Nordic Fauna at the Biological Museum, Skansen (Stockholm)

Occurrence
Latest version published by Stiftelsen Skansen on May 14, 2026 Stiftelsen Skansen
Home:
https://digitaltmuseum.se/search?mode=text&owner=S-SK&topic=%22biologiska+museet+i+stockholm%22
Publication date:
May 14, 2026
Published by:
Stiftelsen Skansen
License:
CC-BY 4.0

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 705 records in English (54 KB) - Update frequency: irregular
Metadata as an EML file download in English (35 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (12 KB)

Description

The collections of specimens at the Biological Museum, Stockholm, SwedenThe dataset covering the collection of the Biological Museum in Stockholm contains information about all extant specimens kept and presented in the museum´s exhibition, intended to portray “Nordic fauna in its natural surroundings” to visitors. Opened in 1893 in a purpose-built house, Nordic vertebrates (excluding fishes) are mounted and displayed in natural poses, placed in a 360-degree cyclorama amongst dried vegetation and fake terrain elements in front of a huge background wall-painting executed by the famous Swedish painter Bruno Liljefors.Mostly consisting of birds but also large, and some smaller mammals of Scandinavia, the original specimens and early additions and replacements were mounted in the atelier of the renowned wildlife hunter and taxidermist Gustaf Kolthoff (1845-1913). To the necessary extent, where pest insects have attacked the animals, certain successive replacements have been made, new animals then notably being brought in and mounted by taxidermists at “Kolthoffs naturaliemagasin”, and by Werner Berg, Birger Nordahl et al. (Swedish Museum of Natural History) during the mid-to late 19-hundreds. Some of the most recent specimens (mounted by Nicklas Svensson) were added during the last decade of the 20th century. The museum was thoroughly renovated in 1992 but remains intact from all other major aspects thus strongly representing a late 19th century view of nature and its inhabitants. It is presently undergoing a more extensive renovation aiming at presenting the 19th century cyclorama as when inaugurated.Since no catalogue of the museum´s specimens was ever kept, all information regarding the place of origin, time of collection, collector, acquisition and any additional information have been inferred from some (but very few!) specimen labels, and (primarily) from cross-tabulation of the written contents of a great number of successive editions of exhibit´s descriptions (printed booklets), from invoices, from mail conversation between the museum management and taxidermists, from informal notes and from interviews with former employees and informants.All animals were collected in their representative parts of Scandinavia including those found and brought back during a series of late 19th century, and early 20th century expeditions to Svalbard and Greenland (the latter presented in two separate, smaller dioramas. The latter animals were considered as “Nordic” representing North Atlantic and Polar Sea habitats under Nordic governance, and detailed expedition´s reports provide the most detailed information available on the provenance of these specimens.N.b. The contents of this dataset is simultaneously published by Digitalt Museum (https://digitaltmuseum.se/), serving Swedish and Norwegian cultural heritage institutions.

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 705 records.

1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

Occurrence (core)
705
Multimedia 
705

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Stiftelsen Skansen. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 0d12f508-917b-4750-820a-0e20df9b9c05.  Stiftelsen Skansen publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Sweden.

Keywords

Nordic fauna; Birds; Mammals; 19th century; Cyclorama exhibition

Contacts

Anders Telenius
  • Metadata Provider ●
  • Originator ●
  • Point Of Contact
Swedish Museum of Natural History
10405 Stockholm
SE
Lars-Erik Larsson
  • Originator
Boel Recén
  • Originator
Kristina Berg
  • Curator
Stiftelsen Skansen
115 93 Stockholm,
SE

Geographic Coverage

Scandinavia, Svalbard, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands.

Bounding Coordinates South West [55.6, -22.2], North East [79.7, 30.2]

Taxonomic Coverage

,

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda, Chordata
Class Aves, Reptilia, Mammalia, Insecta
Order Squamata, Suliformes, Anseriformes, Artiodactyla, Coraciformes, Galliformes, Passeriformes, Soricomorpha;, Pelecaniformes, Lagomorpha, Gruiformes, Apodiformes, Carnivora, Podicepidiformes, Soricomorpha, Charadriformes, Cuculiformes, Ciconiiformes, Falconiformes, Accipitriformes, Erinaceomorpha, Coleoptera, Columbiformes, Bucerotiformes, Procellariformes, Caprimulgiformes, Rodentia, Strigiformes, Piciformes, Gaviiformes
Family Alcidae, Procellaridae, Upupidae, Phylloscopidae, Columbidae, Certhiidae, Regulidae, Felidae, Aegithalidae, Emberizidae, Lanidae, Picidae, Fringillidae, Scolopacidae, Alcedinidae, Talpidae, Charadriidae, Gruidae, Sciuridae, Sylvidae, Soricidae, Phasianidae, Turdidae, Acrocephalidae, Caprimulgidae, Cinclidae, Sulidae, Colubridae, Paridae, Gaviidae, Ardeidae, Oriolidae, Anatidae, Troglodytidae, Laridae, Corvidae, Leporidae, Bovidae, Muscicapidae, Motacillidae, Phocidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Canidae, Cuculidae, Podicipedidae, Castoridae, Haematopodidae, Ursidae, Sittidae, Pandionidae, Sturnidae, Passeridae, Calcariidae, Bombycillidae, Prunellidae, Accipitridae, Hirundinidae, Stercoraridae, Strigidae, Alaudidae, Erinaceidae, Falconidae, Apodidae, Rallidae, Cervidae, Odobenidae, Anatiidae, Mustelidae, Cricetidae, Lucanidae, Ciconiidae

Project Data

Nordic birds and mammals 1892-2010

Title Nordic Fauna at the Biological Museum, Skansen (Stockholm)
Identifier Gustaf Kolthoff; various taxidermists
Funding Catarina and Sven Hagströmer´s Foundation

The personnel involved in the project:

Anders Telenius

Additional Metadata

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Getting Started
Purpose
Alternative Identifiers 0d12f508-917b-4750-820a-0e20df9b9c05
https://www.gbif.se/ipt/resource?r=biological_museum_skansen