Photo: Jorchr · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Garverimuseet

Museum in the Strömska garveriet (Strömska tannery) in Simrishamn about the town's leatherwork, with tanning tools, a journeyman's alcove and pictures from Ehrnberg & Sons Läderfabrik.

Opening hours unknownFree admission

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About the museum

Garverimuseet is located in the middle of Simrishamn, in one of the town's oldest secular buildings, built in the late 17th or early 18th century. In the 1730s there was a shoemaker's workshop here, and from the 1840s to the 1990s tanning was carried on in the farmstead, which was then called Den Strömska Garvaregården (the Strömska tanner's farm).

As early as 1926 the house was converted into a museum to preserve and convey the history of tanning, and it is considered the country's oldest tannery museum. One room is preserved in almost original condition and holds many tanning tools and a journeyman's alcove (gesällkrok) with a bed and the personal belongings that a journeyman left behind, including a lice comb and a festive hat.

The museum also tells the story of Ehrnberg & Sons Läderfabrik (leather factory) in the neighbouring block. Nils Peter Ehrnberg took over his father-in-law's tannery in 1832, and under his successors it grew into a modern leather factory, which became a limited company in 1898. The factory exported leather and skin products all over the world, had at its peak more than 600 employees, and was the dominant industry in the area until 1975.

Highlights

A room preserved in almost original condition
Tanning tools from the days of the trade
The journeyman's alcove, with belongings a journeyman left behind
Pictures from Ehrnberg & Sons Läderfabrik
One of Simrishamn's oldest secular buildings

Permanent exhibition

Garverimuseet – Tanning tools, an almost untouched tanning room with a journeyman's alcove, and pictures from Ehrnberg & Sons Läderfabrik.

Founded: 1926