Vadstena Spetsmuseum

About the museum

In Vadstena and its surroundings there is a bobbin-lace tradition that goes back to at least the 1600s. Already in the Vadstena krigsmanshus (soldiers' housing), which existed from 1640 to 1780, people made bobbin lace, and the skill had been brought here from northern Germany and Flanders. Vadstena early became a central place for bobbin lace in Sweden. During the 1800s bobbin lace became a major source of income for the people of Vadstena and its surroundings, after the guild system (skråväsendet) was abolished in 1846. Lace dealers bought up the lace, and sometimes travelling sellers, known as lace walkers (spetsgångare), went around. Towards the end of the 1800s machine-made lace appeared, and from the 1950s bobbin lace has often been a hobby. In 2018 the Vadstena bobbin lace was classified as intangible cultural heritage.

The non-profit association Vadstena Spetsmuseum (Vadstena Lace Museum) was started in 2005 to bring the history of Vadstena bobbin lace to life and connect it to today's activity. The museum shows bobbin lace and highlights the people – pattern drawers (mönsterstickare), lacemakers, lace dealers, lace walkers and tool makers – as well as examples of contemporary bobbin lace. Since 2005 it has been housed in Gottfrid Larssongården at Skänningegatan 9, where the widow of the sculptor Gottfrid Larsson set up a museum for her husband's sculptures; the farm was donated to Vadstena Municipality. Each year two new exhibitions are produced, and in the garden lace works are shown with a new theme each time.

Highlights

• Vadstena bobbin lace and the history of bobbin lace
• The people behind the lace: pattern drawers, lacemakers and lace walkers
• Contemporary bobbin lace in the innovative section
• Garden exhibition with bobbin-lace works
• Great Bobbin Lace Day (Stora knyppeldagen) on the first Friday after midsummer

Permanent exhibition

• Vadstenaknypplingen och spetsmuseets samlingar – Bobbin lace and objects from the collections, the history of bobbin lace in Vadstena and examples of contemporary bobbin lace.

Founded

2005

Operated by

Vadstena Spetsmuseum (ideell förening)

Admission & discounts

Admission is SEK 20 and is paid in cash or by Swish. The sculpture museum in the same farm has free admission and the same opening hours as the lace museum.

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