Welcome to a journey through the history of Jönköping!

The exhibition "Memories, People, Places" begins in the glass passage way between the City Library and the City Archives (Arkivhuset).

Through the exhibition we explore the city's fascinating history – from its founding in the 13th century, to the present. You will see the different visions for the city over the ages and depictions of its people, their lives and the conditions they lived under. The exhibition delves into Jönköping's more than 700-year-long history through memories, people and places.

This audioguide is a production of Jönköping County Museum. The tour begins here in the glass passage way and then moves to the large map at the back of the exhibition hall. It then continues clockwise around the exhibition hall. You will be given instructions to follow if you take a different path. We wish you a pleasant journey through our history.

The first ideas about Jönköping

Waterways and highways meet at the southern tip of Lake Vättern. During the Middle Ages, this site was southern Sweden's most important intersection.

When Swedish King Magnus Birgersson Ladulås established the town of Jönköping in the late 13th century, there was already a settlement here – a place where people gathered to trade goods and practise their crafts.

The Crown wanted to gain control over important industries, particularly the iron industry, and over a strategic location within the Swedish realm.

Jönköping was between the stream Junebäcken to the west and the lake Munksjön to the east. Along the main street Store Gatan there were blacksmith's workshops, where iron ore was worked into forgeable iron.

Store Gatan

The display case to left in the glass passage way shows a reconstructed section of the main street Store Gatan made using original paving stones and iron slag recovered from the mediaeval road.

The mediaeval town of Jönköping was located in what is now the modern neighbourhood west of town.

Store Gatan was the backbone of the town. It ran from Munksjön Lake in the east to the stream Junebäcken in the west. Today, Västra Storgatan still follows roughly the same course.

Store Gatan was lined with numerous workshops. At the western edge, blacksmithing, in particular, was carried out as early as the 13th century.

Iron slag, horse shoes, coins and food scraps found their way into the gaps in the street's stone paving.

In the free-standing display case you can see a bone flute dating to the 13th or early 14th century, with the runic inscription meaning "God". Artefacts recovered from the mediaeval road of Store Gatan, which lay in what is now the neighbourhood west of town.

Inside the passage way you will also see a stone hammer. This was used to lay paving stones in Jönköping.

→Now continue on into the exhibition hall, to the large map at the back.