The open-air museum Old Linköping Museum

Address: Gamla Linköping (Old Linköping), Linköping, Sweden

Website: https://www.gamla-linkoping.se/

The open-air museum Old Linköping (Gamla Linköping) is a living-history museum near Linköping that recreates a historical townscape using relocated buildings. It interprets regional life in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Visitors walk reconstructed streets and enter period houses, shops and workshops where interpreters demonstrate traditional crafts, trades and domestic activities; seasonal events and markets are common. The layout gives a sense of a connected small-town environment rather than isolated exhibits.

The museum was developed by regional heritage organisations to preserve vernacular buildings and to present everyday social history through an assembled historic town. Buildings were transferred to the site over time and restored for public display.

Situated near the city of Linköping in Östergötland County, the museum sits on the outskirts of the modern city and is accessible by local roads and public transport links.

• Relocated historic buildings: Many buildings were moved from elsewhere and reassembled on site to recreate a connected townscape representative of regional history.

What to See#

• Historic houses and streets: A network of relocated and restored historic houses and commercial buildings form recreated streets and neighbourhoods that illustrate everyday life in 19th- and early 20th-century Östergötland.
• Living-history demonstrations: Seasonal craft demonstrations, period shops and cafés operate within the museum, offering living-history interpretation of traditional trades and domestic activities.

The open-air museum Gamla Linköping is in Linköping city and is best reached from Linköping Central Station: you can walk there in about 15-20 minutes or catch a local Östgötatrafiken bus toward the city park/old town (check current routes and timetables). There is parking on nearby streets if you drive.

By car Linköping is on the E4 motorway about 200 km southwest of Stockholm; follow E4 into Linköping and follow local signs for Gamla Linköping.

• Aim for weekday mornings in summer when the historic houses and craft shops are most likely to be open and the visitor groups are smaller than at weekends.
• Check the museum's event calendar before you go - living‑history days and seasonal markets significantly change which buildings are accessible and what's on display.
• After viewing the main square, wander the quieter side streets and small gardens between the restored houses; these areas often show everyday domestic details that many visitors miss.