Kvinnohistoriskt museum

About the museum

Kvinnohistoriskt museum opened in November 2014 and describes itself as Sweden’s first women’s history museum. It is run by Umeå municipality and is on the fourth floor of the Väven cultural house by the bank of the Umeälven. The museum wants to challenge a historiography that has left women in the shadow, and to tell the past so that more voices can be heard. Women are the starting point, but the museum also works with male norms, trans issues and non-binary perspectives.

The museum has no archives or object collections of its own and does not collect objects. Instead, its exhibitions are built up through collaborations and loans from other collections, and some of them are reworkings of exhibitions from other museums.

Visitors are met by a reception with a museum shop. There are two exhibition rooms, a larger and a smaller one, and between them a shared room where you can rest between the exhibitions and where the museum holds tours and programme evenings.

Highlights

• 200 years of Swedish gender history – digital basic exhibition on the road to equality
• Free tours and group tours
• Two exhibition rooms and a shared room for conversation
• Museum shop at the reception
• Children’s trails in several exhibitions

Permanent exhibition

• Svensk genushistoria 200 år – A digital exhibition, with a twinkle in its eye, about the road to equality and how things turned out as they did, in three films and with a special focus on young people; shown whenever the museum is open.

Founded

2014

Operated by

Umeå kommun

Visitors per year

approx. 36,757

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Free admission, including to the tours.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The museum on the fourth floor is reached by lift or ramp through four accessible entrances, and all exhibitions can be visited by wheelchair. There are many seats for resting in the museum, and toilets with space for wheelchairs and assistants on each floor. On floor 2 there is an accessible toilet (RWC) with a ceiling-mounted patient hoist (bring your own harness). Fixed induction loops are in the museum’s reception and by the stage in the shared room. A changing room with a height-adjustable changing table is on floor 4. Some exhibitions can be experienced as lively and loud.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Stroller-friendly
• Baby changing facilities

Some exhibitions have children’s trails, for example for ages 9–12, and the museum sometimes organises pushchair tours. Pushchair parking is on floor 4 outside the lift, and a changing room with a height-adjustable changing table is on the same floor.

Getting there & parking

The museum is on the fourth floor of the Väven cultural house, Storgatan 46a, by the bank of the Umeälven in central Umeå. From the entrance on Storgatan a lift and escalator go up.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop
• Coat check
• Lockers

Museum shop at the reception with products from various designers. Storage lockers and a cloakroom for outdoor clothing are in the museum. A café is in Väven (entrance from Strandgatan).

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit