The Nordic Museum in Seattle is open

Scandinavians across the Pacific Northwest and the nation celebrated as the new Nordic Museum officially opened its doors over the weekend of May 4-6.  

  • Visiting Nordics and local VIPs are cutting the ribbon on May 5. H.R.H. Crown Princess Mary third from left, next to museum CEO Eric Nelson. Photo: Nordic Museum

  • The new Nordic Museum celebrated its Grand Opening on Saturday, May 5. The dynamic new building in the heart of Ballard in Seattle offers 57,000 square feet of exhibitions, Nordic resources, a café and meeting halls, and promises to be an experience out of the ordinary. The design concept is organized around a linear “fjord” that weaves together old and new with the Nordic American experience.

  • Eric Nelson at the gigantic Nordic Wall by the entrance: “That’s where my ancestors came from ...” Photo: Monica Enqvist

  • Items had been installed for its core exhibition Nordic Journeys, which expands the museum’s classic immigration story to offer a broader understanding of Nordic life as it evolved over the last 11,000 years.
    Five galleries introduce you to the environment and lives that formed the region and its inhabitants, ending with challenges and ingenious solutions or inventions of the 21st century.
    Curators and conservators from all over the Nordic region have visited the museum that has more than 100 loaned items to complement the museum’s own permanent collection.

  • Seattle Nordic Museum a few days prior to the Nordic Museum’s grand opening. The museum CEO Eric Nelson is touring the museum premises with early Scandinavian guests. Photo: Monica Enqvist

  • All in all, Seattle saw an amazing celebration this first weekend of May and continually. The opening weekend was but a start of a citywide celebration of Nordic arts, culture and innovation that takes place all across the city, called Nordic Seattle.

  • Conservator Karin Björling-Olausson from Nordiska Museet in Stockholm is showing a coin on loan from the Vasa Museum - one of five coins (of an estimated 4,000 total) recovered from the 1628 Royal Ship Vasa shipwreck that will be on display at the Seattle Museum. Photo: Nordic Museum

  • Lycka till / Onnea ja hyvää tulevaisuutta varten / Held og lykke og alt godt for fremtiden / Best wishes from Nordstjernan for continued success!

  • The museum's core exhibition Nordic Journeys. Photo: Monica Enqvist

  • The new Nordic Museum
    2655 NW Market St., Ballard
    206.789.5707 / www.nordicmuseum.org
    www.nordicmuseum.org/exhibitions/nordicjourneys
    www.nordicmuseum.org/nordic-seattle
    www.nordicmuseum.org/grand-opening