Astrid Apelgren Backlöf

The crypt in Stockholm Cathedral has long stood empty. There, far below the cobblestones of the Old Town, I have created an exhibition for my degree project using objects from the Medieval Museum’s collection. In this work, the crypt becomes an experimental addition to the museum’s permanent exhibitions and tells several parallel stories about Stockholm’s past.

The Cathedral’s crypt is a place with traces from a long time before Stockholm existed. The crypt’s current floor consists of stones and gravel from the boulder ridge that parts of the city were once built on.

The exhibition is based on three stages of archaeological excavation. These are shown in different spatial sequences that tell the stories of both the boulder ridge and the medieval objects’ lives. The objects and the stones, once forgotten and buried far underground, are unearthed and transformed into cultural-historical artefacts.