explanations for what may have happened to her.

Founded: 1914
Operated by: Borås Stad

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Groups	–Tour of the open-air museum for groups of up to 25 people (45–60 minutes): SEK 1,000 during regular opening hours, SEK 1,500 in the evenings and at weekends outside regular opening hours. Introduction for groups of up to 40 people (about 20 minutes): SEK 500, only during regular opening hours.
Group tour of the open-air museum (max 25 people)	SEK 1,000SEK 1,500 in the evenings and at weekends outside regular opening hours
Introduction for groups (max 40 people, about 20 minutes)	SEK 500Only during regular opening hours

Admission is always free. A fee may apply to individual programme items and special events.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

Family tours & workshops

The museum organises family visits and activities for the whole family, such as Julstök i Ramnaparken in November and family visits during the autumn holiday.

Getting there & parking

The museum is in Ramnaparken along Parkgatan, opposite Ramnavallen and Norrby IF.

Get directions

Amenities & dining

Café

Café Gästis is in the old coaching inn in Ramnaparken and serves, among other things, locally made ice cream, waffles and fika.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit

Guided tours	yes
School programs	yes
Good to know	During opening hours visitors can look into a selection of the cottages on their own, as these are kept unlocked. The museum is staffed only in summer. Group visits and introductions are booked with the museum’s educators, telephone +46 33 35 89 58. School programmes, including Livet förr (Life in the Past, about 60 minutes), can be booked via bokning.textilmuseet@boras.se.