Grenna Museum - Andréexpeditionen och Polarcenter

At Grenna Museum you can meet Amalia Erikson, the mother of the peppermint candy cane, as well as other important people from Grenna's history. The Polar Centre at Grenna Museum has the country's largest collection of polar history artefacts, and the crown jewel of the collections is the artefacts from S.A. Andrée's polar expedition.

Polar Centre and the Andrée expedition

The Polar Centre is the museum’s collective name for its different exhibitions about expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. For the first time, there is a permanent exhibition and a film about Sweden's first expedition to Antarctica in 1901-1903, led by Otto Nordenskjöld.

Most of the exhibition space is devoted to the Andrée arctic expedition. With the scientific aim of mapping the northern polar region, engineer Salomon August Andrée, physicist and photographer Nils Strindberg and engineer Knut Frænkel set off in the hydrogen balloon ‘Eagle’. They took off in 1897 from Danish Island near Spitsbergen with the aim of crossing the North Pole. Something went very wrong, the men died and were only found 33 years later, on Vitön, a deserted glacier island in the Arctic Ocean.

At Grenna Museum you can follow the plans and preparations for S.A. Andrée's polar expedition. Here you will meet a very life-like, full-size S A Andrée himself. An introductory film tells the story of the expedition, from its start to its fateful end. The museum displays images and artefacts from the flight, the landing, the ice walk, the discovery and the return home. There is also a film about the colleagues and loved ones who stayed behind: Anna Charlier, Gurli Linder, Nils Ekholm and Vilhelm Swedenborg. What was their life like in the shadow of the expedition?

In a three-dimensional experience, you will learn about doctor and author Bea Uusma's theories about what happened on Vitön. Bea Uusma has been working for many years to solve the mystery of the adventurers' deaths. During an examination of the Andrée expedition members’ clothing, she found dark stains in the lining of the jacket worn by Knut Fraenkel when he was found on Vitön. If it turns out to be blood, it will be an important piece of the puzzle as to why the members of the expedition died after their short time on Vitön.

Want to know more? Bea Uusma has published the August Prize-winning non-fiction book ‘The Expedition: My Love Story’ where you can read about her theories.

For children

The introductory film, which lasts about 15 minutes, gives children a good idea of what happened during the expedition, even if the story can be a bit scary at times. There are also boxes in the museum where children can either touch and feel items, or find things to read about the adventures of the three expedition members.

The gallery

In the entrance hall there is a gallery that contains temporary exhibitions displaying art, photography or ceramics. The gallery and the local history exhibition are free, but there is a charge to enter the polar centre and the Andrée expedition exhibition.

There is also a small shop in the museum entrance that offers all kinds of gifts and souvenirs.

The museum gives guided tours for group visitors, worksheets for school classes and town walking tours that follow in the footsteps of candy cane inventor, Amalia.

The museum courtyard

In the courtyard where the museum is located, there is also Gränna's oldest house, Franckska farmhouse, built in the mid-17th century. Here you will find a local history exhibition displayed over seven small rooms, each with different themes. Among other things, you can meet the teacher Valborg Franck, who had a private school in the northern part of her home. In one of the rooms you can learn about the different decades in Gränna's history. You can also meet the candy cane inventor Amalia Erikson, as well as other confectioners and candy cane makers from 1859 until today. The museum's glass entrance houses the Gallery, where temporary exhibitions of photos, sculptures or paintings are always on display.

The Grenna Museum and Andréemuseet Foundation was established in 1977 by Grenna Local Heritage Association and Jönköping Municipality. In May 2002, the Grenna Museum Foundation moved into newly built premises in Grenna Culture Centre.

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