Our History

In November 2024, the Government decided to assign SFHM and SMTM a joint mandate to submit proposals on how SFHM’s responsibilities could be transferred to and integrated into SMTM. The proposal was submitted to the Government in March 2025. In July, the Government decided that SFHM’s operations would be transferred to and incorporated into SMTM, and that the government agency SFHM would be dissolved.

The government agency thereby assumed responsibility for the State’s museums within maritime, transport and military history: the Army Museum, the Swedish Air Force Museum, the Swedish Railway Museum, the Naval Museum, the Maritime Museum, the Vasa Museum, and Vrak – Museum of Wrecks. The Board of Military Traditions is also part of the government agency.

History of SFHM

The National Museums of Military History (SFHM) was established in 1976. At that time, the government agency's operations comprised the Army Museum in Stockholm and the Naval Museum in Karlskrona. In 1977, the Swedish Air Force Museum in Linköping was added. In 1997, the Naval Museum in Karlskrona was transferred to SMTM.

In 1992, SFHM’s remit was expanded to include the Board of Military Traditions, which had previously been part of the Army Museum. In 2009, SFHM was given responsibility for the Swedish Military Heritage Secretariat, and in 2025 for the Peace Archive.

SFHM was originally part of the Swedish Armed Forces, but in 1992 the authority was placed directly under the Ministry of Defence. Between 1996 and 2025, SFHM’s operations fell under the Ministry of Culture.

In 2011, the Swedish Air Force Museum was named Museum of the Year.

History of SMTM

The National Maritime Museum was established in 1938 as a state museum for Swedish shipping, naval warfare and maritime culture. The museum was constructed on Djurgården in Stockholm.

In 1964, the Maritime Museum was merged with the Vasa Museum to form the governmant agency National Maritime Museum. In 1990, the Vasa Museum officially opened, and the National Maritime Museums (SMM) was established on 1 July 1990.

In 1997, the Naval Museum in Karlskrona was added in order to provide a national perspective on the history of the Navy and the naval city. In 2014, the Submarine Hall was inaugurated, featuring Neptun, one of the submarines from the Cold War period of the 1980s, and Hajen, the Swedish Navy’s very first submarine. In the same year, the Naval Museum was named Museum of the Year.

In 2018, the government agency assumed responsibility for the State’s transport history collections (railway, road and traffic and civil aviation), as well as the Swedish Railway Museum in Gävle, and changed its name to the National Maritime and Transport Museums (SMTM).

Vrak – Museum of Wrecks opened in autumn 2021 on Djurgården in Stockholm.

In the summer of 2022, the Swedish Railway Museum in Gävle reopened after several years of renovation and development.

In 2023, SMTM was named Sweden’s most modern government agency.