The National Museum is a landmark on the southern side of Blasieholmen. The location by the Strommen channel inspired the nineteenth century German architect Augist Stuler to design a building in the Venetian and Florentine Renaissance styles.

Completed in 1866, the museum houses Sweden’s largest art collection, with some 16,000 classic paintings and sculptures. Drawings and graphics from the fifteenth century up to early twentieth century bring to total up to 500,000. The applied art and design section has works spanning five centuries, including a 500-year-old tapestry, porcelain and examples of work by master furniture-makers, such as Georg Haupt. Space is also devoted to the development of modern Swedish design, 1900-2000.

Level 2 is devoted to paining and sculpture. The accent is on Swedish eighteenth to early twentieth century art, but the seventeenth century Dutch an Flemish, and eighteenth century French schools are also represented. Exhibits may change. Level 1 shows mainly Swedish applied art and design, particularly furniture, porcelain, silver and glass from the fifteenth century up to modern Swedish design.