Skantzen

About the museum

For more than 250 years Skantzen in Hallstahammar has been the centre of the Strömsholm Canal. When the canal was being built, a place was needed where everything could be administered and where the workers could be given food and medical care. The idea for the canal came from Johan Ulfström, who was appointed Mekanikus and became responsible for the whole construction; he settled in Hallstahammar. Here buildings were erected for administration, timber drying, a joinery for the lock gates, a smithy and the Mekanikusbostaden (the mechanic’s residence), and beside them a stable, cattle shed, food cellar and granary. The canal company became a community within a community, with some forty buildings.

Today around thirty buildings remain, and the area is a park along the canal with an impressive double lock. The buildings house a canal museum, a school museum and a tool museum, and visitors can see a working lock model. The museums are run by Svedvi Berg hembygdsförening (heritage society), which also has a summer café on the site. An audio guide can be listened to all year round, and group guided tours take place during the summer half-year.

Highlights

• The canal museum with a lock model
• The tool museum
• The school museum
• Skantzen’s double lock on the Strömsholm Canal
• Audio guide for the area all year round

Permanent exhibitions

• Kanalmuseet – Exhibition in the canal’s old buildings on the history of the Strömsholm Canal, with a working lock model.
• Verktygsmuseet – Tool museum in the buildings at Skantzen.
• Skolmuseet – School museum at Skantzen, where visitors can be guided.

Operated by

Svedvi Berg hembygdsförening

Admission & discounts

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Accessibility

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Kids & families

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Getting there & parking

The area lies about 1 kilometre west of Hallstahammar centre, next to the Strömsholm Canal and the Kolbäcksån. Cycle and walking trails follow the canal.

Amenities & dining

• Café

Summer café run by the heritage society at Skantzen; all year round there is fika and food at Åsby Hem & Trädgård nearby.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit